The Barrys spent every December at Ryburn House, and the Ryburns spent every August at Arbor House, the Griffins’ country house, and that was the way it had been for Grace’s entire life. That was a big rule, one of the biggest rules her mother had impressed upon her.īut Colin was almost like a brother. It was August, and her family was staying with his.Ī lady could never enter a gentleman’s chamber. So Grace minded her Ps and Qs…until one night, when a moan came straight through the wall from the bedchamber where Colin, the eldest son of Sir Griffin Barry, was sleeping. Without being pretty, she couldn’t command love and forgiveness the way her sister could. Since Grace was plain, quiet, and non-sparkly-but very smart-she came to the obvious conclusion that it was risky to misbehave. She watched the way people responded to a girl like Lily versus a girl like herself. Grace could sit quietly at the edges of rooms and watch people’s faces-the way their jaws moved, the way they blinked, the way their foreheads wrinkled when they talked. There was one good thing about not being the center of attention, the way Lily was. Adorable as a baby, dazzling by the age of eight. Because she was so pretty, Lily didn’t need to behave.

After years of observing her sister, Grace came to understand what her father meant. Their father said that Lily was a Force of Nature. She didn’t obey anyone’s rules, including the duchess’s.

She ripped her frocks, spilled her milk, and gave people sparkling looks and disobedient smiles. Grace’s little sister Lily was not boring. She was kind to servants, old people, and dogs. She spoke three languages, played the pianoforte, and painted landscapes (poorly) and portraits (surprisingly well). She never sat on the grass, climbed trees, or behaved in a fashion other than that which behooved a member of the peerage. Her mama, the Duchess of Ashbrook, made certain that her children knew precisely how to behave in any conceivable instance, and Grace was a dutiful eldest daughter. By the age of ten, Lady Grace Ryburn had a clear understanding of her place in the world.

Seduced by a Pirate by Eloisa James