Lacybourne Manor (Ghosts and Reincarnation #3)(97)

“Colin,” Claire answered and Sibyl’s eyes widened.

Sibyl looked at her sister and Scarlett shrugged and turned her attention to Claire.

“It’s just that every woman he meets –” Claire began but Colin interrupted.

“Claire, I don’t think –”

“Wants her pound of flesh,” Claire finished stubbornly, looking at Colin with a rebellious gleam in her eye.

“Pound of flesh?” Sibyl echoed.

“Yes. Her pound of flesh,” Claire repeated.

“Claire,” Colin said again, this time his voice held a warning.

“Really, Colin, I’m not entirely certain what all this intrigue was about tonight but we went along with it. Though, it’s obvious something isn’t right with the pair of you,” Claire retorted.

“Yes, that’s one thing that is obvious,” Scarlett muttered under her breath but loud enough for everyone to hear.

Claire ignored her which Sibyl thought showed great diplomacy and Sibyl’s already high estimation of Colin’s sister climbed another notch.

“So someone has to tell your side of things,” Claire went on.

“His side of things?” Sibyl parroted, beginning to feel like she sounded like a fool.

“Yes, Sibyl. Colin doesn’t trust very easily, especially women, which isn’t surprising, since every woman he’s ever met was out for something,” Claire explained.

Colin made an exasperated noise or an annoyed noise or a furious noise. Sibyl wasn’t certain, she’d never heard him make it before. Whatever it was, it showed he was losing what was left of his control.

“Perhaps you should carry Claire out of the room,” Scarlett helpfully suggested to Colin.

“Scarlett, will you shut… up!” Sibyl snapped then she swung around to face Colin and asked, “Out for what?”

Scarlett laughed and Sibyl found herself whirling around again. “Sibyl, girl, I really need to introduce you to Manolo Blahnik. I’m pretty certain most of the women Colin’s dated are intimately acquainted with him and wanted to remain so, indefinitely.”

At Scarlett’s words, Claire actually clapped.

“That’s exactly what I mean!” Then she nodded emphatically, smiling beatifically at Scarlett as if she’d met her soulmate.

Sibyl was pretty certain they were speaking in code and stared at them, trying to decipher it. Then she gave up, it was all too much, this, the whole night. She no longer had the energy.

“How could Colin help them with shoes?” Sibyl queried.

At this, for some unhinged reason, Colin threw his head back and roared with laughter and all three feminine pairs of eyes swivelled to him. As he got himself under control, his body still shaking with mirth, his arm shot out, curled around Sibyl’s waist and he tugged her toward him. She could feel, against her own body, the laughter still rumbling through him even as he kissed her soundly on the lips.

When he lifted his head, his eyes were smiling (hers were dazed, and not just from the kiss). She had the impression that something profound just happened, she just didn’t know what.

“I will amend my statement, your sister is definitely annoying, you’re just adorable,” he told her.

“Oh dear goddess, don’t let Mags hear you call her adorable. There’ll be hell to pay,” Scarlett warned.

Sibyl was beginning to feel a prick of irritation.

The last two days, she was on pins and needles wondering what was happening with Colin. Then, after a rather frightening dinner, she discovered she was likely the reincarnation of a woman who was murdered centuries before and Sibyl’s lover was the doppelganger of that woman’s dead husband. Two people she cared about lied to her about this bizarre fact for weeks. And now, in what seemed like the blink of an eye, she and Colin were something else. Something other than what they had been. Something that made that thing that curled up and died inside her weeks ago start to feel some life again.

And they were talking about shoes.

“I think I’m missing something here,” Sibyl told the room at large.

“Look around you, Billie. Look really closely, what do you see?” Scarlett prompted, her tone was no longer wry but gentle.

Sibyl looked around.

Colin had a very nice bedroom. It was rather large and had richly painted with matte, slate grey walls and accents of ivory and midnight blue. There were fantastic white cornices and intricate ceiling roses. There were deep-seated, diamond-paned windows with heavy drapes. The bed was an enormous four-poster covered with a fluffy comforter in midnight blue and she already knew the ivory sheets were soft, lush and divine. There was a marble-edged fireplace with an elaborate mantelpiece that had two comfortable chairs at angles in front of it (at least, when Scarlett wasn’t sitting in one of them). Several gleaming chest of drawers and gigantic wardrobes were against the walls. Off to one side was a door to a pristine bathroom that used to be a dressing room which contained a fabulous round tub big enough for two. Off the back corner of the bedroom was a small room, sunken by several steps, that used to be a consecrated sanctuary, complete with stained glass windows, but was stripped of its blessing centuries ago and was now a rather glorious reading room, complete with a comfortable-looking chaise lounge covered in grey velvet.

Sibyl felt somewhat uncomfortable as she looked around the room, standing in it with a man who actually owned and lived in a National Trust property.