You poor dear. I can hardly endure it when my brothers are…

““You poor dear. I can hardly endure it when my brothers are staying at the town house. They’re always causing some trouble or another.” “Oh, yes, and you never cause any trouble,” Oliver teased. “Never mind the shooting match where you brought three men to blows over whose rifle you should deign to use. Or the spectacle you made of yourself when you dressed as a man to enter a match. Or-“ “You can shoot a rifle, Lady Celia?” Maria leaned forward. “How did you learn? I’ve always wanted to myself, but Papa and my cousins refused to show me how a rifle works. Could you teach me?” “No!” Oliver and Freddy said in unison. Then Oliver added, “Absolutely not.” Lord Gabriel leaned close. “I’d be happy to teach you, Miss Butterfield.” “Stay out of this, Gabe,” Oliver growled. “Bad enough you taught Celia. Maria already has enough weapons at her disposal.” His grandmother arched one eyebrow. “Pray tell, what sort of weapons do you mean?” Oliver paused, then gave a lazy smile. “Why, her beauty, of course. That weapon is devastating enough.” “It won’t stop a scoundrel from manhandling a woman,” Lady Minerva put in. “As if you know anything about that ,” Lord Jarret pointed out. “Just because the heroines in your books get manhandled with nauseating regularity doesn’t mean the average woman does.””

— Sabrina Jeffries