“Because when I do, we end up causing a scene that titillates the gossips for months. Father objects to that even more.”
“One of your fights?”
“I see Maggie has filled you in.”
“Hardly. She didn’t say what you fight about.”
“The question should be what we don’t fight about. That list would be much shorter.”
Sebastian shook his head. He was having a hard time grasping all the implications Denton’s attitude raised. He’d expected, under the circumstances, for Denton at least to profess an undying love for his wife, his excuse for keeping her. But apparently no one liked Juliette, not even her husband. So why were they still married?
He didn’t really expect an answer, but he asked anyway, “Why haven’t you divorced her?”
Denton exploded vehemently, “Good God, after eleven years you come home with a flimsy excuse and immediately start stirring the pot. Well, I’ve news for you. My wife and I are none of your bloody business.”
“I disagree,” Sebastian said darkly. “Your wife caused me to kill my best friend and lose the life I’d known up to that point.”
He hadn’t meant to show the new side of him, at least not to his brother. But he could tell by Denton’s brief look of wariness that he just had.
He shook off the air of menace he could so easily assume and even offered somewhat of a smile. He said mildly, “I debated on letting Maggie come home a’tall. Her place is with me now, and my place isn’t here. But I’ve missed Abbie. I wanted this chance to see her again before it’s too late. Her advanced age puts a narrow window on that opportunity. If you want to call that a flimsy reason, so be it.”
Abashed, Denton said, “Sorry. It appears you’ll have plenty of time to visit with Grandmother now. Are you going to stay until Father recovers? Culden wants Maggie to play nurse. Figures father will at least listen to her about remaining in bed till he’s better.”
“I haven’t thought that far ahead. I expected to have to fight my way in to see Abbie. I didn’t expect Father to be so delirious he didn’t even recognize me.”
“Rather a stroke of…”
Denton didn’t finish, causing Sebastian to laugh shortly. “Bad luck? Well, I doubt I’ll be here long in any case. When do you expect your wife back?”
“In a few days, possibly the end of the week.” Then suspiciously, “Why?”
Sebastian shrugged offhandedly. “I may leave before then. I’m not sure I can come face-to-face with that woman again—without killing her.”
“That’s nothing to joke about, Seb.”
“I wasn’t joking,” Sebastian said simply. “By the by, what happened to your leg to cause a limp?”
Whether it was his remark about his wife or the mention of the limp, Denton walked away without answering. Sebastian let him go. They both had enough to think about for the moment.
Chapter 20
E DNA ARRIVED LATE THAT AFTERNOON with several of Margaret’s trunks full of clothes. Apparently Sebastian had sent word that they would be staying at Edgewood for a while. Margaret had been given her old room. It was a large room, much more space than she needed, but having spent four years in it during her stay here, she felt quite comfortable and at home there.
She had time to change clothes before dinner. Most of her wardrobe was in the pale pastels of maidenhood that were popular among young debutantes, but she did own a few gowns in more mature colors, which she wore at home when she wasn’t expecting company. Now that she was “married,” it would be appropriate to wear the darker colors. She actually preferred them, since most dark colors seemed to make her hair appear a lighter, more fashionable shade. Her hair was certainly not her best feature. Blonde was fashionable. Sandy brown was nondescript.
Edna knew her well and had packed all of those darker shades for her stay at Edgewood, including several that were appropriate for dinner. Margaret chose a deep sapphire blue gown, fashionably low cut with tiny puffs off the shoulders and tight sleeves to the wrists. She hadn’t particularly cared for the waistless empire style the French had made so popular during Napoleon’s reign and had been glad to see the return of tight waists and shapely skirts. Her tiny waist was one of her best features, after all, but she’d rarely gotten to show that off until the fashions had recently changed. She had Edna leave a few tendrils of hair curled and dangling to her shoulders. Contrasted with the deep blue of the gown, they appeared almost blonde in the bright lamplight.
“And where will your husband be sleeping while you’re here?” Edna wanted to know.
Margaret noted the disapproval in her maid’s voice but kept her answer light, replying, “Wherever he used to sleep, I imagine. They’ve given me my old room here, I’m sure they did the same for him. Married couples in our circles don’t usually share the same room. You know that.”
Edna humphed. “Just be careful in this charade you’re playing, Maggie. Don’t let that man take any liberties that he wouldn’t otherwise be allowed, just because you’re pretending to be married to him.”
“You worry too much,” Margaret replied. “He’s here to find out what’s really going on, no more than that. And he knows I don’t really like him. I was quite frank with him about that.”
“Good. That should keep him from getting any inappropriate ideas.”
Margaret might have agreed, if Sebastian hadn’t kissed her for Denton’s benefit earlier, but she wasn’t about to mention that to Edna.
Margaret rushed through the rest of her preparations, wanting to check on Douglas again before she went downstairs. He still hadn’t woken up again. That was starting to worry her, but she’d wait and see what Dr. Culden had to say about it when he returned. Douglas’s fever seemed no higher, but then it had been very high to begin with and still was. The two maids she had set to take turns sitting with him were to summon her immediately when he woke, no matter the hour. Until he did wake, she wouldn’t be able to get Dr. Culden’s “worse” complication out of her mind.
She hadn’t seen Sebastian again after the doctor left earlier. He was waiting for her, though, at the bottom of the stairs. The way his eyes moved over her as she descended made her feel quite self-conscious. Usually when a man looked at her like that she felt nothing out of the ordinary. When Sebastian did it she felt far too much.
“You look lovely, m’dear.”
“There’s no need to begin the performance until you have an audience,” she huffed.
She started to pass him. His hand caught her arm and pulled her back against his chest. His words fell by her ear.
“I trust you’ll do better with your performance once we have an audience?”
“Actually,” she said with a smile, “I’ve decided that you’re due a bit of tartness for embarrassing me with that kiss in the hallway. You know very well that was inappropriate, no matter the reason.”
“Kindly remember that we’re still newlyweds.”
“And what has that to do with holding grudges?” she demanded.
“Everything, m’dear,” he replied. “As a recent bride, you would be much too interested in lovemaking to hold them for very long.”
She gasped and started to sputter, but she snapped her mouth shut when she noticed his grin. He was grinning again! This house was having an odd effect on him, she decided.
With a huff, she jerked her arm back from him and entered the dining room. Denton and Abigail were already there, and Abigail wasn’t looking too happy.
The very moment she noticed Margaret she said, “I’ve a bone to pick with you, gel. Sebastian wasn’t downstairs like you said. I searched all over, couldn’t find—”
“I’m right here, Grandmother,” Sebastian cut in as he followed Margaret into the room.
“Thank goodness! I was beginning to think I imagined your return, Sebby.”
Abigail patted the seat of the chair beside her. Sebastian obliged, though he sighed when his grandmother used that nickname again. Margaret took the seat next t
o Denton farther down the table while grandmother and grandson got reacquainted.
Her anger had been on the rise with that “newlywed” remark, sure that Sebastian was going to use that excuse to his advantage, not hers. But hearing him sigh over his childhood name did temper that considerably. She couldn’t help but smile as she remembered the appalled look on his face when Abigail had called him Sebby.
Margaret noticed that Denton was wearing quite a dour expression as he watched his brother. “Buck up, Denton,” she said. “Don’t begrudge him this reunion.”
“I don’t. It’s actually good to see him again. Never thought I would feel this way, you know. And—well, never thought I’d say this either, but I’ve missed him. We may not have been the best of chums, but Sebastian was always there if help was needed, if you know what I mean.”
“You could depend on him?”
“Exactly.”
“Then why the gloomy look?”
He rolled his eyes. “You have to ask? I still can’t believe you married him. Him of all people.”
“I never would have imagined it m’self,” she agreed. “And if you must know, I didn’t warm to him immediately when we met in Italy. But he was a familiar face from home, so I was loath to give him the cold shoulder completely.”
“You would have?”
“Certainly.”
“Because Father disowned him?”
“Oh, no, not a’tall. Because my sister would still be here, alive, if Sebastian hadn’t killed Giles.”
“Ah, a deeper grudge than I thought. And yet you married him anyway.”
Hearing it put that way, Margaret winced. “Well, he’s still the charming man he used to be.” She almost choked over that lie, but it did get her point across. “I fell in love with the new him, not the old him. It’s bloody hard to differentiate between the two now.”
Denton shook his head sadly. “You know I’d hoped—”
Margaret quickly cut him off with the warning, “Don’t say something you’ll later regret.” Her tone had been rather sharp. She curbed it with a smile and patted his hand. “I find I’m pleased to be part of this family again. You know I love Douglas and Abbie. I’m even fond of you. It worries me now that I may not be welcome a’tall when Douglas recovers and finds out Sebastian is here and that I’ve wed him. We’ll have to wait and see.”
“Nonsense. You know my father thinks of you as the daughter he never had. He’s not going to blame you for succumbing to Seb’s charm. Just the opposite will be more like it. Another mark against my brother, as it were.”
Margaret sighed. She hadn’t thought of that. Not that it mattered, when Sebastian had no intention of staying in England after he finished the job she’d brought him here to do. It still amazed her that Douglas had had yet another accident, and right when she returned home.
“There weren’t any other accidents while I was in Europe, were there?” she asked.
“Now that you mention it, there was one. Father fell out of bed.”
“What?!”
She said it too loud, drawing Sebastian’s attention. She shook her head just the tiniest bit, to let him know it was nothing to be concerned about, then turned her attention back to Denton. “You were joking, right?”
“Perhaps I phrased it wrong, but no. He got out of bed, twisted his foot, and fell to the side. Scraped his back up pretty good on the bed frame. And his ankle was sprained for a couple weeks. He blamed it on the rug by his bed, that it was bunched up and he put his foot down on it wrong.”
“I see.”
That really did sound like only clumsiness on Douglas’s part. She simply couldn’t imagine anyone sneaking into his room to make a mess of his rug in the hopes he’d fall and hurt himself. That was far too far-fetched—or the plan of someone who wasn’t quite right in the head anymore.
With Douglas absent, Margaret rearranged the seating so that they were all seated together at Abigail’s end of the table.
Sebastian seemed to be on his best behavior, no doubt for Abigail’s sake. But what a contrast! He wasn’t pulling out any long-bladed daggers here as he’d done at her dining table. No indeed. Here he looked every bit the aristocrat, at ease, and so bloody handsome it really was hard to keep her eyes off of him.
But for a family reunion, he did more asking than answering, despite everyone’s avid curiosity about what he’d been up to these last eleven years. It was amazing how he could speak of his life in Europe and reveal only a little of what he’d done there. The man was as inscrutable as his expression usually was. She’d been hoping she’d learn a thing or two about him, but in fact she probably knew more about him now than his family did.
But while he said little of consequence about himself, he listened raptly to every word his brother and grandmother said. And he watched them and the servants keenly. Margaret reminded herself that he was just doing the job she’d hired him to do, trying to figure out who wanted Douglas dead. Though the odd link in the chain hadn’t made an appearance yet. It was certainly going to be interesting to see what transpired when Juliette returned home—and when Douglas woke up.
Chapter 21
A BIGAIL RETIRED SHORTLY AFTER DINNER. Sebastian disappeared as well, Margaret hoped to do the job she was paying him for, well, would be paying him for. Finding herself alone after Dr. Culden’s second visit, which left her with no better news about Douglas’s condition, Margaret chose to retire early as well.
It had been quite an eventful day, much more taxing than she’d expected. Trying to juggle the truth with the lies she and Sebastian had concocted in order to carry out their performance without making any mistakes had exhausted her mentally, if not physically.
A hot steamy bath was in order! Edna arranged it before she retired to the room she and Oliver had been given in the servants quarters. Edgewood had plumbing, but like White Oaks and most households, the pipes didn’t reach the upper floors, so water still had to be heated in the kitchen and carried upstairs. Margaret’s room did have a small separate room for bathing, or bathroom, as it was gaining popularity in being called, with a nice porcelain tub, which she put to good use that night.
She was just about to nod off, she was so comfortable in the tub, when she heard, “I was hoping you’d be asleep by now so we wouldn’t have to have this conversation.”
Her eyes flew open. She sank down as low as she could go in the tub to hide. She simply couldn’t believe that Sebastian was standing in her doorway and said so. “I don’t believe this!”
She hadn’t closed the door. She hadn’t needed to, since the bedroom door was closed. No one should have entered without knocking, especially him.
“Did I forget to mention we’re sharing this room? You know, just like we’re married.” His tone was excessively dry, as if she’d forgotten their pretense.
“Not all married couples share bedrooms,” she replied tartly. “Surely you know that. And we fall into the it’s-not-going-to-happen category!”
He sighed. “As I said, I really was hoping this conversation could wait until morning, but if you insist—”
“Just leave, Sebastian. We can discuss this any time but now.”
“Well, no, it obviously must be now, since I’m not leaving.”
She poked her head over the rim of the tub just enough to see him. “What d’you mean you’re not leaving? We have enacted a pretense. That does not give you liberties that would otherwise be denied you. This is not going to work!”
“Be quiet, Maggie. It will work. If you’d put aside your maidenly modesty for a moment and just think about it, how better to keep any doubts about our marriage from arising than by our sleeping in the same room, with the whole household aware of it?”
“This is not going to work!”
“Be quiet, Maggie,” he said again. “Separate bedrooms would be fine at your house, not that I would allow them if we were really married, of course—”
“Allow?!” she cut in.
“But everyone
here knows we’re just guests for the duration,” he continued, ignoring her outrage, “that we have no intention of staying long—except my father, who isn’t even aware yet that I’m here.”
Margaret wasn’t going to discuss that either at the moment. She could see his golden gaze trying to make out her shape beneath the bathwater. “For the last time, get out of my bathroom! If we must discuss the sleeping arrangements now, you will kindly let me finish my bath first.”
“Kindly?” He started to laugh. “Don’t believe I’m capable of that anymore, Maggie. But if it will expedite this discussion—” He turned to leave, then turned back again, his intense golden eyes meeting hers. “You have magnificent breasts, Maggie.”
Before she could scream, he closed the door, with himself on the other side of it. Margaret spared a moment to make sure it was going to stay closed, then flew out of the tub. She didn’t waste time drying off. She wanted her body covered right away. The pink robe would have to suffice, since she’d left her clothes in the bedroom.
With her robe belted tightly around her waist, she was still somewhat trembling from her outrage. She leaned against the door for a moment, took several deep breaths. He was impossible. How could he make that remark about her breasts? She didn’t know how to deal with a man who did and said whatever he pleased. He’d lived alone too long, she feared, away from polite society. He’d forgotten how to behave around a lady. Or he simply didn’t care. That was more likely.
She wasn’t actually calm yet, but her heart had stopped pounding, so she took one more deep breath and opened the door. She was hoping, she really was, that he’d dredged up some semblance of decency and wouldn’t be waiting for her in her bedroom to finish a discussion that they shouldn’t even be having in the first place. It was a foolish hope.
Sebastian was stretched out on the chaise longue, a fancy piece in soft blue and green quilted silk. It was designed for someone to sit on with her back against the high end and her legs stretched out comfortably, as she enjoyed a good book. It was designed for a woman to do that. She doubted Sebastian’s legs would fit even if he weren’t now almost lying prone on it, his calves off the end, his feet on the floor.