“Where are you going?” she asked.
“To pay bail,” he said over his shoulder.
“Whose?”
“Everyone else’s.”
God. She was already falling in love with him.
Chapter Thirty-One
Every time the train rattled and shook, Sebastian became more convinced that he’d bruised his ribs.
He’d somehow managed to get himself into a comfortable position, nearly an hour out from their arrival in Derbyshire. Typically, this would be the point in the journey in which the changing countryside lifted his spirits. However, the pitch blackness outside the train window did not afford him that luxury.
The only luxury he did have was currently leaned against his shoulder. Augusta, seated next to him, had fallen asleep early on in the ride. Slowly, ever so slowly, her sleeping form slid closer to him, with her head finally resting upon his right shoulder. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed the warmth of her until he had it again.
Hopefully it lasted far beyond this train ride. Were it not for Reginald seated across from them, his arms crossed and his face dour as he looked at the darkness beyond the window, the moment might have been perfect.
“How long will you be in Derbyshire with us?” he asked Reginald - quietly, of course, so as to keep Augusta sleeping.
“Not long,” Reginald replied curtly. “I have a ticket to America fornext Tuesday.”
Sebastian suppressed the urge to raise his brow in surprise. “America?”
Reginald did not look at him when he nodded. “Yes. To Boston, specifically. I…have some business to take care of.”
Sebastian frowned. “What business?”
Pain crossed Reginald’s face, and Sebastian thought that he was going to hear something incredibly important. Then, the man pulled himself together. He turned back toward Sebastian, his eyes flitting between him and Augusta.
“I am going to seek my own forgiveness from someone.”
Sebastian felt the weight of Augusta on him more deeply now, all the way into his core. “I don't know that Ihavefound forgiveness. Not completely.”
Reginald rolled his eyes. “I know my sister all too well. She will forgive you. She will simply make you sweat for a time before she makes it obvious.”
“I hope so. It would be a shame to have gone all the way to prison for nothing.”
His friend, who had thus far been pensive and stern, gave a half-smile. “It certainly was not for nothing.”
Augusta stirred, then, giving a sleepy sigh as she shifted against Sebastian. In the end, she left him bereft of her warmth when her eyes fluttered open and she sat up suddenly, looking about the train car with pink cheeks.
“Sorry,” she said, her voice husky from sleep. She moved away from Sebastian, putting space between them that he immediately wanted to reclaim.
“I did not mind at all,” he said, but his words did not lessen thegap that separated them.
Augusta did not respond directly to him, instead glancing about the car until her eyes fell on the darkness outside.
“How far are we?” she asked Reginald.
“We should be there soon, if I am to guess. I sent Milly ahead, so the footman ought to be waiting to take us to the house. You two can stay tonight, and then go to Sebastian’s estate after breakfast tomorrow. I’m sure his mother is in a right state at the moment, if she has heard the news.”
Sebastian cringed. In his aim to get back in the good graces of his wife, he had not thought so much about his mother and Georgie. They would be aghast at his actions. However, Augusta’s presence would be a great balm - they’d always whinged about not having enough company of ladies.
*****
Reginald was the greatest trickster who had ever walked the earth. He was, Sebastian decided, also the greatest friend who had ever walked the earth.
