It didn’t take him long to come upon the side hall that Ronan had mentioned. A conservatory was nearby. Noting the dim hallway with lights leading to double doors opened into near darkness, Sebastian hesitated a moment before finding his way in there.
Maybe he would find Thomas tonight and maybe he wouldn’t. But Sebastian was growing tired of the man. He didn’t like how he kept appearing and removing Isabel from him.
Only I know I need to be around more frequently for her in return. Even with our agreement, I fear I am doubting it more every day.
“You’re a fool to keep your distance,” Marcus had laughed at him the other day in the ring when learning that Sebastian still had not gotten his wife with child. “Keep her close, that one. She’s a deeeelight!”
“Marriages in the ton are different,” Sebastian had grunted before swinging and hitting nothing.
His friend had merely snickered. “So are you. Sure, you don’t belong anywhere. That’s what makes it right for you to be anywhere you like. Besides, the past is dead.”
“The past is the past, indeed.”
After blocking another blow, Marcus grunted and said, “Isn’t they all dead or gone?” He ignored Sebastian’s correction. “I mean it. The past is dead so live the future already. Don’t you want yourself a future?”
I don’t even know what to do with a future. The present is difficult enough.
And yet… Sebastian faltered as an image came to mind. He’d been dreaming more lately. Dreaming in general was rare. And even rare was having pleasant dreams. Lately, he kept seeing Isabel holding his hand. Riding with him everywhere. Laughing with him.
And then there were the children. A handful of them, always prancing around, hanging on him and Isabel. Almost like they were a family.
What if I do want a future for myself? What does that mean for me? For her?
He couldn’t simply take his words back. Could he? Sebastian wandered the shadowed conservatory with doubt. There was no one here. But he did want to find Thomas if only to help his wife. He liked helping her, spending time with her, doing anything with her.
A very smart woman was Isabel, one who had agreed to marry him. She had even painted him. Sometimes when he woke from his dreams he went to stand before it in the dark library, wondering if she really did see him that way. If she really did understand him.
She got all of it so terribly correct. She put in the shadows and the doubts and the past… and she brightened it with hope. She even made me handsome. The care she put into every stroke was more than what I’ve ever seen anyone do for me. Maybe things could change between us.
The very thought made his stomach queasy. He didn’t know what to do when he was nervous. Wiping his hands on his breeches, Sebastian turned back toward the door.
Maybe he would talk to her after all. Tonight, on the drive home, he could stop hiding from her.
“Oh dear!”
Just before he reached the door, someone came stumbling in a heap out of the darkness. Sebastian jerked backwards in surprise. But finding it a woman falling over, he hastily jumped ahead to catch her before she could collapse on the ground.
A breathy sound fluttered against his cheek. “Oh! Goodness me, I have a hero.”
How did this happen so quickly?
Hands tightened their grip on his arm and shoulder. He mostly restrained his flinch, pulling the two of them upright. He’d managed to catch her over a knee somewhat and it only took a moment to put them both on their feet.
Clearing his throat, he tried to politely nudge her back. “I beg your pardon, er, lady…?”
“Annabelle Lacey.” She had something stuck in her eyes as she gazed up at him. “And who might you be?”
“I…” he started to look away, thinking he heard movement. But then her hands were on his waist coast. “I beg your pardon, my lady, but you must have me confused with someone else––”
She leaned forward with a look of intensity. “Not at all, Your Grace. I know just who you are. And I know just what you deserve.”
“What?”
There were few times in his life where Sebastian felt he was caught by surprise. The carriage accident, for starters. Then the bewilderment of living in the filthy corners of London. But in time, it had all faded away. He hadn’t even felt particularly surprised to find a young lady to rescue on the edge of Covent Garden, nor the realization when they would have to marry.
This moment, however, shocked him to his core as this Annabelle Lacey struck him with her lips on his. He staggeredback a step, part of his training kicking in. But she pursued him steadily, further leaning the rest of her body onto all of him.
Tearing himself free, he heard a cry and thought he had hurt her. But Annabelle had a dreamy expression on her face, a smile that kept growing as she turned––
