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Chapter 2
“Have you heard?”
Sebastian Rutledge now Viscount Shaw danced lightly on his feet, avoiding the hammer like fists of his closest friend and business partner in a housing venture, Percy Taylor. They had been boxing now for almost an hour, and though Sebastian's muscles burned, an
d sweat dampened his hair and body, he was nowhere ready to throw in the towel. “Are you attempting to distract me, because I am winning this bout?” he asked with a grin, slamming a right into his friend’s side, his thinly wrapped knuckles meeting hardened slabs of muscle.
Percy had been obliged to offer himself up as a sparring partner and had arrived at the crack at dawn at Sebastian's townhouse in Berkley Square. Sebastian had been restless, eaten up with a sense of anger and despair that was quite unlike him. He was known for his calm, methodical approach to business and personal matters, and he prided himself on being practical. This release of energy was the best thing to divert his thoughts from the sense of loss eating through his soul. His friend had suggested he visited a bawdy house and released his frustrations in one or two willing female bodies, but Sebastian had been unable to confide he had been without a woman for over two years. Because of her—Lady Fanny Dashwood, a woman who didn't even notice his existence beyond the barest of polite social conversation. He was a damned fool.
“So, you really have no notion,” Percy said, a taunting smile on his lips.
They circled each other now, both getting in another punch before Sebastian replied, “Notion of what?”
“Lady Fanny ran away from Lord Trent. They are not married.”
And that was all Percy needed to say to knock the wind out of Sebastian. The man took advantage and clipped him on the chin, and he allowed himself to fall backward on the ground with a resounding thud. The ache of that didn’t even penetrate, nor did the ringing in his head. Lady Fanny wasn’t married. The reason for his tormented restlessness would not be slowly unwrapped tonight by another man and out of his reach forever. He was the worst sort of scoundrel to even feel for a minute the primal satisfaction that slammed into his gut.
“You knew she was marrying today.” Percy stood above him, unwrapping the thin leather from his hands. “I thought that was the reason you wanted to spar so desperately. Good God man, when are you going to realize fine ladies like her ain’t for the likes of us?”
Never. But he made no reply. “Are you certain she is unwed?”
Percy scowled. “If you had been out instead of holing up in your townhouse, you would have heard. The news is all over town. Lady Fanny slapped Trent’s cheek and then ran away from the altar and into her carriage. From all accounts, the lady's action is ruinous. Rubbish if you ask me."
Sebastian went cold. Ruined. He did not want that for her, not when he had discreetly observed how being cut had hurt her. Sebastian had met her a few years ago at a dinner party to which her brother, Lord Banberry, had invited him. They were friends of sorts, for a while Sebastian was certain he commanded the respect of most of the fashionable lords because of his wealth and business shrewdness, though he did not belong to their elevated circles. The title of Viscount had been conferred upon him only two years past, just because the previous viscount, a cousin twice removed had been unlucky enough to die without an heir.
Society had been amused with Sebastian’s lack of refinement to his embarrassment. It seemed a grave sin that he had not been born into wealth and power, and worse still his father at one point had been a butler before he had made his wealth through trade. The few times he had attended a society event, those who fancied themselves his better, had treated him with a thin veneer of courtesy, and he had been quite conscious he was not considered to truly belong to their society and probably would never be fully accepted.
The only worthwhile thing that had resulted from the few balls he’d attended was meeting Lady Fanny. At their first meeting, Sebastian had been struck by her prettiness and charming manners. Several times he had bumbled in his speech around her, and he had been flummoxed that he could feel so witless from a smile. He was considered ruthless and feared in some circles, his wealth unmatched by most lords, his business empire vast and growing fast across the continent, and Lady Fanny had on more than one occasion reduced him to a stammering schoolboy. The mere memory had him scowling.
Though he did not like speculating about her like a gossip, he asked, “Did the rumor reveal the why of her actions?”
"No. But it is clear to me he dealt her an egregious insult. The rest of society only seems to be concerned that she jilted a marquess.”
Sebastian’s heart had yet to settle inside his chest, as his thoughts skipped from one notion to the other, all improbable and dangerous. He wanted to go to her, find a way to woo and court her. And he also wanted to give her time to recover from whatever had caused her to act without care of society’s judgment. And he wanted to slay whoever had caused her hurt, but most of all he wanted to roar his triumph that she was no longer lost to him. A foolish desire to be certain for a genteel lady wasn’t for the likes of him. He had a title now, but he was still the same coarse man in his thoughts, deeds, and friendships. Sebastian did not give himself the airs of gentility, he wouldn’t even know how. His inaction before had seen her engaged to another when he had wanted her desperately. During their rare encounters over the past several months, his admiration had grown, but he had never shown it. This was providence.
He pushed from off the mat, prowled to the lone sofa in the corner of the room, grabbed a towel and raked it across his skin. With impatient motions he dried the sweat from his body, ignoring his friend's curious and mocking glance. "What do I do?" he asked, putting on a white shirt, and quickly making himself presentable before walking through that door. He had learned one did not cavort half-naked in front of servants.
“Do you really want my advice?” Percy asked quietly, his brown eyes unusually somber.
Sebastian pinched the bridge of his nose. “I want to call on her, but it would be outrageous for me to do so.” I’m making the same mistake as my old man.
The intrusive and unwelcome voice had his thoughts careening to a terrifying halt. The first pause he’d had since the wicked need to claim Lady Fanny Dashwood commanded his regards.
His father had loved his mother with every emotion in his soul, and that man had died waiting for her to love him back. And Sebastian feared she never did, simply because his father had been a merchant and she had been the daughter of a country gentleman. He didn’t think his mother had ever forgiven her family for marrying her off to a man so low in connections and education. Their marriage had been an odd one, certainly devoid of mutual love and respect, and while Sebastian had loved his mother, even as a child, he had seen the contempt she had for his father. A contempt born from the notion that she was his better in every way.
A rough sound issued from him. “I know what you are going to say, no need to repeat it.”
Percy had been cautioning Sebastian against his admiration for Lady Fanny for months now. It wasn’t possible for her regard to be returned, she was the daughter of an earl who had known her place in the glitter and pomp of high society since her birth. The thoughts he had of her in the nights, that illicit one of stripping her bare and splaying her across silken sheets while he feasted on her loveliness would never be realized.
“But will you heed my warnings?” Percy asked.
“For now,” Sebastian murmured, walking away and out the door. He made his way to his study.
“So, you will not be epically foolish and rush over to Mayfair?” Percy demanded hurrying to catch up to him.
“I’m not a blathering idiot, nor am I insensitive to the privacy her family must require now.”
“Ah…so you are retreating to plot your moves. How diabolical of you,” he drawled.
