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‘Sebastian, are you going to tell me why Robert hit you?’ Henri put her hand on her hip and attempted to turn the conversation away from her so-called predicament. ‘What did you do to annoy him?’
‘Henrietta, I am wise to your tricks. I requested this parlour not for Miss Ravel’s convenience, but to spare your blushes. You may come down from your high horse and speak civilly to me if you want to keep your present lifestyle. Things are going to change.’
Henri took a step backwards. She glanced between Sebastian and Robert. Robert shook his head. And it crashed over her. Sebastian had guessed. He knew what she’d done.
‘I explained this before, Cawburn,’ Robert said, moving over towards her. ‘Your blackmailing days are over. Lady Thorndike will be marrying me, if it comes to it.’
Chapter Seventeen
Henri stared at Robert. Marrying him?
A pulse of warmth leapt through her at the thought of being his wife, but she ruthlessly squashed it. She was not going to marry anyone. She wanted his friendship, not his hand in marriage, not if he didn’t love her. It was all decided. They were intimate friends. He hadn’t asked her first. He’d waited until Sebastian forced the issue. She wasn’t about to marry anyone because someone else proclaimed it necessary. Robert had to want to marry her, and Robert had proudly proclaimed that he wasn’t in the marriage market.
‘As jokes go, Mr Montemorcy, this is a pretty poor one. I don’t need your protection from my cousin.’ Henri crossed her arms and regarded Robert through a narrow gaze. They had agreed last night—intimate friendship, not marriage. She refused to become someone’s wife because society dictated. It had to be because Robert wanted to marry her. And he didn’t. ‘You have not asked me, nor have I accepted. This fustian nonsense must cease. Someone might get the wrong idea.’
‘As head of the family, I accept on your behalf, Henrietta,’ Sebastian said, coming over to her and putting an arm about her shoulders. The gesture was designed to hold her in place rather than seek comfort. Henri shrugged several times, but his grip only tightened. ‘I was reasonably pleased that Montemorcy has decided to do the decent thing without too much persuasion. That you are far worse than Miss Ravel is self-evident. However, I’m willing to be persuaded otherwise if I have made a mistake.’
The back of Henri’s neck prickled a warning. Sebastian’s easygoing demeanour had vanished and in its place she saw controlled fury. Persuasion was a euphemism for money.
‘What do you want, cousin?’ Henri tried to make her voice sound carefree. Sebastian was seeking to unnerve her, that was all. He wouldn’t truly demand money to keep his silence. He had his code. Surely he hadn’t sunk that low? Robert had to understand that he didn’t need to sacrifice himself for her good name. ‘I’d have thought he’d be the last person in the world you would like me to marry.’
‘Did you think, sweet cousin, that I can’t recognise a woman who has been well-loved?’
Before she could move, Sebastian lunged forwards, caught her chin between his forefinger and thumb and held her face steady. Henri forced herself not to flinch or look away and meet his searching gaze with calm fortitude. Above everything else, she had to stop Robert from making a sacrifice that they’d both regret. She couldn’t bear the thought of him resenting being forced into marriage, of losing him slowly inch by precious inch because he had been forced. If Robert married her, she wanted it to be for love.
‘Has drink completely addled your mind, Sebastian?’
‘Even now, you wear a glow that was not there when I left yesterday morning.’ Sebastian gave a menacing glance towards where Robert stood. ‘Doesn’t she look truly exquisite, Montemorcy? A tasty morsel?’
‘You will keep a civil tongue in your head!’ Robert ground out. ‘There are ladies present.’
‘I do beg your pardon, Miss Ravel,’ Sebastian said with heavy irony. ‘Henrietta Maria, answer the question. Did you spend last night alone?’
‘That, Sebastian, is none of your business!’ Henri gasped, wrenching her chin away as anger surged through her. Sebastian had to be made to understand that if he persisted in this stupid jape, he would be making her life a misery. ‘You have no right! Stop trying to excuse your bad behaviour!’
Robert, to her annoyance, cleared his throat, but she refused to look at him. Who was he simply to announce that they were going to get married without asking her? She wasn’t some parcel to be passed around. There was a difference between a loving marriage and a forced one. She knew the difference. She refused to have a one-sided love match. She’d seen how her mother hadn’t coped and how the anger and resentment had driven her father away.
