“I know.”
“I was just…” He grimaced. “Doing my husbandly duty.”
She scoffed and looked away, but he noticed how her cheeks flushed pink.
“And with no one to see,” she said softly. “What a waste.”
He laughed to break the tension. “Do not worry, I will make sure to tell everyone I meet what I did.”
She laughed too, still not looking at him. But her laughter soon died down, and the silence returned, even more tense than it had been.
Sebastian stared at his wife, but she refused to return it. And between them, he felt an undeniable energy growing, seeming to pull at them.
“Good night,” he said, breaking the silence, shattering that energy. “Sleep well.”
He turned and strode to the door.
“Sebastian…” Her call was soft.
He reached the door and turned back, and for the first time, she was looking at him.
“Thank you,” she muttered.
He smiled in response, not trusting himself to speak. And once she accepted that smile, he put his head down and left.
Sebastian walked quickly back to his room, his mind whirring as he puzzled out what had just happened. He did not want to consider it. He did not want to even think about it! The dangers of such a thing…
No. Best to pretend it did not happen and move on.
Regardless of that decision, Sebastian knew one thing to be true. He would not get so much as a wink of sleep tonight. Of that, he had no doubt.
CHAPTER 12
It was their second outing as a married couple, and Helena could not help but notice how different this one was from their first. An improvement, as she saw it, in so many ways.
“Where on earth is he?” Anna Walford, the Duchess of Wells, asked Helena as she looked around the busy ballroom. “I thought he would be hanging off your arm like a vine wrapped about a tree.”
“What would give you that impression?” Helena asked, a casual shrug to go with it, the implication being that she was not bothered either way.
Anna wrinkled her nose. “From what I have heard about the two of you, I would expect nothing less.”
“I thought you hated gossip,” Helena pointed out.
“Is it gossip if it is true?”
“It is gossip if it is spoken about as a truth, despite having no proof to back up the claims.” Helena had a glass of wine in her hand, and she took a purposeful sip. “So yes, in this case, it is gossip.”
Anna glowered. “You are being awfully mysterious, Helena. I do not like it.”
“I am not.”
“You are!” she cried. “And do not pretend that I am the one who is out of line. I am merely happy for you, that’s all. And my hope was that tonight, I would be given good reason to be.”
“On account of the gossip you heard?” Helena fluttered her eyelashes at her friend.
“On account of what people have been saying, yes,” Anna countered. “Which, if true, is reason to celebrate. Shame on me for only wanting what is best for my friend.”
“I think you were just excited to have someone else to pull into your little social web of married women to invite over so that you might…” Helena winked. “Gossip, as you so love doing.”
