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“I’m still surprised you chose to do that.” Sebastien sniffed and chuckled. “I’m glad you’ve had a bath, at least. You did look like you’d been roughing it with the animals.”
“It did feel good to have a proper bath for the first time in years.”
“It’s a pity you won’t get rid of the beard.”
Rafe rubbed a hand over his jaw. There wasn’t really much in the way of shaving tools where he had been, so he had simply left things to grow out. His beard was pretty thick, as was Charlie’s. They must have looked like heathens to that woman who almost went over the cliff.
The woman, who possessed those stunning hazel eyes flecked with green. Or had it been gold? Rafe wasn’t sure; the colours had changed so much as she glowered at him.
Why was he thinking about someone who had been incredibly rude to him? She wasn’t worth his time. Even if she was beautiful.
“Maybe I’ll trim it down,” Rafe said, running his fingers through the coarse hair. “Make myself look a bit more presentable.”
“You could just get rid of it altogether.”
“Probably not. I look like I’m barely in my manhood when I’m clean-shaven.”
Sebastien snorted.
“You’re going to stand out like a sore thumb with a beard.”
“No, I’m not. I’ll probably look more…distinguished.”
“As if you didn’t have enough to worry about,” Sebastien muttered, raising his glass to his mouth. “Why don’t you go into Middlesbrough and use my barber? He’ll be able to fit you in if you walk in.”
“A three-hour trip for a barber?” Rafe arched an eyebrow at his brother. “Since when have you been travelling three hours for a shave? What happened to Theodore Carstairs?”
“That’s where he is now. He said he needed more work to live, so he went to Middlesbrough three years ago. Work is certainly better for him now than it used to be.”
Rafe didn’t know what to say to that. It felt like everything was different, and he wasn’t sure how to cope with it. Change was something he had needed to get used to, but he still hated it.
“At least you can show your friend more of England. And Middlesbrough is a perfect place to find out about life in this country.” Sebastien shrugged. “Or you could go down to London.”
“I don’t think so.” Rafe shuddered. “I hated London before. And travelling for several days to that place doesn’t fill me with any excitement.”
“I can’t say I blame you. I can’t remember the last time I went to London.” Sebastien paused. “It’s been a while.”
Rafe didn’t need to ask. London was the centre of gossip, of everything involving people in society. It wouldn’t have taken long to get to the city that everyone flocked to for the news of Richard’s murder to reach them. Sebastien wouldn’t have been welcome around there for standing up for his brother.
He felt a pang of sadness. He hadn’t done anything that he was certain about, but Sebastien had suffered as a result. Rafe had never liked how the family of a person in disgrace was affected as well. That was just not fair.
He looked at his brandy glass, swirling the contents around.
“I can’t apologise enough for you losing everything as well.”
“What are you talking about?”
“What happened with Richard….”
“Rafe, you didn’t kill him. If people don’t believe that, that’s on them.”
“But your own reputation….”
Sebastien scoffed.
“I’m not interested in that. The people close to me know what I’m like, and they’re still on my side. That’s all that matters. Besides,” he added as he sat back and crossed his legs at the ankles, “it stopped the talk of marriage for a while. I wasn’t interested in that at all, and with potential prospects disappearing, Father stopped pressuring me to marry.”
Rafe remembered that part. It was finding out Katherine was going to be his brother’s intended wife that started this off in the first place.
