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“Why do younotwant to marry me?” he countered.
Lavinia heaved a sigh. “I want to. But I want to be certain of your motives. I do not want to be a burden—”
“I would never think of you as such,” Sebastian said heatedly.
Miss Gale perked up her ears, but then resumed her purring, her claws working at his bandage above his injury.
Lavinia licked her lips. When she spoke next, her voice was strained. “You might change your mind.”
This was getting tiresome, but Sebastian understood her anxiety. He wanted to soothe her, to let her know that none of it mattered to him. “I wouldn’t.”
“There are things I need to tell you.”
Sebastian inclined his head. “Please.”
“Firstly, I have no dowry.”
Sebastian had to blink to make certain he hadn’t misheard. “Does it look like I ever cared about that?”
“Secondly,” Lavinia continued. “I have a stepmother who doesn’t have a place to stay… I-I can’t leave her behind.”
“You can bring your stepmother to live with us. Hell, you can bring the entire household. I don’t give a damn.”
Lavinia nervously chewed on her lips. “There’s more.”
“Yes, you can keep your cat, too.”
She chuckled. At least, she didn’t seem as tense anymore. “That was not what I wanted to say, but thank you. Miss Gale would appreciate it very much. She seems to love you.”
“Anything else. Nothing matters as long as I get you, you understand?” He squeezed her fingers.
Lavinia’s eyes filled with tears. “You might hate me after this.”
Sebastian’s insides tensed. How could she even think that? “Never.”
“It is about our kidnapping.”
To say that Sebastian was taken aback was to say nothing at all. He expected her to say something about her father, but the kidnapping? “What about it?”
Lavinia fumbled in her pocket and then handed him a handkerchief, her hand shaking.
Sebastian looked at it, turned it this way and that before raising his eyes to hers. He wished he understood why she was so nervous. “A very nice handkerchief. Thank you.”
“It’s my guardian’s,” she said as if that was supposed to make any sense.
“And?” He furrowed his brows.
“When I hurt my foot on the rocks back in Watchet, you wrapped my cut in a handkerchief… with the same embroidery in the corner.”
Sebastian squinted at her and then looked back at the piece of linen in his hand. “Are you trying to say that—”
“That house we were brought to was my guardian’s. His mother’s name was Rose. I suspect the handkerchiefs belonged to her.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Sebastian shook his head. “Why would he work with William?”
“He didn’t,” Lavinia said emphatically. “He did it all himself.”
This conversation made less and less sense by the moment. “But why? Did he want us compromised? In that case, I suppose I owe him a thank you.”
