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“You are not Lady Highbridge’s daughter,” he’d said calmly. “That poor babe died only minutes after her.” He went on to explain the existence of Mary, his longtime sweetheart and intended betrothed. He’d been all but set to marry her, despite the fact that she was the daughter of his solicitor, until one of his father’s associates had forced him to marry his daughter after calling in one of the estate’s many debts. The bride had been carrying the child of another upon the marriage, hence why the man had gone to such lengths to secure the match. Kitty’s father had been given no choice but to set Mary up in a comfortable situation. And then the baroness had died giving birth. “I saw an opportunity,” he’d said with a guilty gleam in his eyes. “A way for me to raise you as my legitimate daughter. I swapped you with the dead child and employed Mary as your nurse and attendant so she could be close by.” It was all a rather sordid tale, though she understood the desperation behind her father’s decisions. It was also an incredibly damaging one, something that went beyond any of her previous scrapes. No wonder that the blackmailer thought he could demand such an outrageous sum, no wonder Ashford had thought her to have schemed her way into his bed and title. Not that she forgave him yet for assuming such an awful thing. If anything, the revelation of the truth made his betrayal cut more deep, as he’d never even tried to trust her, only assuming the worst due to the circumstances of her birth. She was shocked he’d even deigned to marry her at all.
“Kitty,” as if her thoughts had summoned him, his deceptively soft baritone filtered through the door. “May I come in? We have much to speak about.” There was a pause between the two sentences, as if he were nervous and unsure of himself. She wondered if he’d finally seen reason and believed her.
She wanted to say no, wanted to tell him to go to the devil, but then she was the one who had summoned him here, and a small part of her yearned for his presence. “Ok,” she said after a moment’s consideration, her voice coming out in a rasp.
The door creaked open, and he slid through the crack before softly closing it behind him. He looked her up and down, the relief in his eyes plain to see. “I am happy you are unharmed.”
She sat up on her elbows with a playful, if not brittle smile. “Physically, at least.”
“I was an unmitigated ass to you.”
“Yes,” she replied bluntly. “You were.”
“I thought Miss White was going to throttle me when I arrived.”
“A shame she didn’t.”
“Well, we can always call her back in here. Perhaps even bring Amberwood along. He’s always looking for an excuse to beat me up. Many people are, now that I think about it.”
Kitty laughed despite herself. She’d missed this. Missed him. “We’ll make a party out of it.”
He shook his head with a wry twitch of his lips. “With some tea, perhaps? You know I hate the stuff.” The fledging smile dropped from his face. “I’ll do whatever you need me to. I don’t know how else I can make up for the injury I have done.”
“Explain yourself, perhaps?” she supplied.
He paused and looked away from her in what appeared to be embarrassment, an odd thing coming from someone so self-assured. “I owe you that much, I suppose.”
Kitty sat up and impatiently patted the space beside her. This was a golden opportunity to know him intimately, something she doubted many others were given a chance to experience. If this marriage had any hope of succeeding without them living together in misery, Kitty knew she would have to allow him to open up his heart and explain himself. Sebastian said nothing in reply to her actions, only walking silently to her bed and easing himself onto the mattress. The weight of him next to her was a solid, stable presence, and she resisted the urge to sidle up against him, no matter how much she yearned to do so. The volatile air between them may have subsided for now, but she was wary of exposing herself to him again so soon.
He stared at the wall, his face hesitant and considering before he began to speak. “You are aware that my father died shortly after my birth, I am sure.”
Kitty nodded. “It is one of your notable qualities, yes.”
“Many people think I was lucky to have inherited almost from the start, at being given control of my massive fortune from birth, but I’ve never seen it that way.”
“Was it lonely?” she guessed, aware of how isolating such an illustrious position may be, especially given how infamously cold his mother was to most other members of the Ton.
To her surprise, he shook his head. “Oh, no. I was surrounded by people. I was never left alone, with one relative or another coming to pay me court and shower my person with endearments.” There was no fondness in his tone, and his face turned grim. “Everyone was so very kind to me. Well, except for my mother.”
“Her Grace seems incapable of being kind to anyone.” She’d never met anyone who’d had a pleasant interaction with the woman. The thought of having the duchess as her mother-in-law was a daunting prospect indeed, one she hadn’t had time to contemplate amongst all the excitement.
Sebastian let out an inelegant snort. “That is an understatement. I respected her honesty, however. I at least have always known what she wanted from me and where we stood.”
Ah. There was the crux of the issue. “The others wanted something from you, something more than just your friendship.”
“You are remarkably observant. Have I told you that?”
She flushed at the compliment. “I thank you for seeing that which many others do not.”
“It’ s quite obvious when one takes more than a second to listen.”
“We are talking about you, Sebastian,” she gently teased. “Stop derailing the subject.”
“Back to Sebastian, again?”
“For now.” She crossed her arms. “Do go on.”
He raised his hands in supplication. “Alright, alright. I shall stop dithering. This is all rather difficult for me. I am rarely required to explain myself.” One wouldn’t when born into the rank he was.
