AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She looked everywhere but at him.
“Oh my God. Youplannedthis?”
“In a way. I couldn’t be certain you’d suggest we elope. But I prepared for it, just in case you did.”
“You told me you didn’twantto elope. You argued against it.”
“I argue against everything. It’s in my blood.” She bit her lip. “If I’d agreed too easily, you might have been suspicious.”
He turned away, pushing a hand through his hair. “This is unbelievable.”
“I’m so sorry. It was wrong of me. But for a year now, I’ve been so worried about you. You never called on me anymore. I realized I couldn’t go through with the wedding months ago and—”
“Monthsago?” Perry squawked.
Sebastian wheeled to face him. “Why are you even still here?”
“Because.” Perry tugged on his waistcoat. “I believe I’m owed an apology, too.”
“You’re sure as hell not getting one from me.”
“I’m sorry, Giles.” Mary approached him. “Truly sorry. I should have broken it off ages ago. But I would have done you a greater disservice by becoming your wife. I think we both know that we weren’t suited to one another.”
“Perhaps not, but—” Perry made a disgusted gesture in Sebastian’s direction. “Of all men, did it have to be him?”
“Yes.” She glanced at Sebastian. “Of all men, it had to be him.”
Emotion gripped his heart like a fist.
“You heard my lady,” he said to Perry. “Now you can leave. Go back to London and amuse yourself by further corrupting Parliament.”
Perry finally moved to leave the cottage. “I’ll have you know,” he said, hand on the door latch, “that I have several plans for the benefit of the poor and infirm.”
“Just getout.”
At last, the man was gone.
Sebastian turned to his deceitful bride.
She clutched her hands together in front of her. “I owe you a great many explanations.”
“You can offer all the explanations you like, but there is no excuse for this.”
“Will you at least hear me out?”
First, he had a few things to say of his own. “You lied to me. You led me to believe you were jilted, alone, vulnerable. When Henry and I went off to war, I made a vow to protect you if he didn’t come back. The past few days, I’ve tortured myself. Knowing that I kept that promise to guard you as best I could, and at the same time believing it came at the cost of your happiness. Now I learn that was only a falsehood. How much of the rest of it was lies, too?”
“None of it. I swear. Everything else was the truth.” She approached him. “I know I lied about being jilted. That was wrong of me. But if you care for me, and want to raise a family together… Is it really so terrible to learn that it was you I loved all along?”
“I don’t know if I can believe that now.”
He could scarcely believe those three words when she’d spoken them the first time. How the hell was he supposed to accept them now?
“You think I would lie to you? About the day I learned of my own brother’s death?” Her voice shook with emotion. “If that’s how little you think of me, we can annul the marriage. No one knows we went through with it, save for the coachman and Giles. And Dick and Fanny, but who would they tell?”
“The Church knows. I know. We said vows. We’ve had…” He motioned impatiently. “…marital relations.”
Well, look at that. He’d come up with a polite term all on his own.
