Unexpectedly Wed to the Officer--A Historical Romance Award Winning Author

by Jenni Fletcher

  ‘Oof!’ Sebastian felt stunned for a few seconds. It wasn’t so much the fall that hurt, or the root beneath his back, as the weight of a ten-year-old boy landing on top of his chest.

  ‘Sorry.’ Peter wriggled away to one side and then yelped.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ He tried to sit up, then fell back as his ribs protested.

  ‘My foot hurts.’

  ‘Can you stand?’ He rolled on to his right shoulder, using his arm to push himself up to a sitting position. That felt marginally better, though he was still aware of a searing pain in his side.

  ‘Only on one leg, I think.’

  ‘Damn—I mean, oh, dear.’ He looked up at the sky, just in time for a large drop of freezing cold water to fall into his face. Only it wasn’t quite rain—or snow either. It was sludge. Thick, wet, thoroughly drenching sludge that made it downright impossible for them to stay where they were. There weren’t any leaves and nowhere near enough branches on the tree to provide shelter.

  ‘We need to get back to the house.’

  ‘But we’ll get soaked!’ Peter protested. ‘Maybe we should wait here for somebody to find us.’

  ‘Not in this weather.’

  ‘We could shout for help.’

  Sebastian looked around, but there was no one in sight to hear them. No doubt David was already looking for his son, but the Feversham estate was big enough that it could be hours before anyone came this way. Besides, the clouds in the distance looked even more threatening than the ones above them now. The last thing they wanted was to be huddled beneath a tree in a lightning storm.

  ‘No, we need to move.’ He held his hands out and they pulled each other up to their feet with an effort.

  ‘Ow.’ Peter hopped a few times on his good foot.

  ‘It’ll be all right.’ Sebastian crouched down, steeling himself for a fresh burst of pain. ‘Climb on to my back. Imagine I’m a mast.’

  ‘But you’re hurt.’

  ‘Only a little. We’ll manage.’

  He clamped his teeth together as Peter clambered on to his back and then staggered forward, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other and trying to ignore the sound of rolling thunder in the distance. It wasn’t elegant and the pain was excruciating, but at least it was progress, albeit of the infinitely slow kind. If they followed the path around the lake, then it would take them back to the main lawn...provided his ribs could make it that far.

  ‘Uncle Sebastian?’ Peter sounded frightened.

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘What did I just tell you?’ He twisted his head, managing to grin over his shoulder. ‘Sometimes we just need to forgive. Now come on, cadet, we can do this.’

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Bother, Henrietta thought. Bother and fiddlesticks and... She screwed up her face and let loose several of the choicest nautical phrases Sebastian had taught her—or said in close proximity to her anyway, usually under his breath. There hadn’t been any deliberate teaching, but she had a good memory, especially when it came to such colourful metaphors. Under normal circumstances, she would never have dreamed of repeating any of them, but in this particular instance, the words made her feel better.

  ‘Oh!’ Mrs Fortini looked startled as she passed her in the hallway. ‘Is everything all right?’

  ‘Yes. I’m just going for a lie down.’ Henrietta hurried past, attempting a smile, though she was afraid the effort made her look as though she had some kind of digestive problem.

  ‘Of course. Are the boys still out walking?’

  ‘I think so.’ She nodded, though in all honesty she wasn’t sure. She’d changed her mind about accompanying David and her nephews into the woods, stomping about the herb garden for half an hour by herself instead.

  She ran up the staircase, into her room, and flung herself down on the bed. The fire was lit, but she still couldn’t stop from shivering, as if the cold were coming from inside her. Which made sense since her argument with Sebastian had left her feeling as if a part of her had frozen. She’d told him to leave, to go back to sea, to go anywhere he wanted.

  She folded an arm over her face, trying to blot out what had happened, but it was impossible. Her mind was a raging whirlwind of misery and self-recrimination and her chest felt tight, as if her heart were truly breaking. That was when she knew how stupid she’d been, spinning daydreams. She’d really thought they’d been more than friends, that he cared about her, that he might even love her, but he hadn’t. His motives for being with her might have been more honourable than most other men’s, but in the end they’d had nothing to do with the real her. Anything else he’d said had only been what she’d wanted to hear.

  After what might have been ten minutes or an hour, she got up and went to the window. The weather was abysmal now, the pale grey of the morning replaced by a dark and threatening shade of lead. There were no gaps in the clouds any more, only one single dark mass for as far as she could see, blocking out the sun like a vast cloak across the sky. It was beautiful in a dramatic kind of way, the kind of scene she might have enjoyed watching with Sebastian, with her head resting on his shoulder, his arm around her waist, stroking her hip... She touched the ring on her finger, a lump rising in her throat at the realisation they would never stand that way again.

  She swallowed and turned away from the window. David and the boys had probably already gone back to the nursery, which meant she ought to go up and tell them to start gathering their things. She wanted to begin packing right away. If she was only Sebastian’s wife in name, then she had no right to stay at Feversham any longer. Whatever the weather, they needed to leave.

  She started towards the door at the sound of a knock, surprised when it opened before she could reach it.

  ‘Is Peter here?’ David didn’t pause to exchange greetings.

  ‘No. I thought he was with you.’

  ‘He was, but he ran away!’

  ‘What?’ She felt a stab of panic. Peter hadn’t seemed in a particularly celebratory mood when he’d seen his father that morning. Instead, he’d looked angry and guarded, but she’d thought some time alone together would help.

  ‘I don’t know what happened.’ David pushed a hand through his hair. ‘I was just trying to talk to him...’

  ‘Which way did he go?’ She grabbed hold of his arm. Why it had happened wasn’t as important at that moment as finding him.

  ‘I don’t know. He charged off through the trees.’

  ‘Tobias!’ She ran out of the room and hurtled down the stairs, trying to think clearly and not panic. Despite the storm, there was still plenty of daylight left. It wasn’t even time for luncheon. And Peter wouldn’t have been foolish enough to go near the lake, not after everything Sebastian had taught him.

  The thought of her husband made her heart contract almost painfully. If only he were there to help! If only they hadn’t argued—and in front of Peter, too! The boy hadn’t been within hearing distance, but it would have been obvious from their body language that they were arguing. He’d probably guessed that it was about his father. Which was probably why he’d gone on to argue with David himself...

  ‘Henrietta?’ Lord Tobias emerged from his library just as she reached the bottom step.

  ‘It’s Peter. He’s run away.’ She could hear herself panting, from barely controlled panic as well as her flight down the stairs. ‘We need to organise search parties.’

  ‘Of course. Dennison!’ Lord Tobias started towards the servants’ quarters. ‘We’ll send some men out at once.’

  ‘Oh, my dear.’ Elizabeth emerged from the drawing room and put an arm around her shoulders. ‘I’m sure he can’t have gone far.’

  ‘I know. It’s just that the weather’s so terrible...’ She winced at a roll of thunder outside. If the rain now lashing against the windows was any indication, the t
empest was increasing by the minute. ‘I’m going out to look for him.’

  ‘Absolutely not. I’m sure Sebastian and your brother would both want you to stay inside.’ Elizabeth looked around. ‘Where is Sebastian?’

  ‘I don’t know. He went off somewhere, too.’ Henrietta shook her head. ‘But I need to go.’

  ‘I really don’t think—’

  ‘But I must.’

  ‘Very well.’ Elizabeth sighed and unravelled her shawl. ‘But at least wear this. I don’t want you getting sick again. Now where are Michael and Oliver?’

  ‘Up in the nursery.’ David was already opening the front door.

  ‘I’ll go and keep an eye on them.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Henrietta flung the shawl around her shoulders and then followed her brother, almost blowing back inside the house again as the wind caught her on the front steps. There was no lightning yet, thank goodness, but the clouds were skidding by at a ferocious pace. It wouldn’t be long before the centre of the storm was upon them.

  ‘Where do we start?’ she called after David, shouting to make herself heard over the roar of the wind. The outside world felt strange, as if she’d fallen into water and was fighting against the current, which, since she was already drenched, seemed an appropriate image. She had to bow her head and hunch over to make any progress at all.

  ‘In the woods! That’s where I last saw Peter!’

  ‘Do you think—? Look!’ She caught her breath, looking past David’s shoulder towards a dark shape coming from the direction of the lake. It was roughly the same size as a horse, only it wasn’t a horse. It had two heads and two of its legs were dangling in mid-air and it looked like...

  ‘Sebastian!’ she shouted, running across the lawn as fast as the wind would allow, which was still slower than David, who darted like a streak of lightning himself. He was already lifting Peter into his arms by the time she arrived.

  ‘What happened?’ She stretched her arms out, grabbing hold of Sebastian’s shoulders as he sank to one knee, clasping his side with a groan.

  ‘I fell out of a tree and landed on top of him,’ Peter answered for them, water streaming down his small face.

  ‘Out of a tree?’ She looked between them in horror. ‘Are you injured?’

  ‘I hurt my ankle.’

  ‘And I came to my senses.’ Sebastian leaned forward, eyes like hot coals though his eyelashes held tiny droplets of water as he rested his forehead against hers. ‘I don’t want my freedom back, not from you. I don’t want to go anywhere or lose you. I should never have expected you to choose. Whatever our reasons for getting married, I want to stay married.’

  ‘Yes!’ She pressed her lips to his wet cheeks, then his chin and nose, covering the whole of his face with kisses. ‘Yes to all of that. Everything you just said, especially the part about staying married.’

  ‘Good. Because I love you.’

  ‘I lo—Sebastian?’

  She tried to catch him, but it was too late. She never got to repeat the sentiment as he tumbled to the ground, unconscious.

  * * *

  ‘I thought she might want a cup of tea.’ David hesitated in the doorway, looking surprised to see Sebastian awake and Henrietta sleeping soundly in a chair by the bed. ‘I suppose you can have it if you like?’

  ‘Thank you.’ Sebastian answered in the same low undertone. ‘I could do with one.’

  ‘Well then...’ David put the saucer down on the bedside table and took a few steps back. ‘How are you feeling?’

  ‘Better now I’m warm and dry. Well enough to know I owe you an apology.’

  ‘You do?’ His brother-in-law lifted an eyebrow dubiously.

  ‘Yes. I haven’t been particularly welcoming.’

  ‘No, you haven’t.’ David frowned and then relented. ‘But I would probably have behaved the same way if our positions had been reversed. You didn’t say anything this morning that wasn’t true.’

  ‘It still wasn’t my place to say it. I was afraid of what you coming back might mean for me, but I shouldn’t have said those things, especially when I know a little something about abandoning sisters.’ He shrugged at the other’s enquiring expression. ‘I’ll tell you another time. How’s Peter?’

  ‘Lying on a sofa, enjoying the fuss.’ David scratched his chin. ‘Thank you for bringing him back safely.’

  ‘He’s a good boy. They all are. They’ll grow into fine men.’

  ‘I hope so. I never meant to hurt them. I just couldn’t see past my grief.’

  ‘And now?’

  ‘It’s still not easy, but from now on I’m going to behave the way Alice would have wanted me to. I’ve been as low as a man can go and I won’t go back.’

  Sebastian nodded sombrely. ‘I’d shake your hand, but I’m not sure I can lift my arm.’

  ‘I just need to know one thing. Do you really love my sister?’

  ‘I do.’

  ‘Then we’ll shake hands later.’ David jerked his head towards the chair. ‘She hasn’t moved from your side since they carried you up.’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘How long have you been awake?’

  ‘Only ten minutes or so, but I know her.’

  David smiled for the first time, revealing a familiar dimple in his left cheek. ‘I’ll leave you to drink your tea in peace, then.’

  Sebastian leaned back against the bedhead, watching as Henrietta’s eyelashes slowly fluttered and then opened.

  ‘I must have fallen asleep.’ She seemed surprised by the fact.

  ‘You did.’ He smiled. ‘Fortunately, it gave your brother and me a chance to talk.’

  ‘Oh.’ She looked worried.

  ‘And to make friends.’

  ‘Oh!’

  ‘I meant what I said on the lawn. I acted like a jealous boor before, but I was just so afraid of losing you.’

  ‘I was afraid it was the other way round, that you thought you were stuck with me.’ Her chin wobbled. ‘I thought that maybe you didn’t want the real me, after all.’

  ‘I’ll always want the real you. I love you, everything about you, but I was terrified you didn’t feel the same way. I was afraid you’d want to go with the boys if they went back to live with their father.’

  ‘I love them dearly, but they belong with David and I...well, I belong with you.’ She tipped her head to one side, her gaze softening. ‘Why didn’t you just tell me how you were feeling?’

  ‘I was too busy being righteously indignant. And I didn’t realise how much I loved you until I thought that I’d lost you. That’s when I knew the real reason I married you.’

  She blinked. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘That I was in love with you before we even left Bath. I already knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you.’ He clenched his jaw. ‘Henrietta, there’s something else I should tell you. Something I’ve never told anyone before. Something I don’t even like admitting to myself, about Anna and Belles.’

  ‘What?’

  He swallowed, shame-faced. ‘When I got the news about my father’s death, I was devastated, but a selfish part of me was also relieved that I was already in the navy. I didn’t want to go back to Belles, not then anyway. I was relieved that I couldn’t go back and help Anna, even though knowing that made me feel ten times worse. It sounds terrible, doesn’t it?’

  ‘You can’t help your feelings.’

  ‘No, but what I’m trying to say is, part of the reason I proposed to you was that I knew that with you it was different, that if I left you, I wouldn’t feel relieved.’ He reached for her hand and lifted it to his lips, kissing each of her fingers in turn. ‘I knew I’d spend the rest of my life regretting it. So what do you think? Could you be happy with just the two of us?’

  ‘Yes...’ She turned her hand around so that their fingers were interlace
d. ‘Apart from David, you’re the only man I’ve ever been able to trust. I was a little in love with you on our wedding day, too.’

  His breathing stalled. ‘And now?’

  ‘Now, a little seems to have become quite a lot.’

  ‘Just quite a lot?’ He raised an eyebrow though his heart soared. ‘Remember you’re talking to an injured man. I need some motivation to get better.’

  ‘You’re bruised, not broken. The doctor said you’ll be up and about in no time.’

  ‘So I don’t get any compliments, then?’

  She leaned forward, smiling tenderly into his eyes. ‘I love you, Sebastian Fortini, more than I ever imagined possible.’

  ‘And I love you more than any ship.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘That’s a deeply profound compliment from a sailor.’ He grinned. ‘But you know, this is all wrong. If this is our happily-ever-after, I shouldn’t be lying here in bed. If anything, I should be tending to you.’

  ‘You already did that, remember? Besides, wouldn’t it be dull if all love stories ended the same way?’

  ‘I still don’t feel very heroic lying here.’

  ‘Well, if you’re the hero then that makes me the heroine and I don’t want to be a damsel in distress. It should have become obvious by now that the women of Belles don’t need rescuing. We might need a little help now and again, but we want equals, not knights in shining armour.’ She reached up and stroked the side of his face. ‘But you’ll always be my hero.’

  ‘Mmm. I still think there ought to be some kind of peril.’

  ‘Oh, all right then.’ She climbed up on to the bed to stretch out beside him. ‘There you are.’

  ‘Are you implying that being in a bed with me is perilous? I have bruised ribs, remember?’

  ‘And why would you assume that I’m the one in danger? Now lie still and I’ll be gentle...’

  Chapter Twenty-Six