by Maya Banks
“He didn’t take advantage of me. I approached him.”
“What? You did what?” Sebastian stared at her his jaw gaping.
“I went to his house and asked him to become my lover.” She rubbed her temples, willing the dull ache to go away.
“I don’t believe this,” Sebastian said shaking his head. He finally dropped onto the settee raking both hands through his hair. “I don’t care. He still took advantage of you. He should have turned you away and come straight to me.”
“Oh yes, you men should rally together and make the female populous be more cooperative. I don’t know what we would do without so many men to tell us how to live, act, dress. Tell me, Sebastian, would you turn away a woman who asked you to be her lover?”
“I most certainly would,” he protested. “That is if she were noble born.”
She looked at him in disgust. “So you’d accept an offer from an actress.”
“I fail to see that this has any bearing on our current situation.”
“You can’t continue this, Jenna,” Quinn finally spoke up.
“I’ve already ended it,” she said bleakly.
“I think it best if you remain at home until Mamma and Papa have returned,” Sebastian stated.
“I don’t care what you deem best. I won’t be a prisoner.”
“You will stay here, if I have to lock you in your room. When Mamma and Papa return, I’ll let them decide what to do with you.”
She looked at him accusingly. “When did you stop being my protector, Sebastian? I hardly know you anymore. The Sebastian I grew up with wasn’t so cold and uncaring. So wooden. Do you even care that I am unhappy?”
“That isn’t fair,” he said, his eyes full of regret.
“Isn’t it?” Too tired to continue arguing, she rubbed her head and turned to leave the room.
“We aren’t finished, Jenna,” Sebastian called after her.
She ignored him and increased her pace, mounting the steps and all but running up to her room. Not bothering to undress, she curled up on her bed and buried her face in her pillow. Pain like she had never felt before assailed her. She missed Gray already. And never would she feel any regret for the small amount of time she had spent with him.
###
“What the deuce are we going to do?” Quinn demanded as Jenna left the room.
“I tell you what I am going to do. I am going to go beat Grayson Douglas until he’s insensible.”
“I meant what are we going to do about Jenna?”
“Damned if I know.” He blew out his breath in a long puff. “Did you know anything about this?”
Anger gripped him. “Of course I didn’t. Do you think I would have let her run off in the night alone to meet a man I know nothing about? Any man for that matter.”
Sebastian held up his hands. “Just asking. She usually confides in you.”
“Yes, she does,” he said quietly. Or did until now. He couldn’t totally fault her for not telling him, but it still hurt to know she didn’t think she could confide in him. They’d always shared everything. “Are you going to tell Father?”
“I don’t know.” Sebastian sighed. “She said Stuart knows, but I wonder if his father does. I have to think he doesn’t or we would have heard from him by now. Christ, Quinn, what if she’s pregnant?”
Quinn felt the blood drain from his face. He hadn’t given thought to that complication. What a mess that would be. “What do you think about what she said about Stuart?”
“Bloody fop,” Sebastian muttered. “He doesn’t deserve her. I don’t know what the hell happened to him in the last few years, but he is not the Stuart we grew up with.”
“Do you think we’ve been too hard on her?”
Sebastian sighed and closed his eyes. “God knows I hate to see her so unhappy, but I can’t condone her running off and bedding the first rake that obliges her.” His face twisted in anger. “I can’t believe we are sitting here talking about our little sister bedding anyone!”
“She’s not a child any more. Perhaps it’s time we stopped treating her like one.”
Sebastian stared straight ahead. “This is a disaster. I don’t care if she loves him or not, I am going over there to beat him senseless. I ought to call him out.”
“No, you won’t do that. It would kill Jenna.”
“Damn it, Quinn, I love her. Doesn’t she know that? I am about to go take apart a man because he dared to touch her.”
“She knows, Sebastian. She’s had a difficult time of late. You mustn’t judge her by her recent actions.”
“What was Papa thinking? To betroth her to that fribble.”
Quinn blinked in surprise. This was the first time his brother had said anything that hinted of his disapproval. “Why did he do it, do you know?” He had already decided to query their father on the subject as soon as he returned, but maybe Sebastian was privy to information he had not been.
“I don’t know. Truly. The viscount came to see Papa just after Jenna’s sixteenth birthday and the next thing I knew they were announcing Stuart and Jenna’s betrothal. I asked Papa why Stuart and all he said was that it was a matter of honor.”
Irritation seized Quinn. “Don’t you find it odd that Papa would do something like that?”
“Yes, I do. But every time I’ve broached the subject, he becomes rather tight-lipped.”
“I had no idea you disagreed with his decision,” Quinn said in wonder.
“I am not completely heartless. I know she wasn’t happy with her engagement. I just had no idea she would go to this extreme.”
“No, neither did I.”
“I’m going over to his house,” Sebastian announced rising from his seat. He shook his head as Quinn started to speak. “No, I don’t want you to come. You tend to make me think too rationally, and this is one time I’ve no wish to be rational.”
“Don’t do anything to make Jenna hate you even more,” Quinn advised.
“You think she hates me?” Pain sounded in his voice.
He immediately regretted his hasty words. “No, I think she is angry and hurt, but I don’t think she hates you.”
“Well, no matter, I’ve a duty to see to her honor. I won’t let this insult pass.”
###
Sebastian strode determinedly up to Douglas’s door. He pounded on the heavy wood and waited for an answer. A distinguished-looking butler opened the door and peered inquiringly out.
“I’m here to see Mr. Douglas,” he growled.
“Mr. Douglas does not receive callers at this hour of the morning.”
“He’ll see me.”
“I see, and do you have a card I may present?”
“Tell him Viscount Hembly is here to see him. If it helps in recognition, perhaps you could tell him that Lady Jenna Wycliffe is my sister.”
Something flickered in the older man’s eyes. “Please come in, my lord. I’ll tell Mr. Douglas you are here.”
Sebastian paced the drawing room floor, surprised at its opulence and size. But then everything he’d seen of the house so far cried out elegance. Not at all vulgar in the obvious display of wealth it possessed. So the man had refined tastes. It still didn’t excuse his abominable behavior toward a well-bred lady. His sister, at that.
Moments later a tall, well-dressed man entered the drawing room and stared at him from across the floor. To Sebastian’s surprise there was no arrogance reflected in his eyes, just a hint of sadness. “You must be Sebastian.”
Anger flared at the man’s familiarity. “I am Lord Hembly.”
“Ahh yes, of course. I only know you as Sebastian since that is all Jenna has ever called you.”
“Lady Jenna,” he corrected.
“Perhaps we should cut to the chase. I realize you aren’t here on a social call. And as you are obviously itching to plant me a facer, I suggest we dispense with the niceties and go straight to the matter at hand.”
&nbs
p; Despite his anger, Sebastian had to admire Douglas’s candor.
Before he could say anything, Douglas continued. “I seduced your sister. Pursued her shamelessly. You mustn’t hold her in contempt. There was little she could do once I decided I wanted her. I’m sorry to say, should you call me out, I would have to respectfully decline, as Jenna would never forgive me for killing her brother.”
Sebastian eyed him with suspicion. “You say you pursued her?”
“Yes, quite unashamedly at that. I saw her at Lady Lockhart’s ball nearly a fortnight ago and confess I thought of little else but having her in my bed.”
With a snarl of rage he punched Douglas in the chin, watching in satisfaction as he reeled to the floor. Douglas sat there a moment rubbing his chin and eyeing him with barely disguised anger. “I’ll grant I deserved that, but don’t make the mistake of doing it again.”
Why wasn’t he fighting back? Sebastian was itching for a good brawl, yet Douglas quietly got back up and resumed his stance in front of him.
Sebastian’s jaw worked up and down, trying to tamp down his rage at hearing anyone speak of bedding his sister. “Keep a civil tongue in your head when it comes to my sister,” he growled. “There’s no need for vulgarity. I know she approached you.”
“I beg pardon?” Douglas’s brow lifted in surprise.
“She told me what happened. That she approached you.”
Douglas shook his head. “So typical. Honest to a fault. Would have been easier on her had she just said I seduced her.”
“Can we dispense with extolling my sister’s virtues? It matters not who pursued who. You took advantage of a gently bred lady. She’s bloody miserable and it’s your fault.”
Suddenly Douglas came alive before him, his dark eyes glinting in anger. “She may well be miserable but it’s hardly my doing.”
“If you had left her alone, she would have accepted her marriage.”
Eyes flashing, Douglas clenched his fists at his side and Sebastian had the distinct impression he was keeping a harsh rein on his emotions.
“Would you have her marry someone from your world, someone who would stifle who she is, who wouldn’t love her, or care for her beyond her ability to crank out an heir?” An odd note of pain crept into his voice as he continued. “I would want her to be happy, would spend the rest of my life making sure she was happy if she were mine. Can you say the same? Can anyone you would have her marry say the same?”
His words gave Sebastian pause. He made solid points, but it didn’t erase the fact that he’d bedded Sebastian’s sister. And oddly enough it sounded as though he genuinely cared about Jenna. Extremely odd when he considered how many conquests Douglas was famed for.
Suddenly he wasn’t so eager to smash Douglas’s face in, though he deserved it. The man was nothing like he’d expected. Not arrogant. Quiet and reserved. But from a completely different world, one Jenna had no business in. “Leave Jenna alone. Don’t come near her again. Forget this ever happened. If you tell anyone, I will not hesitate to kill you. Am I understood?”
“You’ve a lot of nerve coming into my house and making threats.” His voice was low and hinted at underlying anger. “You’ve nothing to worry about. I would never do anything to hurt Jenna. But don’t ask me to forget. I’ll never forget. Now get out of my house before I forget you are her brother and throw you out.”
The two men glared at one another across the room. “Don’t come near my sister again,” Sebastian gritted out before turning and stalking from the room.
###
Jenna watched from her bed as daylight faded into night. Her eyes were swollen and her head pounded in a vicious cadence. Quinn had knocked on her door several times throughout the day. She had ignored his pleadings to open the door and eventually he had given up. Then Sebastian began, but still she remained silent, refusing to open the door.
She was in no condition to face them. Until now she’d never given up hope of somehow finding a way out of her impending nuptials. But now...now she had to face reality. There was no way out. And the truth was destroying her.
Dragging herself from the bed, she went to the washbasin and threw water on her face and puffy eyes. When she regarded herself in the mirror she was shocked by her appearance. Despair was etched in every plane of her face. As she turned away from the mirror her gaze caught the edge of the wooden box that peeked from underneath her bed.
Once again anger surged through her. Damn Stuart’s family. They haunted her at every turn. Guilt came close on the heels of her anger. The viscountess had always been kind to her. She wasn’t deserving of Jenna’s scorn.
She bent down to retrieve the box, her hand curling around the smooth wood. With a sigh, she flopped down on the bed and opened the clasp. She tossed the packet of letters out onto the covers and laid aside the box. If she was going to be spending a lot of time in her room, she may as well read Lady Dudley’s ramblings.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Stuart was a spy? Jenna threw down the pile of letters in shock. Fumbling with the stack, she yanked up the most damning of the letters and read over it again.
I dare not tell of what I know.
To do so would throw my family in
turmoil. The consequences would
destroy Stuart. But to know he is
a traitor to his country is more
than I can bear. There is proof
though, proof I have seen with my
own eyes. To think he was selling
English secrets to Bonaparte’s troops.
I am sickened to know that so many
lives, English lives, have been lost
as a result of this most heinous act.
I fear he is aware of my knowledge for
he looks so searchingly at me. There is
malice in his eyes, and if he finds
out for certain I know he will kill me.
Jenna let the letter fall from her hand, her face a mask of horror. Had he killed his mother? She struggled to remember the circumstances of the viscountess’s death. A fall down the stairs if she remembered correctly. Nausea rolled in her stomach, and she fought against the urge to retch.
Could he have done it? She shook her head in an attempt to dispel the awful image of Stuart pushing his mother down the stairs. No, it couldn’t be. Stuart may be a bumbling idiot, but a murderer? A spy?
But she couldn’t discount the viscountess’s own words. She couldn’t imagine Lady Dudley implicating Stuart unless she was certain. What would she do? She couldn’t marry a murderer, a traitor.
Frantically she leafed through the letters trying to find the one where Lady Dudley related where she had hidden the proof. If she could find whatever proof was hidden then she could...what would she do? She closed her eyes wishing fervently that she’d never met any of Stuart’s family.
A knock sounded at her door startling her. She glanced down at the letters covering her bed and frantically shoved them under her pillow. When she was content that they were well hidden, she stood up and smoothed her skirts. “Who is it?” she called.
“It’s Sebastian.” There was a long pause. “Please open the door. I’d like to speak to you.”
Sighing in resignation she went to open the door, turning away and returning to her bed once she’d admitted him. He followed her in and sat down beside her on the bed. Running his hand through his hair, he took a ragged breath. “Jenna, I know you think I’ve failed you, but I truly did not know you were so desperately unhappy, and I certainly never dreamed you would do something so shocking as to take a...” He broke off evidently unable to bring himself to complete the thought.
He turned vivid blue eyes on her, eyes that swam with emotion. “Why didn’t you come to me?”
Such a simple question, yet she had no simple answer. “What could you have done?” She let the question hang in the air for a long moment before continuing. “You would have reacted just as you did ear
lier, and I wouldn’t have been able to see Gray for as long as I did.”
“Is it true what Quinn said? Do you love him?”
She glanced down at her lap feeling, the unwanted sting of tears. “Yes. Very much so.”
She felt rather than heard him sigh next to her. “I’m sorry, Jenna. Truly I am. I don’t like to see you hurting, but surely you see how impossible such a match is.”
She refused to answer. Refused to admit that her happiness was an impossibility.
He put his hand over hers and gently squeezed. “I’m sorry.”
Unable to muster a smile, she merely squeezed back. She longed to confide in him what she had just discovered about Stuart, but she couldn’t. Not yet. She didn’t even know what it was she had found. And she didn’t want him to think she was just trying to get out of her betrothal.
“Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?” he asked.
“Short of stuffing Stuart in a trunk and shipping him to India? No. But thank you.”
He laughed. “Get some sleep, Sprite.” He left the room and shut the door quietly behind him.
Immediately she yanked the letters back out, sifting through them again, pouring over every word. Most were ambiguous. Merely reflections of Lady Dudley’s sorrow. But others offered chilling thoughts. She obviously feared for her life.
Finally Jenna found what she was looking for. The location of the evidence. After a quick scan, her eyes widened. In the room where I saw my greatest joy. She felt like screaming in frustration. Was that it?
Once again she thumbed through each letter looking for something she’d missed. Some clue as to where the evidence was hidden. But she found nothing. What was she supposed to do with non-existent proof?
She couldn’t very well calmly ask Stuart if he was a spy and had killed his mother. But she couldn’t go on as if nothing had happened either.
No matter what she did, she couldn’t leave the letters out for anyone else to see. Folding them into a neat stack, she looked hastily around for a place to hide them. Her room was sadly lacking in secretive spots. Papa’s study, of course!
