“You love me?” she whispered brokenly, running a shaking hand along his cheek.
She sounded so surprised. When they’d first met, he’d thought her so sure of herself. Sebastian looked hard into her deep brown eyes. “I love you,” he repeated. “Nothing in heaven or on earth could convince me to marry you if I didn’t.” With that, he kissed her.
The crowd in the coach gasped. So the fight was perfectly acceptable, but the show of affection was scandalous. And even if these people knew what the two of them had gone through, their reaction probably wouldn’t change. He kissed her again.
Mr. Boots stumbled around the back of the coach. Damnation. Sebastian turned, putting Josefina behind him, but she pushed back in front. “Tim, Mr. Boots,” she said, “I sincerely apologize, and I thank you for standing by me. But I made a mistake. I love this man, and if he still wants me, then I will marry him.”
A slow, satisfied smile curved Sebastian’s mouth. He couldn’t help it. “You love me,” he whispered into her hair, sliding an arm around her waist and tugging her back against his chest.
He knew women wanted him, wanted his name and his power and his money. Josefina found those things about him difficult, and she loved him. He’d never thought, hoped, or wanted a woman to say that to him ever again. Hearing her say it, he felt…content. And more happy than he’d ever expected to be again. The idea that he could remain that way stunned him.
“I got me nose bloodied for you,” Boots growled at her. “That’s hardly a fair return for a promise of marriage.”
In his arms, Josefina stiffened. “I did not—”
“Perhaps I could pay your passage north,” Sebastian interrupted. “I can’t have you luring Mabel away from me again.”
“Take it, Tim,” the other large fellow on the roof urged, “before he beats you all the way to Sunday.”
“Ah, it ain’t natural,” Boots said, spitting into the dirt. “You’ve had training.”
Sebastian nodded. “Yes, I have. What is the price of a seat these days?”
“Three quid.”
That sounded fair. Boots hadn’t even exaggerated the amount. “I’ll give you five pounds, if you give me your word not to try to find Mabel Grimm ever again.”
The big man stuck out his hand. “You have my word.”
Sebastian shook hands with him, then gave over five pounds. With a last, jaunty grin at Josefina, Boots circled to the back of the coach to untie her portmanteau and toss it at her feet. As he climbed back up to the roof, Sebastian freed Merlin, and they backed away from the coach.
With a whistle the coachman sent the horses forward again. In a moment the vehicle was out of sight behind a row of oak trees, as if it had never been there at all. If he’d arrived at Branbury’s house a minute later than he had, she would still be on it.
“Sebastian Griffin,” she said, dusting dirt from his sleeves and his hair, “why did you follow all this way instead of stopping the coach back in London?”
“Because half the fun is seeing what you’ll do next.”
“But how did you know I was on the coach at all?”
“Well, Mabel Grimm,” he returned, taking her hand, “four years ago I cursed God, and told him to leave me be. I think this morning he gave me a last chance to change my mind. I went riding, and decided I wanted to go by Branbury House. You were climbing into a hack.”
“You loved your wife very much,” she stated, turning her back to pet Merlin.
“I did, and I still do.” He started to pull his coat back on, then changed his mind and led her and Merlin off the road, past a pretty stand of elm trees, and into a meadow full of yellow and purple wildflowers. “I need you to know something.”
“After what I’ve put you through—am still putting you through, I don’t know why you…” A tear ran down her face, and she brushed it away. “I don’t want to share you, but I certainly can’t resent—”
“Stop it.”
“But I—”
“No, Josefina. With your help, I discovered something about myself. I’m trying to explain it.” At the creek which ran through the meadow, he pulled off Merlin’s bridle and let the bay drink. They had a long ride back, and the fellow could use a rest. As for him, he wanted Josefina. Badly. “I thought I’d finished with it. With love, marriage, all of that. Charlotte was quiet, and thoughtful, and very witty. She filled my heart. And when she died, my heart…froze. All of me froze. Then I met you, and I feel warm again. My heart grew again, like a tree, I suppose. I don’t think she has to leave it for you to have the new parts. All of them. Does that make sense?”
“Yes.” Josefina tangled her fingers into his dark hair and kissed him again and again.
She still couldn’t quite believe it. He’d followed her and demanded that she return. And he wanted her whether they resolved all of this trouble or not.
“It’ll cause such a scandal if I marry you,” she breathed, as he sat in the grass and pulled her down across his lap.
“When I marry you,” he corrected, “the scandal will be much harder on you.”
“And rightly so.” The thought of the looks she would get, the whispers behind her back, made her want to be ill, but she’d certainly earned them all.
“I think I can help with that.” Sebastian untied her bonnet and set it aside. “If you’re willing to continue to be a princess for a time.”
“But I’m not a princess. You know that. I never was one.”
Slowly he gathered her skirts in his hands, pushing them up past her bare thighs to her waist. “You’re my princess,” he rumbled, kissing her throat as his fingers roved along her skin.
As he dipped between her legs, she moaned. “I think you should tell me your plan,” she gasped, fumbling at the fastenings of his trousers.
“In a minute.”
She pulled open his trousers, and he came free, hard and erect and aroused—all for her. Sebastian kissed her again, dragging her right leg around his hip so that she straddled him. He grasped her bottom and slowly pulled her forward, both of them watching as he disappeared tightly inside her.
Josefina flung her arms around his shoulders and tilted her head back, the sensation of him moving inside her still new and terribly vital to her all at the same time. How could she want someone so much when she still considered the wisest thing to do would be running as far from him as she was able? Whatever his new plan was, it had best be miraculous, because she didn’t think she could make herself run from him again. Not for anything—not even for his sake.
“Come here,” he murmured roughly. “Kiss me, Josefina.”
Immediately she straightened, tightening inside as she kissed him, their tongues dancing in the same rhythm as their bodies. She moaned again, then cried out as she pulsed and shattered. “Oh, God,” she breathed. “Oh, God, Sebastian. Tell me everything will be well. Just lie to me.”
“I’ll never lie to you,” he said with a hard, breathless groan of his own. He lay back, pulling her with him to drape across his chest. “And everything will be well.”
While her own breath returned to normal, she lay with her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. “Conchita was supposed to wake me at ten o’clock. They’ll know I’m missing by now.”
“Did you leave a letter?”
“No. I didn’t want my father to have any idea where I might be or why I’d gone.”
“You think he might realize that you’ve been unhappy with his plotting?”
She lifted her head to look at him. “My father is very good at convincing people of things, and I think it’s because he half believes them, himself. So no, I don’t think he’s realized anything he doesn’t wish to.”
He kissed her on the chin. “Then we’ll have to invent a reason plausible to him for your temporary disappearance. Because I’m sorry, but I badly need you to return home.”
“He means to kill you after the wedding, Sebastian. Whatever you’re planning, he’s willing to murder you if you get in the way.”
<
br /> “I won’t give him the chance.”
“How are you going to accomplish that?”
“I have a surprise planned during the Tuffley soiree. We all need to be there. At least your father and my brother-in-law do. I left Valentine in command of my troops. And if you’re missing, your father may not attend.”
That made sense. Stephen Embry would stay where he felt the safest until he’d determined exactly what had happened with her. “I’m sorry,” she said, lowering her head again. Damnation. Even when she tried to improve matters, she threatened to destroy them. “I’m so stupid.”
“No, you’re not. This brilliant plan of mine may just crumble into dust. At the moment, however, I consider it our best hope.” She felt his chest rise and fall as he sighed. “I’ve recently become a believer in hope.”
She considered her escape from her father’s point of view. “I’ll tell him I went to see Harek,” she said finally. “As far as my father knows, I’m more comfortable with the idea of marrying someone less…diligent about the truth.”
“Should we include Harek in this, then? I’ve always seen him as a bit of a square toes, but more ambitious than willing to work for his blessings.”
After all this, he continued to ask her opinion. She smiled. “I would agree with that. He…When he thought he would be the one to marry me, he encouraged me to continue an intimate relationship with you. His thinking, I believe, was that if I bore your child, you would see that the family lived in comfort.”
“The muckworm. No. We’re not using him. Think of something else.”
“You disagree with his assessment?”
“My disagreement is with the idea that he could marry you and let another man touch you.” He sat up, setting her back a little from him so he could look her in the eye, the stern, unyielding Melbourne in his gaze. “That will never happen.”
She shivered deliciously. “I have no argument with that, Sebastian. Where shall I have gone this morning, though?” She frowned. “Perhaps we should stay close to the truth. That’s always easier.”
“Which truth?”
“I’ll tell him that this has been overwhelming, and I nearly fled back to Jamaica. Then I realized that I couldn’t fail him, and I returned.”
Sebastian kissed her again. “Perfect.” With a slow smile that made her insides melt, he helped her to her feet and refastened his trousers. “Let’s get back. I’ll tell you the plan along the way. Just promise me, Josefina, or Mabel, or whomever you wish to be, that whatever happens, you won’t run again.”
“You would trust my word?”
“I would trust your word.”
“Then I promise.”
Chapter 24
Sebastian handed Josefina to the ground one street away from Branbury House, then dismounted. For the story she’d conjured to have the most plausibility he should have hired a hack for her the moment they’d reached the outskirts of Town, but he remained reluctant to let her out of his sight.
Even back in the heart of Mayfair he couldn’t stop touching her shoulder and smelling the lilac scent of her hair as she sat sidesaddle in front of him. His sister, especially, could attest to his tendency to be overprotective, but this was beyond that. The sight of her disappearing around the corner in that hack was still too fresh to dismiss.
“I’ll see you tonight.” He brought her knuckles to his lips. “I love you, Josefina.”
“I still think you’re making a very large mistake, Sebastian, but I love you, too.”
The statement didn’t reassure him overly much, but he left it at that. He untied her bag from Merlin’s saddle and handed it to her. “I’m a powerful man,” he said quietly, swinging back onto the bay. “People fear me, what I can do if they cross me. You, Josefina, terrify me. Be careful.”
“You, too.”
He watched her down the street, keeping a stand of trees between himself and the house. When the front door opened and her mother came rushing out, he turned Merlin for Corbett House.
He’d said he would never lie to her, and he’d been serious. But when he’d told her that she terrified him, he hadn’t quite meant it that way. It wasn’t so much her, as it was how fiercely he’d come to care for her, and what losing her could do to him. He’d lost Charlotte from something completely beyond his control. He would allow nothing within his control to keep him from Josefina.
The front drive of Corbett House was liberally cluttered with carriages. Apparently Valentine had notified the entire family of this morning’s events. As he dismounted from the weary Merlin, one of Valentine’s grooms met him. “I’ll stable Merlin here tonight,” he said, patting the bay on the withers. “See that he gets a nice ration of oats and an apple.”
The groom rubbed Merlin on the nose. “I’ll see to it, Your Grace.”
He felt ready for rest and an apple, himself, but his day was barely half over. Rolling his shoulders, he headed to the house.
“Papa!” Penelope scampered out the front door and flew into his arms. He lifted her, ignoring the sore muscles low in his back. At four-and-thirty, fisticuffs took a bit more effort than it used to.
“What have you been up to today?” he asked her.
“I’ve been very worried about you,” she said, hugging him tightly. “You smell like lilacs.”
“Do I?”
“Yes. Lilacs and dust.”
Shay stood in the doorway as he climbed the shallow steps, but evidently he realized the wisdom of not questioning his older brother’s scent. “Any trouble?” he asked instead.
“No. She’s back at home.” He set Peep down with a kiss on her forehead. “I apologize for worrying you, my dove.”
“Are you still getting married?”
“That is my plan, yes.”
“I would like to wear a tiara to the ceremony.”
He grinned. In all of this, his staunchest supporter had been his daughter, the one he’d thought might resent Josefina the most. “I think you should wear one. You and Josefina are my two princesses, after all.”
“Yes, I know.” She looked at Shay, who’d been joined by Sarala and Eleanor, and frowned. “Do I have to go back to the nursery now? I’d really like to know what’s going on.”
“I’ll tell you what I can, as soon as I can,” Sebastian answered. “I’m afraid that will have to do.”
She sighed. “Very well. I’ll finish teaching Rose how to talk.”
When she’d thudded up the stairs, Sebastian raised an eyebrow at his brother. “Where’s everyone else, then? I’m not telling my tale more than once.”
Eleanor touched his arm. “Just tell me whether you and Josefina are…of the same mind about this, then.”
“We are.”
His sister pulled his shoulder down to kiss him on the cheek. “Good.”
Silently echoing that sentiment, he followed the lot of them into the downstairs sitting room. Their troop had two new members, John Rice-Able and Anne Witfeld. “Welcome to the game,” he said, nodding at his sister-in-law.
“Thank you for trusting me. Now could we go over this once more? I’ve just discovered that I’m being courted.” The petite blonde grinned at the explorer-cum-professor.
He smiled back at her, color reddening his cheeks. “All for a good cause,” he returned.
Sebastian sat in a chair near the fire. They always saved one for him there, though he wasn’t certain whether it was in deference to his position as head of the family, or whether they were indicating that he was old and took a chill easily. “Very well. I’ll tell you of my day’s adventures, and we’ll rehearse one more time.”
“We should stay in tonight,” Maria Embry said, as she fiddled with the lace on Josefina’s sleeve.
“No one but the members of this household know that anything unusual happened today,” Josefina reminded her. “And since we said we would be there, and since my betrothed will be there, we need to attend.”
Her father straightened the sash over his left shoulder. �
�I agree.” He pinned Josefina with annoyed blue eyes. “I’m grateful you decided to return,” he continued stiffly, “and I’m thankful that Melbourne has no idea you tried to flee the country. But that was damned selfish, Josefina. You might have ruined this for all of us.”
He’d done that to himself. “That’s why I returned, Father.”
“Let us speak no more of it.” Her mother gestured them toward the foyer. “You look very beautiful tonight, querida.”
“Gracias, Mama.” She felt beautiful, not so much because of the splendid lavender gown and silver tiara she wore, but because she knew Sebastian cared for her. And because even with the heart-stopping guilt she felt at standing against her father, she’d made the right choice—quite possibly for the first time in her life.
Sitting opposite her parents in the coach, she gazed out at the deepening twilight. Nervousness rattled through her muscles, but she knew how to conceal that, even from the man who’d taught her how. She wondered whether her father would ever realize how lucky he was that Sebastian had chosen to be merciful.
“You’re quiet this evening,” her mother commented.
“My life is changing,” she returned with a small smile. “It’s a great deal to think about.”
“You do like Melbourne, do you not?”
Josefina nodded. “I do.” She refrained from commenting that her feelings didn’t much signify one way or the other, since the rey had already stated that he would have Sebastian killed once the duke had outlived his usefulness.
For the first time, though, she wondered whether her mother knew that. How much of any of this did she realize? Always she deferred to her husband in matters of family and income, but was she ignorant about the worst of them? Josefina had allowed herself to be fooled about how far her father would go. She preferred to think that her mother was the same, but she wondered if she would ever know for certain.
“Look at that,” her father said, peering out the coach window. “Half the peerage must be in attendance tonight.” He grinned at Josefina. “It’s because of you, you know. It’s your first public appearance with Melbourne since the announcement of your engagement appeared.”
Sins of a Duke Page 29
