Earl of Destiny

by K. J. Jackson

  “And you met with your runner the other day—did he have any news?”

  “Unfortunately, no. But he now has until the end of summer to investigate, which should help.”

  “Good. So why the concern in your brow? What is it you need from me?”

  “Where did Seb go?” The words blurted out.

  The duke leaned back in his chair, finger tapping the desk as his eyebrow cocked at her. “I assumed you knew. He headed up to Clavenshire for their annual local races. There is a studhorse in the area we would like to match with one of our mares, but we first have to convince the owner of the match.”

  “Oh.”

  “Seb did not tell you?”

  Brianna shook her head, heat flooding her cheeks. She had no idea this would be so mortifying, having to ask the duke as to where her husband had run off.

  His head cocked. “Seb left you without a word?”

  “Yes.” Brianna bit her tongue, stopping further words. She didn’t want Sebastian to look the cad, but the duke also didn’t need to know that she had demanded Sebastian leave her alone.

  “Bizarre. I thought it odd that he left so abruptly…” The duke shook his head, dismissing whatever thought he was having. “And he did not tell you he was leaving or when he would be back?”

  “No.” Brianna’s fingernails started digging into her thumbs. “How far is Clavenshire from Notlund? I would like to go there.”

  “I imagine Seb will be back within a week—a fortnight at most. The racing starts in a few days and takes place over two days—three or four if the weather is bad. And then he is due back.”

  “I would still like to go there. I need to see him. I can take a maid in the Silverton carriage—how long will it take to travel?”

  “Clavenshire is two days away on horseback. But by carriage, it will take you at minimum four if the roads are good.”

  Brianna nodded, understanding. “But then I may miss him. Do you know of an appropriate maid or groom that could accompany me? One that can ride a horse well enough to keep pace and not slow me?”

  “I cannot allow that, Brianna.”

  “But—”

  His hand came up, halting her. “So I will accompany you. I do believe I am one of the few people that will not slow you on a horse.”

  Stunned that he would offer so generously, Brianna nodded, relief lifting her sour mood.

  Now she just needed to keep her ill temper at bay another two days—at least long enough not to offend the duke.

  { Chapter 10 }

  “Rowe, I did not expect you. You look like you have been riding hard.” Sebastian opened wide the door to his double room at the Twisted Oak Tavern. “Is something amiss, or did you decide to attend the races?”

  The duke stepped into the room, waiting for Sebastian to close the door before he spoke. “No, I am headed back to Notlund. I am only here to deliver something you forgot.”

  “What?”

  “Your wife.”

  “What? Brianna? You brought her here?” Sebastian’s head cocked, his mouth tightening.

  “She is down the hall.” The duke thumbed over his shoulder and glanced about the room. “I wanted to make sure there were no…guests…with you. It would not have been appropriate for her to see such a thing.”

  “I know damn well what you are implying, Rowe, but I have not touched another woman since I saw Brianna in London.” Sebastian glared at Rowen as his arms crossed over his chest. “And you, friend, are interfering in things you should not be interfering with. Brianna does not want to see me. Does not want me near her.”

  “On the contrary, she is the one that wanted to come to you, Seb. I am merely the courier.”

  “Brianna left her sister unchaperoned?”

  “Yes, if you can believe it.” The duke shrugged. “Lord Newdale has departed—without an answer from Lily on his proposal—but will return at the end of the summer. Lord Bepton has arrived, and is currently settling into his visit, I imagine. Wynne is at Notlund and can serve as an overzealous mama if needed. Brianna trusts her to chaperone appropriately.”

  “At least she trusts someone,” Sebastian muttered half under his breath.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  The duke sighed, tapping his gloves on his thigh. “Seb, I do not know what is between the two of you at the moment—Brianna has been very tight-lipped around all of us—Wynne, me, even Lily. I have just spent two very silent days on the roads with her. And it was painful to watch her have to approach me to find out where you were.” He shook his head. “You left without a word to her, Seb.”

  Sebastian took his glare and returned his own. “She wanted me to leave, Rowe.”

  “Did she? Is that why I just travelled all the way up here to deliver her to you?”

  Sebastian shrugged, sighing, but not answering.

  “All that said, I trust that you will take care of what needs to be taken care of, Seb? Or do I need to stay and wait to escort her back to Notlund?”

  “No.” The word came out as a grumble.

  “Good.” The duke slapped his gloves on his thigh once more and inclined his head as he turned, opening the door. “I will see you at Notlund after the races.”

  “You do not wish to stay for the night?”

  “No. Wynne was already at her limit with Newdale’s mother—trying to convince her we are respectable.” The duke stepped into the hall, turning back to Sebastian. “So she was none too pleased that I had to leave with Brianna right when Lord Bepton arrived.”

  “Send her my apologies.”

  “Fix this. That is all the apology I need.” With a pointed tilt of his head, the duke turned to leave.

  Sebastian followed him into the hallway, watching as he walked down the distance to the stairs and stopped where Brianna was waiting. With a quick goodbye to her, the duke disappeared down the narrow staircase.

  Sebastian waited until the duke’s head was out of view before his eyes went to Brianna.

  She stood at the end of the hall, a deep blue riding habit wrapping the curves of her body. Her hair was pulled back in an upsweep, but much looser than usual with several tendrils escaping to curl around her face. A little matching blue hat sat jauntily on her head, something he had never seen her wear.

  She fidgeted under his scrutiny, unsure. It was out of character for his wife, as she usually tried to strike first and control every encounter they had.

  Not moving from her spot by the stairs, she opened her mouth, but no sound came from her lips. She clamped her mouth closed, clearing her throat, then tried again.

  “You told me you were not going to disappear.”

  Dammit. Sebastian could hear the anger vibrating in her words.

  “Brianna. Come into the room. I do not want to discuss this in a hallway with you.”

  Her eyes narrowed at him.

  “Please, Bree. Come into the room.”

  She glanced over her shoulder to the stairs, then looked to him. With an audible sigh, she started down the hall toward him.

  A cold breeze walking past him through the open door to his room, Brianna avoided looking at his face.

  Sebastian steeled himself, closing the door behind him as he followed her.

  She looked around at the surroundings. “This is pleasant.”

  “It is. I have these rooms kept for me as I travel through here frequently.” He watched her in silence for a moment, her gaze fixed on a window and avoiding him. “Why did you come here, Brianna?”

  Turning, her crystal blue eyes centered on him. “To yell at you.”

  He waited, but her voice didn’t rise, words didn’t follow. “And?”

  Her head shaking, she shrugged. “Somewhere in the past two days…I do not know. I lost it. Lost my anger. Most of it, at least. Though I am still mad.”

  “Mad at me for my questions about your past?”

  “No.” Brianna took a deep breath, her eyes going down and her voice softening. “You said you w
ould not leave my side, Seb.” She looked up to him. “That you were not going to disappear.”

  Sebastian nodded, acknowledging the truth. “I did.”

  “And I believed you. Fool that I am, in that moment, I believed you.”

  “You are not—”

  Her hand flew up, waving to stop him. “So I am only here for one thing, Seb, and then I will part. I was furious—bitter—for days, but I am past all of that now. Now I only need to hear the truth from you, even though I already know it. And then I will leave.”

  “Brianna, Rowe is already gone.”

  “I can catch up to him.”

  “Bri—”

  “One thing Seb, from your lips.” Her mouth went tight. “You said those things to me so I would let you touch my body, did you not?”

  Sebastian blinked hard at her words. Words he was not expecting. “Brianna—no. No. Nothing of the kind.”

  “But you obviously did not mean your words—that you would not disappear—so why even say them, then? Why lie? You wasted no time in leaving me.”

  “Brianna, you wanted me to leave. You demanded it of me.”

  “You pushed me too far, Seb, and yes, I wanted you to leave me at the stream.” Her leather-gloved hands balled into fists. “But for you to leave Notlund without a word, Seb? To humiliate me—to leave for weeks without any indication of where you went or when you would be back?”

  Sebastian ran a hand through his hair. “You said you would hate me, Brianna. What was I supposed to do with that?”

  “Not abandon me? Not have sex with me and then disappear?”

  “No. That thought is nothing but false—that I took you by the stream had nothing to do with why I left.”

  Her right fist slammed into her thigh. “Did you use me, Seb?”

  “No. God, no, Bree. I married you. Do you remember that? Married you. Happily. Willingly.”

  Her chest rose in a heavy breath, her words shaking. “You should not have been so stupid.”

  “It was not stupid, Brianna. It was a leap of faith. A bow to fate.” He stepped closer to her. “I married you because it was what was meant to happen.”

  “You like to say it was fate, Seb, but what about now, what about this?” Her arm swung wide about her. “Is it fate that you use me and then leave? You play with me for a few weeks and then disappear when it suits you?”

  “No, Bree, that is not what happened and you know it.” Sebastian could not stifle his own ire. “By the stream—you wanted to hate me. You were looking for a reason—any reason—to hate me. You have been from the beginning.”

  Her arms crossed over her chest and she stared at him, blue eyes narrowing. “I may have been looking for a reason to hate you, Seb, but you were looking for a reason to escape me.”

  “What?”

  “You ran, Seb. You pushed me too far and then ran so fast from me I did not even know what happened.”

  Sebastian heaved a sigh. “I could not risk you hating me, Brianna.”

  Her face went to the ceiling, her head shaking. Sebastian watched as her gaze waned from cold anger to sadness.

  It took long seconds, and then her eyes dropped to him, her words creeping out, soft, barely audible. “What did you think leaving me would do?”

  The sheer vulnerability in her voice startled him. He had seen snippets of it, unguarded moments when the slightest vulnerability had surfaced.

  But this. This reached straight into his heart, gripping it, squeezing it, forcing him to really look at her.

  Look at what his actions had done to her.

  He suddenly realized that he had risked far more by actually leaving her. And he had no excuse for it.

  “I do not know what I can tell you, Brianna.” He moved to stand in front of her, daring to slide his palm along the side of her jaw. “But I did not intend to hurt you. Never that.”

  His voice dipped low. “I could not have you hate me, Bree. Not you.”

  He watched as her body deflated, her arms dropping to her sides as she searched his face. Searched for the honesty that Lily had said she needed more than anything. Sebastian hoped against hope that she saw the trueness in his eyes.

  Her head bowed. “By the stream, I should not have said…I just needed you to leave, Seb. I would have said anything to make you leave in that moment.” The light in the room made her blue eyes drift to aquamarine, to the blue of a deep swathe of sea. They ventured up to him. “You ask of me things I cannot give you. Things I cannot tell you. Things I cannot relive. You push me too far, Seb—and I do not know if I should hate you or…”

  “Or what?”

  She sighed, her head tilting. “You just ask too much of me Seb. I cannot visit the past.”

  His hand dropped from her face. “And I do not want you to hate me, Bree.”

  “I do not.” She took a deep breath, her eyes leaving his face to look around his room. Her gaze stopped at the four-post bed by the fireplace. “I missed…” She gave him a tentative glance before nodding to the bed with her head. “I missed your arm over my belly while I slept.”

  “You still slept in my bed?”

  She shrugged, embarrassed. “It was our deal. As was staying at Notlund—you promised me that we could stay at Notlund through the summer. But then you left.”

  “I will not risk your hatred if I return?”

  She shook her head. “No. Not unless you do something worthy of it.” The smallest smile touched her lips.

  “Then I will return after the races tomorrow.”

  A nod and she smoothed her skirt as she stepped around him. “I will be on my way, then. I am sure the duke has not made it too far.”

  Sebastian threw an arm in front of her, catching her around the waist. “You are not leaving, Brianna.”

  “No?”

  He dropped his arm, as he could see her already bristling at his demand. “No. I want you here, if you will stay, Bree. Or if you do want to go back to Notlund with the duke, then I will accompany you to him. But I hope you will stay. There are a few more races today, and the main race—the reason I am here—is tomorrow. We can eat and walk about the festivities.”

  She blinked hard at his words, a hesitant smile coming to her face. “I will stay, if I will not get in the way of your dealings here?”

  The relief that swept through Sebastian was unexpected. He smiled, wanting to touch Brianna, to wrap his arms around her and carry her to the bed.

  But he stayed still.

  Patience, he reminded himself. That was how he was going to finally crack his way into Brianna. Patience.

  “You will be the furthest thing from in the way.” He went to pick up his boots by the door, holding them up as he turned to her. “Shall we go and find ourselves food?”

  Brianna nodded, her smile widening.

  Sebastian returned the grin. Patience.

  ~~~

  “Aye, ye fine lady, ye be lookin’ to see what fate has fer ye? Only three shillings fer yer palm. Five fer yer cards.”

  A tiny wisp of an ancient woman, necklaces piled high and swinging upon her chest, leaned out from the back of a ruby red traveler’s wagon. Lanterns with a rainbow of colored glass hung, lit, all around her. Her grey hair trapped in long braids down to her hips, the top of her head was hidden under a red handkerchief. “Ye be a-wonderin’ ‘bout yer future, lass? I can spy it from twenty paces.”

  “A fortune teller? Please, Seb, please—so delightful,” Brianna squealed. One arm already entwined in his, she wrapped herself in front of Sebastian, grabbing him as she stumbled with a skip to a stop. A skip with such gleeful abandon that he had to laugh.

  One mystery solved.

  Up until three hours ago, Sebastian had never seen Brianna touch alcohol—not a drop, not even the slightest sip of claret with dinner.

  But a red wine-fortified blackberry punch was the only thing handy from a vendor close to the stables where they settled Moonlight. Brianna had been parched, so she had hesitantly accepted a full mug.<
br />
  Sebastian knew she hadn’t eaten anything that day, for within half the mug, Brianna was foxed.

  He had stuffed several small hot pies and a turkey leg down her throat, but she had also insisted on several more filled-to-the-brim mugs of punch with them.

  And with that, the answer as to why she so strictly avoided alcohol—his wife could not hold her liquor. Not even a bit.

  “Please, Seb? Please?” Brianna looked up at him, and even in the darkness of the eve, he could see overblown excitement sparking her face as she hopped, both hands tugging on the lapels of his jacket.

  “It will be so much fun—and she can truly tell the future—look at her—you can see it in her face. She is mystical—magical—I can almost see the spirits about her. Please, Seb? Please, please, please?”

  Sebastian had a hard time keeping a straight face. He nodded. “Let us see what fortunes your palm unfolds.”

  She jumped, giving him a quick peck on the cheek with a giggle, and spun to the fortune teller, bounding up the few rickety steps into the traveler’s wagon.

  Sebastian followed, squeezing into the tight space behind the chair Brianna sat down in. Lit with a slew of sputtering candles, the space in the wagon glowed dimly and Sebastian had to bend slightly so his head didn’t touch the colorful strips of ribbon lining the ceiling.

  He wedged himself at an angle to Brianna so he could watch her profile. The last few hours were the first time Sebastian had ever seen Brianna truly unrestrained—relaxed both in body and mind—and he didn’t want to miss a second of it. No matter that it had taken a healthy amount of spirits to make it so. He was just happy to see that this side of his wife—the one Lily had alluded to—truly did exist.

  It turned out Brianna had an amazing ability to laugh quickly—with others and at herself—and to immerse herself with insatiable curiosity into all humanity had to offer. From the vendors selling meat and drink, to the acrobats, to the hawkers of ballads, to the puppet shows, to the dancing—she met everything they saw with enthusiasm, including the feverish bartering she did with a silversmith for a finely crafted bracelet she wanted for Lily.

  His wife could chat as easily with a pedlar hawking wares, as she could with the business acquaintances of Sebastian’s that they passed while wandering the festivities. All of them instantly responded to Brianna’s inquisitiveness, which was followed by a genuine ability to listen with interest in all they would talk about.