“They are. It is unexpected, but they are.” Brianna added three more books to Wynne’s pile.
Wynne smiled. “I never, in the farthest reaches of my mind, expected that I would end up in such a place as Notlund.” Her finger twirled about the room. “Never. Who would? But it has been the unexpected in life that has brought me the most incredible happiness. Brought me Rowe. I hope for the same for both you and Lily.”
“Seb would say fate brought Lily and me here, and on that accord, I have to agree with him. You and the duke have become our family, and I am eternally grateful to fate for making that so.”
“Seb is making you believe in fate, is he?”
“Possibly.”
“Then your marriage must be going well.” Wynne smiled, picking up the stack of books. “Let me bring these up, and you can take a moment of respite.”
“You are the one that should be taking a moment of rest, Wynne.”
“I am not an invalid yet.” Wynne smirked. “Plus, have you seen me all morning?”
“No.”
“Exactly. I already have taken my escape for the day.” She winked at Brianna. “Your turn.”
Wynne walked to the door, but then stopped abruptly and turned back to Brianna, shuffling the books into one arm to free a hand. “I almost forgot. This arrived for you earlier today, but this is the first I have seen of you.” Her hand went into a pocket buried in her skirt, fishing out a sealed letter.
Brianna went to take the letter from her, waiting until Wynne walked down the hall to close the doors to the library. She had refused to look down at the letter in her hand until she was closed off from the world.
Dread building, she glanced down to her already shaking hands.
Thick paper. Black seal.
Her legs heavy under her, Brianna went to the table in the middle of the library, breaking the black wax of the seal over the wood.
A simple note, the words were scratched out quickly with not much care. She recognized Mr. Flemming’s handwriting immediately.
Miss Silverton,
Gregory has travelled to Yorkshire. I have found and followed him, against your advisement. Justice for Welbury. I shadowed him until I lost his trail in a town called Hoppleton.
Brianna’s breath stopped. Her eyes blurred for a moment, and she sank to a wooden chair next to the table. It wasn’t until air reached her lungs and her eyes cleared that she could look down to finish the note.
As the proximity is close to your current residence, I thought it a necessity to warn you in the quickest manner. I lost him on the 16th. Even as I write, I am still searching for him. If you can, please meet me on the 18th at the usual location. I will review with you all I know.
Regards,
Flemming
Hands trembling so violently she had a hard time folding the note, Brianna had to use the table to push herself to standing. She took a back winding staircase to avoid everyone milling about the castle and made her way to her room.
Sinking to the side of her bed, her hand crushed the paper, the wax crumbling onto the peach coverlet.
Time passed, and Brianna wasn’t sure how long. An hour. Maybe three. She sat there in shock, only one thought reverberating through her brain.
She needed Sebastian. Needed him like she never had before.
“Bree? Bree?”
Brianna’s head snapped up. Lily.
She slid her hand along the bed, shoving the crumpled note under the closest pillow just as the door opened.
Lily’s head poked into the room.
Hell. Lily. Her sister’s smiling face busted through the shock that had enveloped Brianna, holding her hostage.
Her mind started churning.
She needed Sebastian, but he wasn’t here. And she had to keep Lily safe. She had to keep Harry safe.
There was nothing more important. She had been silly to think telling Sebastian would absolve her of that responsibility. And time was not her ally. The eighteenth was tomorrow.
If Gregory was in Yorkshire, he was close—far too close. As much as she wanted—needed—to wait for Sebastian to get back, she had to at least meet with Mr. Flemming. Had to know what he knew. Had to have something to tell Sebastian, some detail, however small, to give him a trail.
And she had to get to Harry and Frannie as quickly as she possibly could. Her face swung to the window. Dark. She couldn’t leave now. She would have to go to them after Mr. Flemming. There was no one else. Sebastian was gone. The duke was in London. Just her.
Brianna jumped to her feet.
“What are you doing in here, Bree? You have not been in here since you married.” Her sister came into the room. “I have been looking everywhere for you. You were supposed to meet us at the stables an hour past.”
“I was?”
“Yes.” Lily’s eyebrows cocked at Brianna. “Bree, what is amiss?”
Brianna shook her head, pasting a wide smile on her face. “I am sorry. I was diverted.”
“By what?”
Brianna shrugged. “Thoughts.”
“Thoughts of what?”
“You, most recently.”
Lily moved to stand in front of Brianna. “Just what thoughts have you been having about me?”
Brianna motioned to the chairs in front of the fireplace. “Sit with me a moment?”
Lily’s head tilted, suspicious, but she went to sit in front of the fireplace.
Brianna moved to sit across from Lily, her fingernails on her right hand digging into her thumb. Where to start? What to tell her sister? Brianna cleared her throat. “Did you know I visited a fortune teller?”
“You did?” Lily’s eyes went wide. “You? When? I cannot believe it.”
Brianna nodded. “I did. When I was at that horse race with Sebastian. I thought it would be fun, so she read my palm.”
“Was it? I have always wanted my cards read by someone other than an old hen in a card room.”
“It was, to an extent.” Brianna leaned forward, grabbing Lily’s hands. “The fortune teller told me to make a good decision when it came to choosing between following my heart or my head.”
She squeezed Lily’s hands. “I want you to do the same, Lils. This decision—who the right man is for you—I want you to follow your heart.”
“Bree—”
Brianna cut her off, shaking her head. “No, let me say this. I have been trying to get you to make this decision with your mind, with logic, with safety—but I have been wrong. It is your heart. Your heart is so pure, Lils, so very sure of itself—it has never failed you.”
“Yours has failed you, Bree?”
“It did, once, long ago, and I have been suffocated by that very thing for so long. Do you remember when Papa was still alive? How simple everything was? How happy we were?”
“I do. I remember it well.” Lily took a deep breath, her blue eyes somber. “I miss it, Bree.”
“As do I. But I see it now. I see it so clearly. Our hearts were what we lived for back then. Impulsive and laughing and happy. And now, making this decision about a husband, you need your heart to guide you. It will not fail you.”
Lily nodded, but suspicion crept into her eyes. “Why now, Bree? Why tell me this now?”
“Is there a better time than right now?”
Lily held Brianna’s look for a long moment. Brianna could see the questions in her eyes, feel her wariness, but then she shrugged. “I suppose not.”
“Good.” Brianna squeezed Lily’s hands one last time and stood, ushering her to the door. “I love you, Lils.”
Lily paused with her hand on the half-open door, looking back to Brianna, her head cocked in unspoken curiosity. But then she smiled. “I love you too, Bree.”
Brianna wiped a tear away from the corner of her eye, closing the door after her sister.
She had to get down to the stables and talk to little Tommy.
She would need Moonlight to be fresh in the morning.
~~~
The terror running through her mind morphed as the lips on her neck twisted away the nightmare of a knife in her flesh and replaced it with the tingle of Sebastian caressing her skin.
She could feel him in her dream. Feel his breath hot on her neck, feel his hands running down her body.
Her heart still beating wildly from the horror of her dream, her body came alive in a wild rush as the dream fully transformed from hell, into Sebastian naked above her.
Rolling her from her belly onto her back. Murmuring her name. His fingers slipping her night rail down her body. His mouth capturing her nipple.
She curled in her sleep to him, the cool air sending goosebumps along the back of her arms. His hand went down, making her night rail disappear, then trailed back up her leg, sliding to the curve of her inner thigh. Deep into her folds, he plied, sending her core into a demanding, throbbing need.
It wasn’t until he entered her, filling her, slow and methodical, again and again, that Brianna began to meander through the remnants of her dream into reality.
She fought consciousness, not wanting to leave the dream that had come so close, but had not yet finished satisfying her.
A groan, low and rumbling sank into her ears.
This was no dream.
Her eyes fluttered open, only to see Sebastian hovering above her, watching her face.
He smiled. “You are awake.”
She nodded, dreams still muddling her mind. Lifting her arm, still heavy with sleep, her palm went to his cheek. He was real.
“You are home. Seb—”
He slid into her, stealing her words.
“I am.” His hand slipped under her knee, drawing her leg up. “And I am ready to explode, Bree, so brace yourself.”
He withdrew, and Brianna arched, not willing to let him leave her. Her hand went above her head, palm wedged on the headboard. “Yes, Seb, yes. Please.”
He slammed into her full force.
“Hell, Bree. Come. Now.”
He gave no quarter to the delicate balance she held between sleep and consciousness, demanding she join him, fully cognizant to what he was doing to her body.
He filled her repeatedly, harder, his breath strained, until Brianna screamed, fingernails ripping into his back as her body contracted underneath him, drawing him into the same tortured release.
Brianna went limp, both her mind and body still jumbled between Sebastian’s hard chest above her and the weightless state of her dreams.
He collapsed next to her, pulling her onto his bare chest and tugging the coverlet over her backside.
Nuzzling her cool cheek onto the warmth of his skin, she inhaled, breathing him in as his muscles twitched under her. “You are home early,” she murmured, starting to drift back to sleep.
“I did not want to waste another night without you.”
“Hmmm, I am lucky.” The words slid out slowly, her head nodding, her eyes already sliding shut.
Sebastian’s fingers played in the thick of her hair as his voice rumbled low from his chest. “Do not fall asleep on me yet, Bree. I have to talk to you.”
It took a long time for the reply in her mind to make its way to her lips. “No? Why?”
“You need to know what I did.”
A deep breath and she snuggled closer to him, her arm tightening around his waist.
“Bree. Brianna.”
Eyes closed, she had to force her heavy head to nod on his chest. “Yes?”
“I moved Harry to a new location. I am not going to tell you where.”
His voice barely made it through the fog filling her head. “What?”
“I moved Harry and Frannie.”
The words sank into her mind. But it still took a full ten seconds to realize what Sebastian said.
She jolted upright.
“You what?”
“I moved Harry and Frannie to a new location. And I am not telling you where they went. They are safe. That is all you need to know.”
Her hand on his chest, she shoved away from him, eyes wide in the low light of the candle he had lit next to the bed. “What are you talking about, Seb? We just moved them to Plarington.” She gripped his arm as he sat up in the bed. “Are they in danger? I have to get to them. We have to leave right now, Seb.”
She shoved down the covers, starting to move out of the bed. Sebastian grabbed her upper arm, stopping her. “Bree, stop, listen. I moved them. I was not convinced of their safety in Plarington. That was where I was—what I was doing this past week.”
“You were not with Lord Bayton?”
“No.”
Full understanding dawned on Brianna. “You moved them without telling me? Without asking me?”
“Yes.”
She ripped her arm from his grip, scampering off the bed. “Why in the hell would you do that, Seb?” She leaned back over the bed, fishing under the covers to find her night rail and then yanking it over her head. “Tell me this instant what you did, where they are, Seb.”
“No.”
“No?” Her eyes went impossibly wide. “You moved them and you are not going to tell me to where?”
“Correct.”
Brianna looked down, her chin hitting her chest as she tried to control the panic seizing her lungs. A dream. This was still a dream. It had to be. The perfect dream that had veered back into a nightmare.
She shut her eyes tight, shaking her head. No. He couldn’t have done this to her.
Opening her eyelids, she looked up.
Sebastian still sat in bed, watching her like a hawk. “Whether you admit to it or not, Bree, you are terrified of knowing where they are, of having to protect them. I have removed that responsibility from your shoulders until Gregory is found and I can decide what to do about Harry’s uncle.”
“Take…take my responsibility? No.” She didn’t bother to curb her voice. “You would not do this to me. You have no right to do this. Frannie would not have let you—not without my permission.”
“She did. She trusts me. And you need to do the same, Bree.”
“No. No. No.” Brianna’s hand went to her forehead as she tried to fight the wave of panicked fury overtaking her. “Tell me where the hell they are, Seb—this instant. Tell me.”
“I will do no such thing. You said yourself not knowing where Harry was, was the only thing that saved him—saved you. This is me saving you, Brianna.”
“But you cannot—you cannot just barge into my life and take over everything, Seb. You are not saving me. This does nothing of the kind—I have to know where they are.” Her fist slammed down on the side of the bed. “You need to tell me, Seb. You cannot just sneak behind my back and move them. Tell me where the hell you took them.”
Sebastian moved to the edge of the bed to stand up, his look crushing down upon her. “You gave me no margin not to go behind your back, Bree. And I am not telling you—I am damn well protecting you, whether you like it or not.”
She stared up at him, her breath seething. “No. You cannot do this to me. You are not a brute like this.”
“In this I am.” His arms folded over his chest, setting a wall between them.
It took a long second for the finality of his words, of his voice to hit her, and it stole her breath—sent her gasping, curling over as she stumbled backward.
“Brianna.” He lunged, trying to grasp her shoulders, but she twisted viciously from him, bolting for the door.
“Leave me the hell alone, Seb.”
Clutching her stomach, bile threatening to rise, she staggered down the dark hallway, hand running along the cold stone, searching for the path away from Sebastian.
Blackness surrounded her, smothering her.
How had it happened again?
Everything she had guarded against. Everything.
Her heart, her mind, given to a man.
A man who betrayed her.
{ Chapter 18 • Earl of Destiny }
Three brandies chasing down his throat and two hours spent stewing, and his
wife still hadn’t made it back to his chambers.
Though Sebastian wasn’t about to tell her where he moved Harry, he also wasn’t about to allow her to escape him—allow her to blow this out of proportion.
He had been away from her for more than a week, and he damn well wanted her back in his bed. He was protecting her, and he was going to force her to see that.
Sebastian set his candlestick down on the bureau in Brianna’s room, looking at the huddled mound on the bed. Though her room was mostly empty—she had moved most of her belongings to his chambers in the castle weeks ago—the bed had remained ready for her, should she need it.
It twisted his stomach that she had retreated to the room. He loathed that she had felt the need to run from him. He was protecting her, and she was being far too stubborn in her reaction.
The coverlet only covering her legs, Sebastian walked to the side of the bed, watching the mound quiver. Sleeping on her side, her body was curled into a ball away from him, her face buried deep in a pillow, hidden from view.
Just as he stretched a hand out to touch the edge of her bare shoulder, a shuddered breath shook her body.
Sebastian froze.
She had clearly been crying for some time, and sleep had not tamed her breathing.
His hand drew back to his side. She wasn’t ready yet. Not ready to listen to him. To listen to logic. He had been trying to take all worry from her mind, she had to understand that—and she would understand that. But not in that moment.
In the light of day, with a clear mind and hours of sleep tempering her reactions, she would understand. See the wisdom of his actions.
Sebastian turned from the bed, his toe crunching on a piece of paper. He cringed, hoping the sudden sound wouldn’t wake Brianna. Another shuddered breath, but she made no other movement.
He bent to pick up the crumpled paper, curiosity striking when he saw the broken seal crumbling from it. Grabbing his candlestick, he eased into the hallway as quietly as he could, then opened the paper, flattening it the best he could with one hand.
Lord of Fates: A Complete Historical Regency Romance Series (3-Book Box Set) Page 49
