Page 72 of Taming Ivy
Her eyes became hazy, the words dropping to a whisper. Sebastian squeezed her hand tight, caught in a silent pit of his own violent anger.
“I realized my only hope…to keep him from violating me, was to leap from the coach. Can you imagine? I probably would have broken my neck, but it was preferable to what Timothy wished to do. I managed to shove him away enough to open the door, and almost tumbled out before he slammed the door shut. My hand was in the opening…a bit of metal sliced my palm open.”
Ivy smiled ruefully. “I thought it cut my hand off. I screamed and screamed, it hurt so terribly. It must have scared the wits out of Timothy, and all the blood certainly didn’t help. The driver pulled the coach to the side of the road, calling out to my welfare. Timothy awoke as if from a delusion. He wrapped his cravat around my hand, sobbing, begging my forgiveness. Then he got out, explaining to the driver there’d been an accident and we needed to return to London. They argued over the price. When Timothy got back into the coach, he made me drink from a little bottle hidden in his waistcoat. I suppose it was the medicine for his headaches. It made me very woozy and the next thing I knew, I was at Kinley House and Brody was stitching my hand.” Tugging away from Sebastian’s grip, she examined the neat white scar slashing across her palm.
“The wound was easy to conceal if I wore gloves. The bruises and my swollen face proved more difficult. I left for Somerset Hall and remained there almost a month. Sara concocted a tale that I’d been thrown from my mare and cut my hand on a rock.” Ivy frowned, lightly tracing the wound with a fingernail. “Shortly after, Timothy began sending the letters. He would personally bring them to Somerset but I refused to see him, so he left them with the butler. I was so afraid, I hid in my room, hoping, praying he would just go away. Disappear. Something desperate existed within him, something so terrible it was incomprehensible. Sara said he was obsessed. I knew he would harm me if I were ever alone with him again, but how was I to avoid him in public? I could not hide at Somerset forever. When I returned to London, he came to Kinley House every day, always with his letters.”
Sebastian handed a bit of paper to her. When Ivy finished reading, it drifted to her lap.
“This was on Timothy’s desk when he was discovered? I received fifty-eight similar letters. All within a month’s time. Sometimes, I received two a day. They were all the same, begging, demanding, threatening. He wanted to see me, to continue our relationship…” Ivy’s guilt trembled in her words. “I think maybe, I should have seen him. I had no idea he would hurt himself. He was so sweet and so kind when we were introduced last year, so charming. I liked him very much. Being his friend was a great joy, but when he needed my friendship the most, I selfishly turned away from him.” She searched Sebastian’s features for signs of recrimination, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Can you forgive me? I never meant to…”
Sebastian enveloped her. “Don’t dare apologize for Timothy. Knowing how you suffered at his hands, I am ashamed to claim him as a blood relative.” Cupping Ivy’s face in his warm hands, he stared intently at her. “You are not to blame for his death. Even if an accident, it was by his hand. And God help me, were he not dead already, I would kill him myself.”
“But, I should have…”
Sebastian interrupted her. “Stop. It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“It matters to some, your aunt for one. She’ll never forgive me. Do you think you might speak to her?” There was no keeping the hope from her voice. She could not explain why it mattered Rachel Garrett absolve her of guilt, but it did. It mattered a great deal, actually.
“She is well aware of what her son did. She heard everything Sara related to me and while she does not believe it to be true, she will do as I say when we return. If she cannot accept matters, I will have her removed to one of my other estates.”
When we return.There was much inferred from his simple statement. Did he mean the two of them together? Why should it be necessary to remove his aunt from his home? Sebastian assumedtheywould face the problem together. It abruptly dawned on Ivy the earl was in her room, without the benefit of a chaperone, and she only clad in a nightgown. After so many instances of shared intimacy, his boldness should hardly shock her, but it did. “Sebastian, who has taken care of me?”
He frowned, as though her question was inane after everything she just went through. “I have, of course.”
“Do not joke with me.” Ivy clutched a handful of the coverlet to her chest, slumping in the bed at the same time. Others must know he was in her room now, so brazenly casual, regardless of her state of undress.
“Your health is a serious matter, Ivy, and I do not jest. Since arriving last night, I’ve been the only one to care for you.” He brushed a lock of her hair out of her eyes. “I intend to continue doing so as your husband.”
“My husband!” she inhaled. “You’ve lost your mind. I’m not marrying you.”
Sebastian’s eyes narrowed. “The hell if you aren’t.”
“I cannot marry you.” Agony suffused her whisper. Yes, he absolved her of Timothy’s death, placing blame entirely on his cousin. However, the earl did not seem overly concerned with making amends for the torment he caused her. “I can’t.”
“The hell you can’t. And you will.”
“I won't.”
“I’ve already informed your father you are,” Sebastian said smoothly.
“How did you manage that before you even asked me? When? When did you tell my father this?”
“Before leaving London, I tasked Sara with relaying the news to him.” Ignoring her distress, Sebastian calmly fluffed a pillow behind her head.
“Am I to understand you planned on marrying me before you even found me?”
“I did. I obtained the special license early yesterday morning as a matter of fact.” His smile was determined.
“Before Basford abducted me?” Ivy twisted the coverlet into knots.
“Yes, love. And regardless of your views on the subject, I will kill that man.”
Ivy covered her eyes with her hands. “You cannot. I won’t allow it.”
His brow rose. “Youwon’t allow it. He abducts my fiancée and I’m not to hold him accountable?”
“I was not your fiancée then just as I am not now. You’ve no right to take over any aspect of my life -” Her words trailed away because, with eyes dark and hard, Sebastian leaned over her. Possessiveness was stamped on his face.
