Chapter Two
Lord Sebastian Nicholes, Viscount of Hartwood, shrugged on his ruby-red waistcoat, buttoning it up over his linen shirt. His tailcoat hung discarded over the back of the chair, as he was too drunk to even hand it over to the butler the last time he staggered home.
He closed his eyes at the sight of it, his brow creasing with shame. He did not know why he behaved so recklessly, but something within him drew him toward that way of life. He wouldn’t allow himself to think of it, though, preferring instead to push the emotion away—or, more likely, replace it with whisky and brandy.
At thirty years old, Sebastian knew he was past his prime, but he remained tall and muscular. His hair, a sandy brown, was rarely groomed and was simply pushed beneath his hat with little thought, and the freckles that danced across his nose would have, at one time, bothered him. Now, he cared little for his appearance, and the bright light that had once filled his pale-green eyes had dulled to a lifeless sheen.
“You’re going out?” his sister asked as she marched into the room. “Again?”
“Indeed I am,” Sebastian said, taking in a deep breath and preparing himself for the tirade that was to come. His older sister was something of a haranguer, a spinster who took her bitterness out on her brother.
“But you went out last night,” Diana proclaimed, sounding entirely affronted.
“So I did,” Sebastian replied, smiling up at her.
Sebastian was a charming man, able to beguile the most difficult of ladies—and even more so when they knew little of his history. But his sister, he had never been able to win over. She reacted always with anger, no matter what he did or what he said, and he rather suspected she hated him.
With good reason, I suppose.
He shook the thought away, not wanting to remember the horrific events of his past, nor wanting to even speculate on his sister’s feelings. He did that enough when she spoke to him.
Diana Nicholes was five-and-thirty years of age and still unmarried, much to her own embarrassment. She was far from ugly, having the curves that many young ladies desired, and chocolate-brown hair that fell in natural curls around her porcelain face. Her lips, too, were naturally red and seemed in a permanent pout. She glared at Sebastian, her icy-blue eyes chilling him from afar.
“You are an embarrassment to your family name, you do realize that, don’t you, Sebastian? You are damaging the whole family’s reputation with your selfish actions. These scoundrels you insist on calling friends are nothing but rogues.”
“Well,” Sebastian said, looking up at her with a bright smile, “it’s certainly not the first time you’ve told me. So yes, I guess I do realize that.”
She growled in frustration, her hands balled into fists at her sides, her foot slamming down hard on the floor.
“You are positively infuriating,” she spat. “And I must insist youdo notgo out cavorting, yet again, this evening.”
“And I must remind you, dear sister,” Sebastian said, sitting down to pull his shoes on, “that I am the man of the house and, in fact, your guardian. Do you know what that means?”
She replied only with a guttural noise that reverberated from her throat.
“It means that I can do as I wish, when I wish.”
She stamped her foot again, her actions petty and the scowl across her face even more so. In truth, Sebastian did not like to push his sister to such emotions, but she did berate him so, and he dearly wished she would simply leave him alone.
“But it is unfair,” she cried, her voice as whiny as it was angry. “And if Mother and Father were alive, they would say the same. They would have wanted me as their heir, seeing how you are nothing but a rascal dragging their name through the mud with your night-time endeavors.”
“Do not bring them into this,” Sebastian said through his gritted teeth. Sometimes, Diana took it too far.
“You may not like to hear it, Sebastian,” she spat. “But that doesn’t make it any less true. They would be ashamed of you and the man that you have become.”
Sebastian sighed loudly. She was probably right, but he didn’t want her to know that. He closed his eyes as he spoke to her next.
“What exactly is your problem, Diana? Is there something you want from me that I am not giving you?”
“Besides respect?” she said, laughing humorlessly.
“Yes,” he replied patiently, “apart from that.”
She was quiet for a long moment, shifting from foot to foot while looking at the ground.
“Out with it,” Sebastian said. “For goodness’ sake, Diana. We are no longer children. If there is something you want,say it.”
“All right,” she said, twisting her foot on the floor as she looked up at him, affecting a childish stance to go with the childish whine in her voice. Sebastian was irritated, but he took a breath and let it go, as he always did when his sister was involved. She was perhaps so immature thanks to his own lack of care for her.
