Page 82 of Sinful Persuasion of a Lady in the Making
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Sebastian was about to step up to the door when he heard the laughter coming from the garden. When Gulliver started yapping, sensing Sebastian’s presence, he chuckled, but he laughed louder when he heard Jenny reprimand the poor little thing. He stopped for a moment and listened.
He didn’t know why he stopped and listened, and afterwards, a large part of him wished he hadn’t.
But at least I now know the truth, he thought later that night. Because as he stood there, he heard Jenny admit the truth.
“All I had to do was charm the lord and convince him I’m in love with him. I’m not, of course—”
His heart thumped loudly, painfully in his chest, and he felt himself double over, reaching out for a nearby branch to steady himself.
Diana was right.
His heart was breaking, wrenching in two, and he fled the house, leaping into his carriage and demanding the footman take him to the nearest club, where he planned to drown himself in drink. He was a fool. Diana had read the situation so clearly, and he had done nothing but dismiss her.
“Brandy,” he demanded as soon as he got to the gaming hall. He drank it back in a single gulp and handed the glass back to be refilled.
“Hartwood!”
Sebastian looked up to find Lord Percival Blackmore towering over him.
“Percy,” Sebastian said, then he closed his eyes and shook his head.
“Everything all right?” Percival asked. “You look like someone’s died.”
“Only my heart,” Sebastian replied, taking yet another drink from the servant and knocking it back.
“Ah, womanly affairs,” Percival replied. “May I join you?”
“I don’t care either way, quite frankly,” Sebastian said, pursing his lips up at his friend.
“You’re in a bad way, I see.”
Percival called the servant over and whispered something in his ear, but Sebastian didn’t care to find out what. What did it matter, when his whole life had fallen apart?
“Do you want to tell me about it?” Percival asked. “I’ve got plenty of time, and I’ve just asked them to send the whole bottle over. It seems like you’re going to need it.”
“Have you ever been betrayed, Percy?”
“Not in love, no,” Percival admitted. “In business, haven’t we all?”
“Business!” Sebastian scoffed.
The servant arrived with the bottle of brandy and before he could put it on the table, Sebastian had taken it from him and was pouring himself another glass.
“Steady on,” Percival said.
“Why?”
“Because you’ll leave none left for me, that’s why,” Percival replied with a smirk.
Sebastian snorted, the humor of it getting to him, and he wondered how he could laugh when he was in such pain.
“So what happened?”
“Have I ever told you about my annoying sister? The one who thinks she is always right?”
“A few times, yes,” Percival said.
