Page 91 of Sinful Persuasion of a Lady in the Making
“Novels? I don’t have much time for novels, I’m afraid. Scholarly papers are more my style.”
“Oh, well, you are missing out on quite a wonderful thing,” Jenny said brightly. “Novels can be the perfect escape from reality.”
“And why would I wish to escape from reality?” he asked, seemingly perfectly genuine. Jenny wasn’t quite sure how to answer that.
“Well, I… It gives you a chance to live different lives, I suppose.”
Lord Bexford was clearly perplexed by the notion and that in turn confused Jenny.Sebastianwould understand. He and Jenny seemed to click, in a way that she knew she and Lord Bexford never could. Jenny’s heart sank. She was determined to do right by her brother, but this gentleman they had chosen for her was dull and uninteresting. The only suitor she wanted did not want her, and he had hurt her so much that she wasn’t entirely sure she even wanted him anymore.
And it was then, as if her very thoughts summoned him, that there was a commotion at the door.
The music stopped abruptly, the conversation died to nothing, and everyone turned to look.
Sebastian.
* * *
“Please, My Lord, you cannot just—”
“Get off me,” Sebastian growled over his shoulder to the Master of Ceremonies, who came running in and attempting to grab hold of him.
“This is highly inappropriate, My Lord.”
Behind him came running two footmen, each grabbing one of his arms. He shrugged them off.
“I want to see one person only, and then I shall leave you in peace.”
The Master of Ceremonies, his face full of tension, nodded to the two footmen, and Sebastian nodded his thanks.
“Quickly and quietly,” the Master of Ceremonies warned.
Sebastian took a deep breath, then turned back to squint into the gloom. He knew he looked like a wild animal, lost and hurt, his hair sticking up in all directions.
The dancers had all froze, becoming statues, and all faces turned to him, mouths open in surprise, although indistinct in the darkness. He swallowed hard, trying to focus and remain calm, but his emotions roiled around inside him, making him feel sick to his stomach.
And then he spotted her. His Jenny, his beautiful… except she wasn’t his anymore. That had all changed the day he had overheard her true intentions, and now he saw her in the arms of another man.
He felt the rage bubbling up inside him, and the confusion, the fear, the pain. He didn’t know what to think or what to do, and his body moved as if entirely of its own accord. He stumbled forward, losing his footing on the step but catching himself on the railing.
Within seconds, he was surrounded. The footmen were on either side, and the Master of Ceremonies just behind. In front of him, though, stepped Luke, tall and puffed up with his own fury.
“Lord Hartwood, I really think—”
“Miss Jones!” he cried over Luke’s shoulder, not caring for those who pulled at his jacket. “Please, talk to me!”
The words tore painfully from his throat, agonized and tortured as his eyes flicked from Jenny to the lord she was dancing with.
“No,” Luke said firmly, taking another step toward him, palm raised. “It’s time for you to leave.”
Sebastian watched Jenny and the lord for another moment, his entire body shaking with fighting emotions within him. And then he howled in pain.
“Is this your new beau? Have you moved on already?”
He whimpered and let his head drop into his hands, and everything was still for another moment… and another. Until finally, everything happened at once.
“I think that’s quite enough,” the Master of Ceremonies said, his face red with his own anger and the effort of getting this madman from the building. Sebastian didn’t care, he couldn’t. His entire focus was on Jenny.
“Viscount or not, you will not speak to my sister in such a way. You are drunk, Lord Hartwood, I advise you to go home.”
