Page 22 of The Duke of Fire
“I bid you three young men goodbye for now,” she said softly.
As soon as she left Gunter’s, Sebastian let himself sink into his chair. It was then that he noticed his friends were still gaping athim in shock.
“Would you care to explain what in hell that was all about?” Cassian demanded. “Are you certain you have not taken ill?”
“Well, of all the outlandish things I have ever heard,” Benedict muttered. “You want your grandmother to sponsor a maid’s daughter? That sounds like too much commitment coming from you.”
Sebastian sighed. Suddenly, he had a splitting headache. He rubbed his temple with his fingers. He had not thought this through. All he knew was that he wanted her. A woman who had so far been plagued by misfortune.
“Miss Warton is not a maid’s daughter. Her mother was a maid, yes, but her father, a viscount, married her. She is legitimate.”
“I gathered as much,” Cassian replied. “But I know that in our world, she still sounds like an outcast. I would believe it if you were cloaking your association with her with the dark of night, but having the dowager sponsor her? That sounds serious.”
“I am not doing this out of the charity of my heart,” Sebastian reassured his friends.
He was telling the truth. It was not his heart that stirred at each sight of the lovely Amelia Warton.
“Oh, that would have been hard to believe!” Cassian guffawed, slapping his thigh.
Sebastian was not amused. The whole thing was definitely inconvenient and perhaps a tad strange when he thought about it, but it had to be done.
That kiss proved it to him. Thoughts of Amelia’s innocence and impure thoughts in writing plagued him.
He exhaled audibly. The longer it took to get her under his roof, the longer he had to carry this weight in his chest.
“We have an arrangement,” he admitted to his friends. “She is in a situation that she wants out of. I am providing her a way.”
“What does it have to do with your grandmother?” Benedict asked, pushing the empty glass of iced strawberry.
“If my grandmother sponsors Miss Warton, no one will question her presence in my house or her frequent visits. That will give me the privacy and legitimacy I require.”
Cassian’s eyes flashed. Sebastian could see and understand his friend’s concern, but all he could think about was Miss Warton’s face.
“Is it just a seduction, Sebastian?” Benedict asked. “I can see you leaving off in dreamland. Were you just thinking about this woman?”
“No, Benedict, it is not a seduction. She was the one who came to me for help,” he replied.
“What is it then? Are you trying to take advantage of her distress because you want her?”
“I do not want her,” he said firmly, looking at a spot behind his friends. They seemed to wait for him to continue. Cassian had heaved a sigh of relief. “It is not that I want her. Not like that,” he added, as he finally met his friends’ stares head-on.
“All right, then,” muttered Cassian. Benedict merely shrugged. “Perhaps it is time for us three to go home and rest. Some peoplemay need it more than others.”
“Ineedher.”
The two snapped their necks to look back at him in horror.
“It is worse, then.” Benedict sighed.
He did not know much about her yet, but he knew he needed to protect her. He could still vividly remember the bruise on her cheek from a slap made by a coward. His jaw clenched as his mind concocted various scenarios of revenge against the Viscount of Warton.
“Miss Warton came to me for help, but she agreed to play by my rules. She has nothing left. So, do not worry about me. I promised her protection.”
“Let’s say we understand how this works,” Cassian said, gesticulating with both hands. “When she has become yours, what then? After all, you have your rules. Only one night, and that is it.”
Sebastian was quiet, not because he was hiding anything. He just did not know what to say because it was terrifying to consider that perhaps, for the first time, he wanted more from a woman.
More.
