Page 46 of What's a Duke Got to Do With It
“I would not have thought of it had I not met Miss Denby at the Quayside just yesterday,” the man said in what Sebastian was coming to think was his normal lack of any discernible inflection. “How fortuitous that my daughters asked me to fetch them sheet music during my weekly stop into town for supplies, or I would have never run into Miss Denby and received an invitation to visit.”
Sebastian, who had taken the seat across from Katrina—with Mouse planting his posterior upon his foot, something the dog had taken to doing recently—watched the other man with narrowed eyes. There was no affection for her in his words, the flat, automatic quality of them making them seem completely disingenuous. Nor was there warmth in his gaze. Rather, he seemed to be sizing her up, as if he were considering hiring her on for a position in his household and was trying to determine if she would be a good fit.
Enough, you blasted idiot, he scolded himself, attempting to focus on patting Mouse’s great head. Let Katrina do what she felt she needed to do.Stay out of it.
“I am only pleased you took me up on my invitation,” Katrina said with a smile that did not reach her eyes. “It must be so very difficult for you to get away from home with all your responsibilities. I am honored you took time away to visit with us.”
“I would not have missed it for the world,” the farmer stated. Why was it, Sebastian thought, that the man could say something that seemed so pleasant, and yet make it sound dry and as hard to swallow as unbuttered toast?
“That being said,” Mr. Young continued, rising, “I really must be getting back home. I have ten children, you see, Your Grace,” he explained to Sebastian, “and since my late wife’s passing it is difficult for me to get away for any length of time.”
“Oh, but allow me to see you to the door,” Katrina said, springing to her feet. “If, Lady Tesh, that is all right with you?”
“Certainly,” the dowager murmured, waving a hand in the air.
The farmer made his farewells and departed, Katrina at his side. Sebastian watched them go, fighting the urge to bolt after them. A widower with ten children? If Katrina married him she would be nothing more than a glorified nanny. Sebastian had never met anyone so dour in his life, no matter the man’s pleasant appearance. Katrina’s spirit would be crushed if she were to shackle herself to such a person, he was certain of it.
No!He physically shook his head, attempting to dislodge the critical thoughts. This was Katrina’s decision and he had to respect it. Hewouldrespect it. Even so, it took an incredible amount of effort to tear his gaze from the empty doorway—only to find Lady Tesh looking at him with a healthy dose of speculation. His face heated. Surely she would say something about his fascination with Katrina and Mr. Young—especially after his misstep last night when he had questioned why Katrina had not married. Or, barring that, she would quiz him on Mr. Young’s appearance and Katrina’s seemingly welcome attitude toward the man’s attentions—as insipid and businesslike as they had been. And he did not know if he could trust himself to hide his feelings on that particular subject, as volatile as they were.
Blessedly, however, she didn’t speak of either of those things. “You wished to see me about something, Your Grace?” she asked, patting Freya, who was currently snoozing in her lap.
Damnation, he had completely forgotten his reason for seeking her out in the first place. Forcefully putting Katrina and her questionable beau from his mind, he focused on the issue most important to him: namely, how to ensure that Bridling had completely forgotten his actress, thus sealing a stable future for all those people counting on Sebastian not to muck this up.
“I have reason to believe,” he began quietly, “that Bridling may have formed a tendre for Lady Paulette.”
“Lady Paulette, eh?” Lady Tesh mused. “Even Cartmel would not dare to complain of such a match.”
“I am of the same mind.”
She pursed her lips, idly stroking Freya’s fur. “The young lady was set to return home tomorrow. But mayhap I can convince her to stay on Synne for a bit longer.” Suddenly her gaze turned troubled as it drifted to the doorway. “There is the ball at the Assembly Rooms tomorrow, of course. But after our last visit there, I don’t think that would be something we should attempt. At least not for the time being.”
She was thinking of Katrina. Which, of course, madehimthink of Katrina, and why she was doing what she was doing in welcoming the advances of such men. She truly loved Lady Tesh and her friends, and she would relegate herself to a lifetime of unhappiness to protect them.
Did he think it was utter madness? Absolutely. There must be some other path she could take to reclaim her respectability. But for the life of him he could not think what that might be; with even the vicar villainizing her, he could not see a way out of this for her anytime soon.
Marry her yourself, you coward.
There was that voice again, louder this time. And much harder to ignore.
“What we need is something more private, like our beach excursion, to encourage intimacy between the two,” Lady Tesh continued, providing him with the means to quiet those secret, troublesome desires. Suddenly she looked at Sebastian with a gleam in her eye. “Mayhap a bit of rowing on Lake Tyesmere.”
A genius plan if there ever was one. Rowing in small skiffs would be the ideal way to get two people off alone. “Lady Tesh,” he said with a small smile, “I do think that is a positively inspired plan.”
“Well, of course it is,” she replied archly. “Icame up with it, after all.”
“What did you come up with, Lady Tesh?” Katrina asked as she re-entered the room.
But Sebastian didn’t hear the dowager’s reply. The sight of Katrina walking toward them, her golden hair illuminated like a halo about her head as she passed through a beam of afternoon sunlight, addled his senses completely. But why? He had literally just seen her mere minutes ago; why would she have such an effect on him just by walking into the room? Especially after he had just been telling himself that he would not interfere in her life and would stand back to allow her to do what she felt needed to be done?
But she was speaking, no doubt replying to whatever it was that Lady Tesh had said. “A rowing party?” she said, eyes lighting up as she resumed her seat beside the dowager. “Oh, I do adore rowing. All that bobbing and floating in the water, like being in a dream. Why, I can still recall the last time I was out rowing. It was at a house party during my last season in London. The water was clear as glass.” She turned to Sebastian, a smile lighting her face, making him feel warm from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. “Don’t you remember, Seb—?”
She cut herself off, her blue eyes going wide with dismay before they dropped to her lap. But her attempt to rein herself in was too late for Sebastian. Her words brought to mind that halcyon day mere weeks before his father’s death. They had been among those who had been invited to Lady Fulton’s annual house party just outside of London. How often had they walked together, or sat together of an evening talking and laughing? And then there had been that one shining afternoon, where he had taken her out rowing with the rest of the party. How he had ached to row them beneath the shade of one of the many willow trees that dotted the bank, to shield them behind the dragging branches, to take her in his arms and kiss her senseless. To claim her for his own right then and there.
But he had not. No, instead he had fed the rebellion in his breast that had loudly declared he was too young to be tied down to one woman. And so instead of holding her and kissing her, as he’d ached to do with every fiber of his being, he had turned the boat about and brought her back to shore.
He had never regretted such a cowardly decision so much in his life. If he had quieted that part of himself that insisted on remaining free, if he had instead listened to his heart, he would even now be married to the most incredible woman he had ever known.
And you would have no way of pulling yourself out of the sucking pit of financial ruin you’re currently in.
