Page 82 of A Wanton Adventure
She hugged herself and said, “I want you to think about it. This all may seem less wonderful when we return. We can talk about it on the ship.”
A bitter laugh escaped him. “In between your time with Tremont.”
She flinched. “I can’t control that he is returning with us.”
“We could tell him we are betrothed.”
Her eyes watered. “Be honest, Sebastian. Do you really want to marry me?”
He didn’t understand what she was saying or why she didn’t understand what he wanted. Maybe she was trying to turn him down delicately. “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to. Am I not even worthy of a chance, Diana?”
“It isn’t that. How dare you insinuate I would think that way?”
He paced back and forth before facing her again. “Then explain to me why we need to wait.”
“Once in England, you may think differently. This trip has placed us in a situation where, of course, we would fall for each other. We are always together.”
Sebastian was a bloody fool. He’d fallen in love with a lady he could never truly have. Just like his mother with his father. “I have to leave.”
She grabbed his arm. “Sebastian, please, can we talk about this?”
“No.”
Sebastian pulled her to him, needing to taste her lips one last time. The kiss was brief but would be seared to his memory forever. She frowned at him. “I’m asking you to pause this and reexplore it in London.”
He couldn’t and it pained him that she was so unsure about what they had. He released her and walked to the door. She pleaded, “Please stay. Don’t leave like this.”
Sebastian didn’t stop or look back.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Have you seenDevons?” Diana asked Haggerty as they stood in the foyer of the hotel.
The man glanced at her, surprised. “Didn’t you hear?”
Her heart started to pound. She shook her head. “Hear what?”
“He left on another ship. It was so early that Monroe closed his bill for him.”
Diana looked around, hoping to see the captain. Sebastian couldn’t have departed without saying anything to her. She refused to believe it. Last night, Diana had bungled things. Of course, she wanted to be courted by Sebastian. Diana loved him, but before he arrived at her hotel room, she’d spent all day thinking about her mother’s words. Insinuations that suggested, in London, she wouldn’t have been enough for a man like Sebastian Devons.
Her insecurities had roared to life. She couldn’t stop thinking about the caricature of the proper lady and all the hurtful words her mother spewed during her childhood about her appearance being acceptable, but not much more than that. Why did she let the woman upset her? Sebastian looked at Diana as if he couldn’t breathe without touching her. She knew that.
“Is Captain Monroe still here?”
Haggerty shrugged and frowned at her. “Is something wrong?”
“No, but I was hoping the captain would still be here.”
Haggerty pointed to the front door. “He just left. You may catch him before he gets in a carriage.”
She rushed outside, glancing around before spotting Monroe about to leave. “Captain Monroe!”
He turned startled. “Lady Hensley, you shocked me.”
Diana took a deep breath. “Haggerty said Devons left.”
Monroe nodded. “The ship he is on should almost be underway, but don’t worry, he gave me two letters for you. He left with Thomas Easton and mentioned that he hoped to meet with his colleagues, the Calverts. Read his letters. He said all the information would be in there. I dropped them off at the front desk.”
