Page 30 of Marriage Most Scandalous
“Well, no, I’ve been gone four months. To Europe, remember?”
“Ah, yes. Now I recall I did miss you, you dratted gel. Come here and give us a hug. You know our garden has gone to ruin since you’ve been gone.”
Margaret winced as she complied with the request. Abigail wasn’t referring to her trip, but to her move back home. It was a standard statement every time she visited, a not so subtle chiding for abandoning Abbie, which was how the old girl saw Margaret’s return to her family home, White Oaks. Abigail’s conservatory was doing just fine. Margaret had trained the man hired to take over the care of it herself, before she left.
“I’ll have a look before I leave,” Margaret said, as she did each time she visited.
“See that you do.”
“A look at what?” Sebastian asked as he entered the room.
“Who’s that?” Abigail demanded, squinting her amber eyes toward the door.
Margaret gave Sebastian a moment to answer but sighed when he said nothing. And obviously Abigail wasn’t going to recognize him when she could barely see him.
“I’ve married, Abbie,” Margaret said.
“Married? Without inviting me to the wedding?”
The hurt tone made Margaret wince yet again. “It happened on the Continent. It was a whirlwind romance,” she quickly explained. “There were time constraints, of course, since I was touring and not staying in any one place for very long. So decisions had to be made quickly. But really, it didn’t take more’n a few weeks for us to be sure we were well suited for each other.”
“She’s lying, Abigail,” Sebastian put in. “She forced me to follow her across half of Europe before she finally said yes.”
Margaret glared at him. For that briefest moment when he said she was lying, she’d thought he was going to make a clean breast of it. Dratted man.
Abigail was still squinting at him and frowning. She finally concluded, “He looks like a rogue. Are you sure he’s not here to rob us, Maggie?”
Margaret grinned at Sebastian, “Well . . .”
“Yes, she’s sure,” Sebastian said in what could almost be called a growl.
“I’ll have the silverware put away, just in case,” Abigail said.
He rolled his eyes at that point. Margaret was having a hard time not laughing. Some of the things that came out of Abigail’s mouth were quite hilarious, because she wasn’t joking. She meant them.
But since the old girl still didn’t recognize him, Margaret said with a grin, “You might want to have a closer look at this rogue, Abbie. You were the one who suggested I bring him home.”
“I did no such thing—”
“I married Sebastian, Abbie.”
Abigail’s smile came slowly, then turned brilliant. “Is that really you, Sebby?”
Sebastian instantly looked appalled. “Good God, not if you’re going to call me that.”
Abigail giggled. She actually giggled! And launched herself across the room to hug her long-absent grandson. “Thank the Lord you’ve returned. I know you can put a stop to these threats to your father’s life.”
“You don’t need to worry about it any further, Grandmother. I’ll find out if there’s any real threat.”
“You see, Maggie?” Abigail crowed. “I told you Sebastian would take care of it.”
Margaret wasn’t going to mention she was having to pay him to do so when Abigail was so happy that he was home.
“Shall we adjourn to the parlor for this reunion?” Margaret suggested. “Mr. Hobbs is fetching tea.”
“Where’s my cane?” Abigail demanded.
Margaret retrieved it where it was hooked on the end of the pianoforte, then helped Abigail out of the room. The old girl didn’t use the cane very often. In fact, she probably didn’t really need it but merely liked having it in hand so she could raise it to make her points, which she frequently did. They were just entering the parlor when Margaret heard...
