Page 48 of Marriage Most Scandalous
“Well done, Maggie,” he said as he helped her dismount. “I see now why you ride a Thoroughbred. Of course I wasn’t really trying to win,” he added with a grin.
“Of course you weren’t.” She chuckled.
They had dismounted near the edge of the cliff and walked side by side now, leading their horses by the reins. A few hardy wildflowers were surviving the colder season, dotting the grassy area they traversed. Sebastian actually bent down and picked a few, lifted them to his nose, then made a face because they didn’t actually smell sweet, merely earthy. But then with a formal bow and a half grin, he presented the bouquet to her.
“Not as pretty as those you cultivate, but—” He ended with a shrug, even seemed a little embarrassed over his offering.
Margaret was charmed. “They’re beautiful. Thank you.” They continued their walk, Sebastian glancing out to sea every so often, Margaret glancing at him surreptitiously. She’d never seen this side of him, relaxed and at ease. Well, actually, she had, when he was with his grandmother, but that was different, strictly for Abigail’s benefit, because he didn’t want to show her The Raven.
“I used to come here as a child and sit for hours watching for ships,” Sebastian said.
“Did you really?” She had to laugh. “So did I!”
“I know.”
She blinked. “What d’you mean, you know?”
“I saw you here once, scampering about just as our young friend here is doing. I was merely riding past. Don’t think you noticed.”
“No, I don’t recall it,” she replied.
They watched Timothy for a moment. The lad noticed and waved at them before tossing a few rocks over the cliff.
With Sebastian behaving so (dare she say it?) charming, she thought it was a good time to mention Alberta’s plans for them. “The duchess is going to give a party for us in a few days. I tried to dissuade her, but she was adamant.”
“Us?”
“Yes, a celebration of our marriage for the neighbors to enjoy.”
Sebastian didn’t even try to hide his groan. Margaret was surprised that was his only reaction. He could simply decide not to go.
She changed the subject before he gave the party too much thought. He was being entirely too—likable today. She really didn’t know what to make of it.
“By the by, this is where your father nearly fell off the cliff.”
“You never explained the details of the other accidents,” Sebastian reminded her, “so you might tell me now.”
“Well, your father claimed he was riding along the cliff, as he often did during his morning outings, and the strap on his saddle came loose. The saddle started to slide and him with it. It would have been minor if he weren’t so close to the cliff’s edge. He went over, caught himself a few feet below on an outcropping, but there was nothing there to get a foothold on or pull himself up with. It wasn’t until a half hour later that someone came by and noticed his horse alone there and went to investigate.”
Sebastian was frowning now. “The strap came loose, or was it tampered with?”
“That was the first accident. Hearing about it after the fact made it seem not so alarming, since Douglas was found and was unhurt. He must have been terrified at the time, but once rescued, he brushed it off as bad luck so no one thought to check the saddle afterward.”
“What else?”
“You know that balcony up on the third floor that your mother had built so she could take her tea up there and enjoy the view? Your father still goes up there occasionally. I did too, for that matter, when I was up early enough to watch the sunrise.”
“You’re going to get to the point sometime today, correct?”
She could tell from his tone that he was teasing her, but she made a face at him anyway before continuing. “Douglas fell through the floor up there. It just gave way under him. He caught himself on the edge of the hole it made, thank heavens, and pulled himself back up. He could have died from that fall if he hadn’t.”
“And how did he fob off that near-death experience?” Sebastian asked.
“He said some of the floorboards must have rotted after so many years of being exposed to the elements. He now has a servant check the balcony floor regularly.”
“You realize that is a valid explanation?” “Yes, of course. But I’d been up there just the day before and there was nothing wrong with the floor, no creaking, no odd-looking boards.”
“Anything else?”
