Page 57 of Marriage Most Scandalous
“Why?”
“I’m getting to that. She had no luck in convincing me, since I swore never to return to England. She managed to trick me, though, into taking the job, which she’s already paid handsomely for. So I’ll see it through until I can assure her that she’s just a silly woman with an overactive imagination. If you will cooperate long enough for me to do that, then I can get the hell out of here and we’ll both be left in peace again.”
“I could have sworn you mentioned facts,” Douglas said coldly. “When are you going to get to them?”
Sebastian withered a little more inside. His father was now wearing the exact same expression he’d worn the night he told Sebastian to get out and to never darken England’s shores again. Had he really thought there could be a reconciliation? Good God, what a fool he was.
“Fact. Margaret thinks you’re in danger.”
“Rubbish.”
“It’s her opinion. Not mine, and obviously not yours. But it’s why she hired men to find me, and when that didn’t work, why she spent four months trying to find me in Europe herself. She had it set in her mind that I can solve whatever is afoot here. I believe Abigail gave her the notion. Margaret thought I would volunteer to do so. She was wrong in that. She’s probably wrong in her other suspicions as well. But that’s what I’m here to find out.”
Douglas actually began to look interested. “What sort of danger?”
“Fact. You’ve had considerably more than a fair share of accidents recently.”
His father flushed slightly, which Sebastian found interesting, but Douglas merely replied, “Nothing untoward.”
Had his father paused a little too long there in saying that? “Fact. You live in a house with a viperous bitch capable of anything.”
Douglas sighed. “Can’t very well dispute that.”
“Fact. Denton would actually like to divorce his wife but says he can’t. She has some sort of hold over him that ties his hands. Do you know what that is?”
“No, and you’ve found out more than I ever could. He won’t discuss his wife with me a’tall.”
“Defensive, is he? With you?”
“Yes, extremely so where she is concerned.”
“And your conclusion?”
“He’s ashamed of her. He’s ashamed of himself for getting involved with her. He did offer to leave. I selfishly talked him out of it. He’s all—”
There was a brief pause, which goaded Sebastian to finish, “—all you have left?”
Douglas dropped his head back like a man in defeat, then winced when his wound hit the headboard. “I was going to say all my mother has left. This would be a house of silence if it were only she and I here. She won’t talk to me, you know.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“Denton keeps her company. I’m grateful for that. And Margaret was a godsend while she was with us.”
“Are you in love with your ward?” Sebastian asked pointedly.
Douglas blinked, then scowled. “What claptrap is that? She’s a wonderful girl, but she’s young enough to be my daughter.”
“So? When did age ever stop a man from—?”
“That’s quite enough, Sebastian. I can’t imagine where you got that notion from, but it couldn’t be more off the mark. I felt compassion for her when she first came here. She’d just lost her father. But I was never attracted to her in the way you’re implying. She was like a breath of fresh air. She brought normalcy back to this house. More’n once I actually hoped Denton would—”
“Seduce her?”
“No!” Douglas burst out, then with a sigh, “I had hoped she might provide him the incentive to fix his ‘mistake,’ but it was obvious she wasn’t interested in him that way. To be honest, I was just looking for a way to keep her in the family, so to speak. We were all gloomy when she moved back to White Oaks after she came of age.”
It was apparent that no one had yet told Douglas who Margaret had married. Sebastian would as soon keep it that way until after he was gone. Douglas wouldn’t hear of it from Abigail, since she didn’t talk to him. It was doubtful that Juliette would visit him. Denton was the only one who was likely to mention it. He’d have to have another talk with his brother.
It wasn’t that the “marriage” seemed to be no longer needed as a bridge, since Douglas was cooperating enough at least to discuss the situation with him. But he’d never intended to leave without making a clean breast of it. And considering his father’s wish to have Margaret in the family, it wasn’t likely to go over well that he hadn’t really married her. In fact, the thought of having Douglas find that out now made him feel distinctly uncomfortable.
