Page 59 of Marriage Most Scandalous
“It was exactly that, mademoiselle. Thank you for noticing.” His sarcastic tone suggested there was no truth in his reply, but beyond that, she didn’t care for his attitude at all. So she was relieved, as well as embarrassed, when Sebastian came up behind her.
“Go away,” he told the fellow coldly. “I’ll see to the lady’s needs.”
The fellow looked at Sebastian with such loathing that Margaret was sure he was going to make some inappropriate remark about the “lady’s needs,” which was why she found herself blushing. But once the groom glanced at her, he must have changed his mind. She could get him fired, after all. So he merely shrugged and ambled off.
“So rude,” she mumbled to herself.
“To be expected,” Sebastian replied and moved along the remaining stalls to find her mare.
She followed him, then waited while he went to fetch her a sidesaddle. When he returned and began strapping the saddle on Sweet Tooth, she finally noticed his swollen knuckles.
“You did that to the Frenchman?” she guessed.
He shrugged. “He threw the first punch. I merely enjoyed what followed.”
She humphed. “Learn anything from him?”
“Nothing a’tall,” he replied. “Though I suspect he sent word to Juliette in London, which brought her back so quickly. It was a splendid fight, though.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not surprised you’d think so. The winner does usually have that opinion. Er, that is, you did win, correct?”
He actually chuckled. “Does it look like I lost?”
She was surprised by his moment of humor, about as rare as a hailstorm in summer. Come and gone though so quickly, she could have imagined it.
It didn’t take him long to finish with the horses, and a quick toss landed her in the saddle. A bit too quick, as if he was loath to touch her, but since that couldn’t possibly be the case, she didn’t dwell on it.
A few moments later, he was galloping out of the stable. She had no trouble keeping up until she suspected where he was going and then she slowed her pace deliberately, almost halted and turned about. She couldn’t imagine why he’d want to go there, of all places.
She’d been there once before, as a child. She and Florence had thought it a lark. She didn’t doubt every child in the neighborhood had thought the same at one time or another and went there at least once. Morbid curiosity. Adults weren’t the only ones who had it.
Her own curiosity decided the matter and brought her through the trees to the renowned clearing. No grass or even weeds ever grew in the narrow twenty-foot stretch. Trees, bushes, and other thick foliage grew all around it, blocking it from the wood path that passed nearby. Grass even grew up to a point, then stopped, outlining the strip of dirt. It wasn’t because it got trampled so much. It was rare a duel got fought there now. It was more like all the blood spilled there over the years had blighted the area. A morbid thought to go with her morbid curiosity.
Sebastian had dismounted, was standing in the middle of that strip of dirt. He wore the expression of a man in pain. What was amazing was that she could see it clearly. He wasn’t trying to hide it, or if he was, he was experiencing too much pain to manage it.
She felt torn herself. She had the strongest urge to go to him and put her arms around him, to offer what comfort she could. There was no feeling of satisfaction, or thought that he deserved this pain. From the moment she’d believed him, that Giles’s death had been an accident, she’d stopped blaming him for Eleanor’s death. He was still responsible for dividing a family she was very fond of, but that was between him and his father, and had nothing to do with her sister.
She realized that she really had no reason to hate Sebastian anymore, though that didn’t mean she liked him. Well, actually, she must like him a little or she wouldn’t have let her attraction to him rule the order of the day, or night, as it were. But she didn’t like The Raven. No getting around that. The Raven was too abrasive, high-handed, cold, and downright intimidating at times.
She wouldn’t be having these thoughts if she didn’t know there was another side to Sebastian, the side he rarely revealed, the side she might like too much if she wasn’t careful. Fortunately, since the man had absolutely no intention of remaining in England after his job was done, she didn’t need to worry about that.
She shouldn’t ask, but she did anyway, “Why did you come here?”
“I’m getting soft.”
She was taken aback by his odd answer. “Is that such a bad thing?”
He didn’t answer, or look at her, leading her to conclude that in his mind it was. Were the memories he had of this place supposed to keep him cold and uncaring? Bitter was more like it, and that wasn’t a good emotion.
“I don’t suppose you reconciled with your father?” she finally asked.
“There will be no reconciliation.”
That clipped response annoyed her, enough to demand, “Who did he get to see after all these years? His son? Or The Raven?”
He finally glanced at her. “I don’t know why you’re determined to separate the two. There is just one me, molded by the life I’ve made for myself.”
“Rubbish. Tell that to your grandmother when you laugh with her. She gets to see the man you used to be, the one you came here to trample back into the dust.”
