Page 64 of Marriage Most Scandalous
She pinched his side. “As it happens, yes I was. Are you very angry?”
“Not a’tall,” he replied. “I’m not proud of the name I’ve earned, but I’m not ashamed of it, either. It was never my intention to garner such a reputation. But I really don’t care if he knows or not. You didn’t mention our ‘marriage’ to him, did you?”
“Certainly not,” she said indignantly as she sat up. “I may become scatterbrained occasionally, but I don’t forget important conversations and decisions of that sort. If he hears of it, it won’t be from me. But you do realize that he won’t stay more’n another day or two in his bed, if even that? He’s regaining strength rapidly now, and his wound is mending.”
“And your point?”
She wondered if he said things like that just to annoy her. “You know very well what it is. I managed to tell him about my ‘husband’ without mentioning your name. And he hasn’t associated my bringing you back here with my having a husband now. But it’s bound to occur to him soon that he doesn’t know who I married and he’ll end up asking someone. And there’s the dowager duchess’s party tomorrow night, which is expressly to honor the ‘newlyweds.’ He might even be up to attending and—”
He silenced her with a hard, demanding kiss. “You made your point admirably, m’dear. I’ll have to see what I can do about wrapping this up tomorrow to put your concerns to rest, which will end my job here. I’ll speak with him again in the morning, so I can be on my way before noon.”
She didn’t gasp. She wasn’t sure how she managed not to. Just like that? Here’s your answer, good-bye? And there wasn’t a single thing she could say to keep him here—nothing that he’d want to hear.
Somehow she hadn’t thought that would be his answer. It put a definite damper on her mood. She lay back down but turned on her side away from him. That caused him to lean up now and turn her back to face him.
“What?” he asked curiously.
“I—” She could have said that the thought of him leaving disturbed her, but he might read more into that than she wanted. She found her voice through the lump in her throat and was proud of how calm she sounded as she mentioned, “I haven’t paid you yet.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Maggie. I never intended to take your money.”
That jolted her out of her despair. “You didn’t? You had me agonizing over your suggestion of a trade when you—”
“It worked, didn’t it?” he cut in, giving her his devilish smile.
There was no holding back that gasp, or her retaliation as she shoved him out of her bed. “You’re not just an odious man, you’re a—a—a really odious man! And you can spend the night where you deserve to be,” she added, pointing a stiff finger at the bathroom.
He sighed. “Just as well. A man could get used to—”
“Don’t say it!” she warned furiously with heated cheeks.
He started to but must have changed his mind. But was that a wistful look she saw in his eyes as he glanced at the now empty spot in the bed beside her? He didn’t stay long enough for her to credit that possibility as more than her imagination.
Chapter 38
MARGARET WAS SLEEPING SOUNDLY. Sebastian tried not to wake her as he dressed that morning. He’d found his trunk tucked into the corner. John likely hadn’t had the nerve to unpack it, or hadn’t been able to get past Edna to do so.
He stopped by her bed, shoved his hands in his pockets to temper the urge to touch her. He’d never had any trouble saying good-bye to women. He knew bloody well it was going to be different this time.
As soon as he’d realized he might be heading for the nearest ship today, he’d known he had to put some distance between himself and Margaret, emotional distance. Getting her angry at him again last night had been easy enough to do and had given him that distance. He regretted it, though, and not because he had a stiff back from sleeping on the bathroom floor again. The damned woman had gotten under his skin. He’d never felt so attracted to and intrigued by a woman, and yet so at ease with her. God, she certainly was beautiful and had a delectable body, but he also admired her spunk and her willingness to eschew the silly social conventions that kept so many women tied up in knots. Still, she was a lady through and through, sprung from the same world of traditional good manners, honor, and gentility that he’d once belonged to, but was no longer a part of, he reminded himself. He quickly walked out of the room before he ended up with even more regrets.
There was no sound coming from his father’s room as he passed it. He didn’t stop. He needed to talk to John before he confronted Douglas again. He found him in the kitchen, sharing a cup of tea with an old acquaintance.
The room had been quite noisy, since it was a natural gathering place for the servants, even those who didn’t work there. A collective hush descended as soon as Sebastian entered. John’s friend immediately departed. So did everyone else, except the cook who was too busy to notice the mass exodus.
John rolled his eyes at the door through which the servants had beat a hasty retreat and remarked with a chuckle, “I see you haven’t lost your touch.”
“Being treated like a pariah has its uses, but let’s go outside anyway.”
John nodded and followed him out the side door and around to the back lawn, past the hedged terrace and away from the gardeners. Edgewood had no fewer than five men who kept the grounds immaculate.
“I hope you’ve found out more than I have,” Sebastian began. “Some of these people have known me since I was a child and they still won’t open up.”
“That’s probably more the class difference, m—”
“If you say ‘m’lord’, I may sock you.”
John gave a short burst of laughter but allowed, “I have to admit it didn’t take long to revert to form, but I’ll try to restrain myself.”
