Chapter 44
Chapter Forty-Four
After supper, Fanny claimed Sebastian for a cotillion, which he could hardly refuse after his dance with Lady Kendall.
In contrast to Isabel’s fragrance of rosemary, Fanny smelt of rosewater and stale perspiration.
She nattered brightly about the guests but failed to elicit more than a few polite grunts from him.
As the dance came to an end, she did not relinquish her hold on him. Her fan fluttered open and she began to fan herself furiously as she leaned against him.
‘I feel a little faint,’ she said in a small, tight voice.
Sebastian refrained from commenting that the second serve of raspberry ice he had seen her consuming might account for her indisposition.
‘Please help me, cousin. A little fresh air...’ she said, leading him towards the door.
He scanned the guests to try and catch the eye of some helpful matron on whom he could foist his fainting burden, but no one seemed to be looking his way.
For someone about to swoon, the grip on his arm felt like a vice. As they entered the library, her knees buckled, and he caught her dead weight. Sweeping her up in his arms, he carried her over to the daybed beneath the window.
She groaned, and he began to chafe her hand.
‘I’ll fetch someone...’ he began as her eyes fluttered open.
Her fingers closed over his hand. ‘No, no. Just sit with me. I will be fine presently.’
‘Can I fetch you a drink?’ Sebastian made to rise again. He could hear voices in the hall outside the library door.
Fanny only tightened her grip, pulling him back down beside her.
‘Fanny, will you let me go? I will be back presently.’
‘Don’t leave me!’ She clutched the sleeve of his jacket as if she was drowning.
Sebastian looked to the door of the library, wondering how to summon assistance, and was relieved to hear Freddy’s voice saying, ‘And of course, the Somerton library has a famous collection of monographs ...’
Fanny sat bolt upright at the sound of her brother’s voice.
Sebastian, half rising, his concentration on the door, had no time to deflect the sudden movement of her left hand.
Something sharp raked down his left cheek and, as the door opened, she began to scream, a great rending scream that made his ears ring.
Sebastian leaped to his feet, staring down at her in horror as she pulled at her hair and her bodice.
A woman in the crowd at the door gave a loud exclamation and Sebastian saw, with mounting horror, the tableau Fanny had presented: the screaming, distressed girl with her torn gown and disordered hair and he.
.. His fingers went to his cheek and came away sticky with blood.
He took a step back from the couch as two women rushed towards Fanny, folding her in their motherly arms. Freddy moved behind the couch, placing a solicitous hand on his sister’s shoulder.
‘He... he attacked me,’ Fanny said between gulps, pointing an accusing finger at Sebastian.
‘I never touched her...’ Sebastian began to say, but his words were lost in the clamour of approbation.
Beyond the crowd, Isabel stood at the door, straight and still. He mouthed her name, but she turned on her heel, her place taken by Matt and Connie. They, in turn, stared at him and the crowd fussing over Fanny. Matt’s eyes asked the question and Sebastian answered with a look of complete despair.
‘Fanny, dear, let these good women take you to your chamber. I will deal with his lordship,’ Freddy said in a loud voice, the last two words heavy with venom.
Too shocked to move, Sebastian became aware of a flash of scarlet as Harry entered the room. His friend moved to his side, followed by Matt and Connie.
Fanny, still sobbing hysterically, was helped from the room and the rest of the crowd ushered outside by Freddy. At the door, Freddy turned to look at Sebastian. His gaze rested on Sebastian’s supporters.
‘I must speak with Lord Somerton alone,’ he said.
Harry stepped forward. ‘Whatever you have to say, Lynch, you can say in front of us.’
‘Very well.’ Freddy walked back into the room, straightening the ruffles at his wrist with deliberate care. ‘I will say what I have to say. You, sir, have outraged my sister, an innocent girl in your care and protection.’
‘I didn’t touch her,’ Sebastian said with gritted teeth.
‘Then how do you explain your face?’ Freddy indicated the cut that dripped blood onto the immaculate white of Sebastian’s stock.
‘She had something in her hand,’ Sebastian replied. ‘I would never—’
Harry cleared his throat. ‘We believe you, Alder, but it doesn’t matter what we think. It is what the world is going to think.’
Realisation dawned on Sebastian.
‘You mean ...?’
Matt glanced at Harry. ‘The colonel’s right, Bas. As far as the world is concerned, you have outraged the modesty of an innocent girl.’
Sebastian turned slowly to face Freddy, the whole staging of the scenario now crystal clear.
‘Innocent? The whole thing was carefully planned, wasn’t it, Freddy?’
Freddy, still absorbed with his linen, looked up. A muscle twitched in his cheek. ‘My dear Somerton, how dare you make such an accusation? I know only what my eyes told me: my sister, distressed and deshabille, in your company. I expect you to address the situation as a gentleman.’
Sebastian glared at the man. ‘So, tell me, as you have been some weeks in the planning of this, what am I, as a gentleman, expected to do?’
‘He means,’ Harry said, his mouth a grim line, ‘that you must marry the chit.’
‘Marry her?’ Sebastian turned to his friend, his heart sinking.
‘You have ruined my sister’s reputation, Somerton, of course you must marry her,’ Freddy said.
Sebastian sank down onto the couch. Connie sat down beside him and began dabbing at his ruined cheek with a kerchief supplied by the colonel.
‘Marry her?’ Sebastian repeated. ‘I would sooner return to the field of Waterloo.’ He looked up at Freddy.
‘You have played me for a fool, Lynch. You and that dim-witted sister of yours were never going to accept any offer of settlement. Nothing less than a title for your dear sister. Isn’t that what you said? ’
Freddy straightened, his fingers going to the pin in his cravat.
‘I can see you are overwrought, Somerton. We will speak in the morning when you have had time to consider your situation. This unfortunate incident has regrettably brought the evening to an end, so I will see to your guests and bid you all a good night.’
Numb with despair, Sebastian buried his face in his hands as Freddy left the room. Connie slipped her arm around him and laid her face on his shoulder in a comforting gesture he appreciated.
‘We believe you, Bas,’ she whispered, her own voice sounding close to tears.
‘I should have seen this coming,’ he said at last, shaking his head in despair.
‘They seemed so nice,’ Connie said in a wavering voice, and her brow furrowed. ‘But she did try to steal my earrings.’
‘Looks are deceiving,’ said a voice from the doorway.
They all looked up to see Isabel standing framed by the light from the hallway. Sebastian rose shakily to his feet.
‘Isabel...’
‘I suggest we all go to bed,’ Isabel said without meeting Sebastian’s eyes.
‘I will take Fanny with me back to the dower house tonight. In the circumstances, it is hardly proper she stays in this house. Colonel, thank you for your help. I am sure his lordship appreciates your friendship. God knows, he is going to need his friends in the next few days. Good night.’
She gave Sebastian a last pitying glance and walked away.
Sebastian sank back on the sofa. Had it only been a couple of hours earlier when he had kissed Isabel and told her he loved her? Only a few hours since his future had a contained a promise of happiness with a woman he loved by his side?
‘Isabel is right,’ Connie said softly. ‘I think we should all go to bed. The world will seem much brighter in the morning.’
She sounded so like her father that Sebastian gave a bitter laugh.
The world would be no brighter in the morning.
He would still face the grim prospect of a lifetime with Fanny.
He wondered if challenging Freddy to a duel would satisfy honour, but it wasn’t Freddy’s honour at stake.
It was his, and if he considered himself an honourable man, he had no choice but to marry Fanny.
The Lynchs had set a fine trap, and he had walked blindly into it.
After seeing Fanny settled into the guest chamber, looking for all the world like a well pleased cat, Isabel sought the sanctuary of her own bedchamber.
Shutting the door behind her and turning the key in the lock, she took a deep, shuddering breath, gasping as a physical pain gripped her.
Laying a hand against her chest, she put out the other to support herself against the post of her bed.
This, she told herself, was what people meant when they talked of a broken heart.
A little voice inside her cried out, He said he loved you.
And I should have said I loved him, she answered the little voice, but I didn’t, and now it is too late.
She had allowed herself to hope. For a few fleeting moments she had imagined a life with Sebastian, and it had seemed like a warm sun on the cold, barren plain of her life.
In her heart she had already shed her widow’s weeds and donned brightly coloured gowns.
She would dance with him, feel her hand gripped in his strong hand.
They would have been happy here at Brantstone.
.. a brood of strong, handsome children. ..
She gave a strangled cry and sank to the floor, leaning her head against her bed and allowing her grief to overwhelm her.