Chapter 26
MARGARET CAUGHT SEBASTIAN just as Mr. Hobbs let him in. She wasn’t sure how to break the news to him about Alberta’s party, but she did have better news to impart first. But then John followed him in, luggage in hand.
She raised a brow at Sebastian’s valet. “Moving in, when we might not be here another night?”
“Optimism, Lady Margaret. I’m full of it.”
She grinned, liking his attitude. With Mr. Hobbs taking John off to get him settled, she turned to Sebastian, to find him still standing in the open doorway. “We brought your mare with us from White Oaks. Care to go for a ride before dinner?”
What a wonderful idea! “Yes, actually. That was rather thoughtful of you, to bring Sweet Tooth.”
“I have my moments, I suppose.”
He said that so dryly she couldn’t help but laugh. “If we’re not going far, I won’t have to change.”
“Just out to the cliffs. Timothy has a hankering to see the view and will chaperone us.”
“Splendid. Shall we be off, then?”
The ride wasn’t long. It actually took only a few minutes since they ended up having a little friendly competition getting there.
It was merely a raised brow on her part that started it, but Sebastian had understood perfectly and obliged her.
A race to the cliffs, and she won! How exhilarating. She was laughing when he reached her.
“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?”
“There were a couple of minor falls I’d thought nothing about.
Mere bruises he blamed on tripping. Then he was almost run over on one of his trips to London.
A passing carriage driving too fast, though the driver never stopped to apologize.
Douglas didn’t even mention that one. His own driver brought back the news.
But that was one accident too many for me.
And Juliette and Denton had gone with him to London that time.
That was when I finally began to suspect that some skulduggery was afoot and that Juliette and Denton might be involved. ”
“Well, since nothing you’ve mentioned can be looked into after all this time, I’ll have to use other means to investigate. But enough about that. You really are too single-minded, m’dear. I invited you out here to relax and have a little fun, not to discuss unpleasantries.”
She was warmed by that “m’dear” when she shouldn’t be. This charming Sebastian really was much too likable.