Chapter 45
SHOULD I BE JEALOUS?” Margaret asked when Sebastian joined her in the parlor again.
“What the deuce for? Ah,” he said, following her gaze.
She was watching the duchess of Felburg reenter the room just moments after he did. Not that she sounded the least bit jealous. There was merely curiosity in her tone.
“I needed to speak to the lady about some old unfinished business,” he explained. “My good deed for the—century, as it were.”
“The century, eh? Good deed opportunities show up so infrequently for you?”
“No.”
Her lips twisted sourly. He felt an urge to hug her.
Margaret wasn’t very good at teasing. Lord love her, she tried, but she tended to leave herself wide open for broadsides that she didn’t know how to parry.
Of course, she probably fared better with others in the matter of teasing.
She’d just never come up against someone with his odd sense of humor, or lack thereof.
He was going to miss her. It struck him poignantly that it was the first time he’d felt that way about anyone other than his own family or Giles.
The bluestocking had grown on him. He’d gotten used to her hard-nosed candor, her incessant chatter, her forthright way of looking at things.
She was quite the gem, Maggie was, so unexpected after their first meeting when she’d walked all over him with her indomitable determination to help someone she cared about.
He actually admired that in her and had from the start, though he’d been too annoyed with her to admit it.
And good God, the attraction between them was killing him.
He never should have agreed to delay his departure in order to attend this party with her.
It had been pure hell staying away from Maggie for most of the day when he’d wanted to spend every last hour of his remaining time in England with her in his arms.
The simple fact was, he had nothing to offer Margaret.
That he had even come to that realization amazed him, since it put her into a category that he’d never put any other woman—the desire to keep her.
But Margaret needed stability, a man she could depend on, a man who would always be there for her—a man like he used to be.
“Oh my.”
Sebastian followed Margaret’s gaze to the door.
He went very still. Douglas and Abigail had walked in, arm in arm.
Margaret groaned. Abbie might not be on speaking terms with her son, but with Denton in London, the old girl would make an exception and enlist her son to escort her to a party in honor of her grandson’s marriage.
Having done his duty, Douglas patted his mother’s hand, and Abigail moved to the first group of acquaintances she recognized, while Douglas moved straight toward Sebastian and Margaret.
Quite a few people stopped him along the way, determined to speak with him, either to offer congratulations on the new member of his family, or to ask after his health.
“Bloody hell,” Sebastian swore.
“Buck up,” Margaret said in her staunchest tone. “You can withstand this.”
He glanced down at her and shook his head.
“You don’t understand, Maggie. We’ve committed the worst sort of manipulation.
My father is tossing his convictions out the door—based on a lie we perpetrated.
When I agreed to this farce, I expected only grudging compliance from him, and only for your sake.
I had no idea how much he wants you to be part of his family, so much so that he’d actually forgive me.
It’s not just that I can’t do that to him.
I can’t bloody well stomach his acceptance of me for a reason that isn’t even real. ”
“You don’t know yet that he’s tossed out anything. For appearance’s sake, of course he must play the role of the proud father, just as you’ve been playing the role of the redeemed son.”
“Don’t count on it.”
“Then you should leave now, right now,” Margaret urged. “I’ll think of some—”
Too late. Douglas had reached them, and after hugging Margaret, he said, “I can’t believe that neither of you mentioned your marriage to me when we last spoke. Did you think I couldn’t withstand the shock while I was still recovering?”
He was smiling. Worse, his smile seemed to be genuine. There was warmth in his amber eyes. This was the man Sebastian remembered, the father he’d had—before the duel.
“We need to talk,” Sebastian replied in a clipped, hard tone.
“Certainly,” Douglas agreed.
“In private,” Sebastian added.
Margaret sighed quite loudly at that. Douglas was now frowning but said, “Alberta’s study is off of her library. I’ll let her know we need to use it and I’ll meet you there.”
“I’ll join you,” Margaret began as soon as Douglas moved off to speak with the dowager duchess.
“No, you won’t,” Sebastian cut in. “Stay here.”
He left her before she could summon up her determination and insist. The study was easy enough to find, a small utilitarian room for conducting business, lacking the frills one might expect a duchess to favor.
Douglas entered a few moments later, closed the door behind him. His expression was shuttered now.
He began, “I suppose this is overdue.”
“No,” Sebastian said, “not overdue, just necessary. Before you say anything you might regret, you need to know that Maggie and I aren’t really married.”
Douglas stiffened. “What nonsense is this? You haven’t consummated the marriage yet? I happen to know you shared the same room—”
“I’m afraid you misunderstand,” Sebastian interrupted. “Not married as in we never got married to begin with. It was a ruse.”
“This is nothing to joke about, Sebastian.”
“I agree. I told you she hired me. I told you why. The pretense of a marriage was to assist me in my investigation. I couldn’t very well do as she wanted if the door to Edgewood was still barred to me.”
Douglas was quite red cheeked by now. “Good God, I can’t believe that a son of mine—”
“I’m the dead son, remember?”
“What the devil are you talking about? You ruin that girl and for such a flimsy reason?”
“The reason was sound at the time. We didn’t expect you to have another accident, or to become so seriously ill with a fever that could very well have killed you.
If you had been fit and hale, you would have kicked me out of the house without the least bit of discussion—just as you did eleven years ago! ”
Sebastian turned away. The shield on his emotions was cracking. He had to fight to repair it. He’d had excuses eleven years ago that never got said, that Giles’s death had been an accident. He wasn’t going to make excuses for this.
“She will announce a divorce not long after I’m gone,” Sebastian said. “My desertion will gain her sympathy and understanding.”
“You’re leaving?”
Was that surprise in his father’s tone? He glanced at Douglas again, but his expression hadn’t changed. He was probably furious over the deception and bitterly disappointed that Margaret was not truly his daughter-in-law.
“Of course I’m leaving. I never wanted to come here in the first place.”
“Then you will marry her first. Or will you stand there and try to tell me you never touched her?”
“No, I can’t tell you that.”
Even more angry color shot up into Douglas’s cheeks. “Then by God you will marry her.”
“For what? So you can claim her as a daughter-in-law until she institutes a real divorce?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do,” Douglas said, glaring at him.