Chapter 13
“Should we attend?”
Isabel bit her lip as her husband considered the dinner party invitation sent along to them by a neighboring estate in the county, Lord Hedgeworth and his wife.
With Christmas right around the corner, it wasn’t uncommon for her family to receive countless invitations whilst spending the winter out of the wet streets of London. She was used to them. But that was before the scandal, before her marriage, and before she had a husband to consider.
It’s rather exhausting sometimes, having to think of him. At least he is somewhat handsome with those brooding eyes.
Then Sebastian sniffed lightly before plucking a pair of reading glasses she hadn’t noticed before hanging from his waistcoat.
She stilled, watching him handle the wires so delicately with his large hands.
Something about the sight warmed her cheeks as she realized she couldn’t take her eyes off him.
You’re being ridiculous, Isabel. The man is a rascal. Decent, but a rascal, and you have no reason to be thinking such thoughts about him. Even if he is your husband.
“Isabel?”
“Yes?” She squeaked, jumping in surprise at the sound of her voice.
The second she was lost in thought, he must have attempted to speak with her.
Blinking several times, Isabel quickly pulled herself together.
Her hands smoothed the wrinkles of her skirts while she found what she hoped might be a convincing smile. “Did you say something?”
He looked at her over the glasses in a way that was quite unsettling. Never before had she thought about someone wearing spectacles appearing dreadfully handsome. What was happening to her? Trying to ignore the sudden pattering in her heart, Isabel straightened to understand his repeated question.
“Do you wish to go?”
“Oh! Well. I… I only know the Baron and his wife in passing,” Isabel said slowly while pulling herself together. “It is a generous offer, and it is the holiday season. It would be the polite thing to do, but we can decline should you not desire to attend.”
Sebastian stared at her for a long moment. “So you do not wish to go?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Then you do?”
Her shoulders dropped. “I do if you wish to go, that is what I am trying to tell you.”
“That hardly makes any sense, because you cannot imagine or know what I wish if I haven’t said it,” he pointed out. Then his lips curved up into a partial smile. “If it goes badly, are you looking to have someone else to blame?”
It was impossible not to blush with a handsome man smiling at her, however small it might appear.
Isabel drew in a measured breath while hoping he wasn’t noticing.
This felt very much like he was teasing her and she still couldn’t pull her thoughts together.
It wasn’t often she felt this silly. Blaming it on a sleepless night, she gave a short nod.
“Perhaps I am. Will that affect your decision?”
“Not at all.” He tossed the invitation down on the table between them before leaning back in his chair.
Removing the glasses, much to her disappointment, Sebastian set them aside.
“I have been meaning to speak with him for some time. His wife rarely leaves the estate, so it’s difficult to encounter him in the city.
This would be a perfect opportunity. You’re not concerned? ”
“Should I be?”
A new expression that she could only call concern brushed over his features. “It will be our first public event as a couple. Seeing as we wed to avoid a scandal, there is the risk that it might be brought up in conversation.”
“Oh.” Touched, Isabel needed a moment to think.
She wasn’t used to anyone trying to help her like that.
“Thank you for thinking of me. But I shall do well. It wouldn’t be the first scandal I’ve weathered.
That is,” she hurriedly went on, “not that I cause many scandals. That was the first. But I was included, that is, my family was…”
Sebastian nodded to show he understood. Relieved, she stopped her blabbering. “I only wished to be certain. It is next week, I see. I believe a neighborly gift might be in store. I have something for the baron, should you wish to do anything for his wife, and if you need anything…”
“Anything?”
Clearing his throat noisily, he awkwardly waved at her general direction. “We haven’t discussed finances, but the village shops all have my accounts if you wish for anything.”
“Oh.” Isabel glanced at her dress. She’d grown used to using what she already had.
The green one she kept nice for special moments like her wedding.
Marrying him, she knew that could change but out here it was hardly a bother.
“That is good to know, thank you. I’ll send them a response now,” she added before taking the invitation and hurrying out the door.
Away Isabel went, decidedly losing herself in this new opportunity. It had been a while since she had anything specific to plan for or look forward to.
Strolling through the nearby village with Amber at her side, Isabel found a few gowns and pieces ready-made that would do well on her so long as her maid added a few flounces for added length. A beautiful fur-lined cloak was purchased for the baroness, as well, before they traveled home.
The next couple of days flew by before she could finally bathe and dress in her new red gown with four flounces and silver threading on the sleeves.
“How beautiful! I cannot stop admiring it,” her maid crooned. “It’s so well made. That seamstress deserves to be in London, I tell you.”
“Indeed,” Isabel murmured, for she couldn’t agree more. “What a shame everyone wants their seamstress to be French. At least half of them are lying, I tell you. But Mrs. Dodson is too kind to be a liar. And apparently too busy creating beautiful gowns. We’ll have to visit her again soon, I think.”
Beaming, Amber nodded and then lowered the thin strand of pearls on Isabel’s head before winding the wire holding them together through her curls. They’d decided to go for a complicated twist with braids intermingled, and now there were pearls to be woven one.
Eventually the maid finished with a contented sigh. “There we are. How beautiful you are. This is how you deserve to already dress.”
Trying to hold onto that confidence on her way down the hall, she came around the corner and stopped short of her husband talking quietly with their butler.
The older man was meeting Sebastian’s eye, which was an improvement since their arrival here.
She smiled to herself and took another step forward.
Only she stopped when Sebastian turned to her.
Something about the duke stilled.
Isabel couldn’t place it exactly where this happened or how, within the man, but it made her stop in return. The two of them looked at each other for a long minute. Eventually, his gaze shifted to roll over the rest of her.
A warm flush crept up her cheeks. Determined not to feel embarrassed, she lifted her chin and walked forward. “Your Grace,” she murmured politely.
“You look beautiful.”
His words were so blunt and sounded so factual that it took a minute for the words to sink into Isabel. She blinked, meeting his gaze, before slowly smiling.
“Thank you. You’re very handsome this evening as well,” she told him.
“You’re beautiful all of the time.” He said while taking her cloak from the butler to wrap around her shoulders. “Only tonight, you are…”
She raised an eyebrow, wondering if a man such as he could truly be rendered speechless. “Beautiful?”
“More than beautiful. I would need a dictionary of the past thousand years to find the right word to explain… this. You,” he amended, his voice sounding rougher than usual.
It was a strange compliment, one that made her pause. Isabel considered it a minute and then cinched the clasp around her throat. Turning back to face him, she gave him a short nod. And she ignored the fluttering in her heart as she said, “Charming, too. Whatever shall I do with you?”
His lips twitched. “You can join me at this dinner party to begin with. Shall we?”
Before Isabel knew it, she was hand in hand with her husband strolling down to the carriage where he helped her in.
The two of them smiled quietly but didn’t have a word to say.
Her own breath stuck in her throat. A simple interaction such as that shouldn’t have had her feeling light-headed.
And yet… Well, she hadn’t expected a compliment.
The glimmer in his eye. That almost smile.
While it made sense for him to be on his best behavior this evening, she didn’t understand why he had started it with her back at the house when they didn’t have much of an audience.
Unless he truly meant what he said… Could he? Would he? I can hardly believe he would spend so much time away from, attend meals quietly, only to suddenly attempt to charm me like that. I didn’t take him for a flirtatious fellow.
And then Isabel remembered what Emilia had told her, how Sebastian had been known to dance with the wallflowers in London. He gave them opportunities no one else would offer them.
Was that what he was doing with her? Or something else? She wished it made sense. She wished she knew how to ask him. But even as she pondered on the idea, her last conversation with Emilia, about her brother.
“Is something wrong?”
She jerked her head up. “I beg your pardon?”
Sebastian nodded his head toward her. “You frowned.”
“You were staring.”
A shrug with one shoulder. “I glanced.”
Isabel thought about exploring that further, but decided against the notion. “I’m all right, thank you. I was merely remembering a distasteful conversation I had recently.”
“With whom? The household?”
“No, all is well with them. It was merely something that Emilia said…” Isabel forced a smile and smoothed out her dress. “But it doesn’t matter. I don’t wish to think on it any longer. Tonight, I’m very happy for this distraction.”