Eleanor carefully arranged the freshly gathered blooms into porcelain vases, adjusting a wayward petal here, tilting a stem just so. She stepped back, head tilted, assessing her work with a critical eye. Venturing into Sebastian’s study with an armful of flowers would be nothing short of reckless—he was best left undisturbed when brooding over his ledgers. But by placing them in the drawing room, the dining room, anywhere he might pass through, she hoped to lure him beyond mere contentment. Perhaps even into something resembling happiness.
One day, he would appreciate having a wife.
At least, so she hoped. These small touches—the curtains he had argued so firmly against, and the flowers, and everything else she could think of to do—would improve his life enough that he would welcome her place in it. He would see all the ways she improved things. And if he saw fit to punish her for her transgressions again… well, she could not say she would object. The more he gave into his desire for her, the greater hold she would have over him, and the more likely he would be to want her to stay.
Her greatest fear was if he should send her back to Margaret in disgrace, determined to live separately. That happened for some married couples; once she bore him an heir or two, he shipped her off to another house entirely, and they conducted the rest of their lives in isolation from one another.
Sebastian could not be allowed to get rid of her.
At least she had not borne him a son yet. He had not, to her knowledge, committed the act that would get her with child, so she had at leastsomechance of persuading him to fall in love with her.
Not that she loved him, exactly. But he had shown just enough of himself to her that she thought shecouldlove him, and it was her duty as his wife to try.
Once she finished arranging the flowers, she called for the carriage for a meeting with Olivia. Both to update her friend on her progress, and to get some more advice about what other things she could do to persuade Sebastian to fall in love with her.
When she arrived at Olivia’s house, the two girls decided to take a walk in Hyde Park so they could talk privately.
“For you know Mama likes to listen in on everything we say,” Olivia said as they set out, arm in arm under the warm summer sunshine. “And shecannothear of this, though I have no doubt it’s a common enough affliction. Young ladies often need advice on how to seduce their husbands, I think.”
“And you are an authority on the matter?” Eleanor teased.
“I certainly know more than you. So tell me what happened at the ball? I’m devastated that Mama refused to let me attend.”
“It would have been nice to see a friendly face there,” Eleanor agreed, but although she sighed, her disappointment was short-lived. She had too much to tell, and in truth, she hadn’t felt the loss of Olivia too much when Sebastian had spent so much of the ball by her side.
She told Olivia everything that happened, though she glossed over the details of precisely what occurred in the carriage. Better not to shock her friend too far, although she had a sneaking suspicion that Olivia would have delighted in the details and thought it was very much a good thing.
Even so, her face lit up when Eleanor explained that they had been somewhat intimate in the carriage, even if he had then proceeded to ignore her.
“I just do not know how I can get him into my bed,” she said as they passed through the gates into Hyde Park. “Of course, I know that he wants me. Even today, he could not hide that. And when I displease him, he gives me more attention than he would have done if I merely obeyed his rules.” She gave a shocked giggle. “I am becoming quite the rebel. But for all that, he does not visit my bed. He does not even seem as though he is tempted, though I would have thought…”
“I am positive he is,” Olivia declared. “What man could not be? Especially aftersomethinghappened between you both. But for whatever reason, he is resisting your charms.”
“He told me that he has no wish to like me.”
“Hmm.” Olivia pursed her lips. “Perhaps he has made a vow never to fall in love with his wife.”
Or perhaps he had made a vow never to form a connection with anyone. Eleanor had not missed the way Sebastian avoided friendships. He actively tried to ignore her, and when he could not, denying her seemed to cause him near pain.
Then there was the matter of the servants. It had not yet happened, but she knew he intended to replace them all again soon—though not Abigail if she had anything to do with it. It was as though he intended everything in his life to be transient. Impermanent.
A wife was, by nature, none of those things.
Perhaps he wanted to keep his distance out of principle?
Well, she would not stand for it.
“I would like him to fall in love with me,” Eleanor whispered.
“Of course you would! I would like a man such as that to fall in love with me, too. Just imagine the way he would look on his horse riding to save me…” Olivia sighed dramatically. “And vowing his undying love. He has a handsome enough face to pull that off, you know, which is more than can be said for most gentlemen, and while I will confess he is not the most loquacious, I suppose he is pleasant enough when he does open his mouth, and really, what more could a lady want? A handsome husband who is not unpleasant, and who adores her?” She looked at Eleanor. “Are you listening to me?”
Eleanor was not, in fact, listening. She was staring ahead of her, down the long, wide path they promenaded down, to where her own knight in shining armor approached on a big black horse, somehow more handsome than she could remember him being.
Perhaps the events of the carriage had warmed her to him more than she had thought. Or maybe it was what had occurred between them that morning when he pinned her against the table and said one thing with his mouth while his eyes said quite another.
She had known then she could never give up.
“I think,” she said, a trifle breathlessly, “you have summoned him.”
