“You are in the best days of your marriage,” Lydia said under her breath as the piece came to an end. “Enjoy it while it lasts.” She smiled sweetly at Eleanor as she returned to their party, and Sebastian was forced to let the subject drop.
The ride back to their house was silent. Eleanor plucked at a loose thread in her gloves, wishing Sebastian would say something to her. All her enjoyment of the day had been suckedout by the way Sebastian had entertained Lady Lydia’s advances, content to send her off to accompany their private conversation.
How humiliating.
“Did you enjoy the menagerie?” Sebastian asked suddenly.
“Of course.” She summoned a smile for him. “It was the best time of my day.”
“You did not think it was too common an outing?”
Was that what Lady Lydia had insinuated? No doubt the other lady would have preferred something more refined, more gentile. Did Sebastian also think that Eleanor ought to have preferred something else?
Her shoulders stiffened. “It was not,” she said, and he frowned.
“I see.”
“We have a ball in three days’ time. I was hoping to attend with Olivia. Would you accompany us? If not, I can ask Luke.”
Sebastian’s expression tightened. “You would ask him?”
“Only if you had preferred not to go,” she snapped.
“I would much rather attend with you than leave you in his hands.”
“For heaven’s sake, Sebastian. I thought you were finally friends again.”
“I would be more likely to contemplate friendship so long as he did not make advances on my wife.” Sebastian’s eyes flashed, and Eleanor wasn’t sure whether to laugh or drop her head in her hands.
“We both know Luke’s interest is in Olivia rather than me. Come, are you truly going to fight with me?” She reached out her hands to him pleadingly, and he immediately took them in both of his.
“I’m sorry. You’re right, we shouldn’t fight when things are finally so good between us.” He lifted her fingers to his mouth and kissed them tenderly. “It would be my honor to attend the ball with you. But I do have a question for you. Why did you write to Lydia?”
Eleanor’s heart dropped. “A mistake,” she managed.
Sebastian shook his head, but although he smiled at her, she wondered if he had resolved whatever thoughts lay behind his eyes. Still, he brought her face to his for a kiss, despite the rocking of the carriage, and she allowed herself to relax. This distance between them was a temporary thing, and who could blame him for being a little distant from her after meeting with the woman who broke his heart?Shehad been the one to write to her, after all. He had not sought her out.
But Lady Lydia was not his wife, and she would not—could not—be allowed to break them apart when they had only just come together.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Over the course of the next few days, Eleanor was able to forget about Lady Lydia. Although Sebastian did not entirely thaw toward her again, he had gone as far as asking her how she would feel about not changing the staff when his two weeks were up.
Nothing about his demeanor to her suggested that he was thinking of another, even if sometimes he did descend into his own thoughts. But when she brought him back into the present, he always looked at her with a smile as though delighted to see her still there.
Thus, when they traveled into London together to attend another ball, Eleanor looked forward to the evening with an air of enjoyment.
First, they went to Olivia’s house to collect her, and her mother—worn and tired from the extravagances of a London Season—handed Olivia into the carriage with an air of relief.
“Mama is very grateful,” Olivia said as she settled beside Eleanor. “She thinks I will have a better chance of making a match if I am with you.”
“Well, so it’s true,” Sebastian said. “Do you have any gentlemen in mind?”
Olivia blushed, and unusually for her, kept her peace.
“Enough,” Eleanor said, nudging her husband. “Did you write to Luke as I requested?”
“I did, although I doubt he would have missed this opportunity for the world.” Sebastian leveled a significant look at Olivia before lapsing back into silence.
