“Deserved being a duchess, you mean?” she teased.
“Onedeservesa role when they have proven themselves capable.” He gave her another long, assessing look. “So, ought we revisit the subject of the drawing room?”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Fortunately for Sebastian, who had plenty of work to be getting along with, the seaside with a suitable beach was only a few hours’ drive away, perfectly reachable in a day’s trip. Thus, he bundled Aurelia in the carriage, praying the clear spring weather would hold.
In the sunshine, the weather was warm enough to make the air pleasant, and inside the carriage, he had piled plenty of blankets and heated bricks.
Aurelia laughed when he placed the blankets over her. “I am perfectly capable of tending to myself.”
So she was, and over the past couple of days, she had recovered considerably. Yet there was still a paleness to her cheeks he wasn’t comfortable with. Hopefully, the bracing sea air would do something for her, filling her lungs and bringing color to her cheeks, and hopefully a smile to her face.
He would endure it, because it was what would be best for her. And then they would return home.
Still, he couldn’t stop himself from fussing over her a little as they set off, until she eventually put a hand over his, giggling a little. “It’s all right, Sebastian. I’m all right.” She peered out of the window. “Isn’t the weather lovely this time of year?” She smiled at the crocuses blooming on the verge, either wild or the work of some ambitious villager hoping to pretty the road.
The journey didn’t take long, or so it felt. Aurelia told him a little about her childhood, and he told her a little about his. His father had been a good man, and before he’d died, had taught Sebastian a great deal about running an estate. His mother had been a beautiful woman, a diamond of the first water, and his father had adored her. Unlike his marriage with Catherine, theirs had been a union filled with mutual love and respect.
No doubt that had been the reason he had thought—orhoped—his marriage would be similarly successful.
By the time they stopped, he had revealed more about himself than he had ever intended, and he felt as though he knew Aurelia better, too—though he didn’t yet know if that was a good thing. The more he learned, the more he sympathized with her. Objectively, he had known she did not have an easy life; that was another reason he had chosen her for his wife.
But there was a difference, it transpired, between knowing of this and hearing about the particulars. The nights when her uncle and mother argued about what they would do with her,the bastard child of a gentleman who would never publicly acknowledge her or send money for her.
What prospects existed for such a child?
“My mother could never have predicted I would become a duchess,” she chimed, far more sunnily than she had any right to, given the circumstances. He handed her down from the carriage, and she sucked in a deep breath of briny wind. “Ah, isn’t this wonderful?”
Sebastian looked at the beach spread before them. They were not the only visitors, especially given London was so very close, but he was able to disregard them and look past, to the lines of rocks leading down the sandy beach to the sea. Under the clouds, it appeared almost gray, but there was still beauty to its restless, rolling motion.
When he saw the sea, he felt similarly restless and unsettled. He wanted to bathe in its beauty and never see it again.
Aurelia looked up at him, resting a hand on his arm. “Do you hate it here?”
“No. Not in the slightest. Come on, let’s get you down on the sand.”
She laughed as he carried her down a set of steps hewn into the rock for this very purpose, her arms wrapping around his nape.“I’m not an invalid, Sebastian, and I am perfectly capable of walking down these few steps.”
“I would rather not risk you falling for everyone to see.”
“Ah,” she teased, brushing down her dress. “So this is because you would rather not subject yourself to any gossip.”
“I would rather not subjectyouto any gossip. I’m afraid it’s a little too late for me.”
Her small hand curled into the crook of his arm, and she squeezed him, just a little. “I don’t believe that. You know, London doesn’t discuss you half as often as you suppose it to. I, for one, had never heard the rumors. It took Lady Mary Ann telling me them, if you recall.”
He led her slowly down the pebbles, his feet sinking into sand as they approached the sea, foam frilly at the edge of the waves like lace. “Then you were sheltered.”
“No one is giving us any attention. You see? We could be anyone.” She pulled her bonnet from her head, which had been in imminent danger of being blown off, and flung her arm to the side, ribbons fluttering in the air. “We are the Duke and Duchess of Ravenhall!”
“Hush!” he pressed, dropping her gently to her feet, but at the grin across her face, he couldn’t help a small smile of his own falling into place. “They’ll hear you.”
“Who will? Does it matter?” She leaned her head back, hurling the words at the sky. “We are impervious to criticism! Take your best shot!”
He spun her around, and she came to him so easily it knocked the air from his lungs. Just the warm collision of her body against his, all soft curves and wine-bright laughter.God, she was flushed and sparkling, looking up at him like he’d hung the moon. The sea frothed as the waves teased near their feet, and seagulls wheeled overhead. Just as he had hoped, her face was flushed with color, and her eyes sparkled.
She was, without doubt, the most beautiful lady he had ever met.
