What if she wanted him to?
Maddiestared at the fern again.
“I’m not being dramatic,” she told it, mostly because no one else was around to disagree. “I’m simply trying to understand myself.”
The fern rustled in a breeze that did not exist, which felt vaguely judgmental.
Maddie dropped her fork with a sigh and pressed her forehead to the table. “I’m going mad. Full, bonnet-on-backwards mad.”
She stayed like that for a moment, breathing in the scent of moss and old wood polish, before lifting her head again.
A new plan. That’s what she needed.
She would march right up to Sebastian and ask him something perfectly reasonable. Something like—
What does desire mean to you?
No. Too forward.
Do you believe in love at first sneeze?
Absolutely not. Not even she did.
“Ugh,” she groaned, letting her forehead thunk back down.
Footsteps approached, and Maddie turned her head to the side, heart leaping as two legs entered her view.
Her gaze trailed up those legs.
And there he was.
Sebastian.
Grinning like a wolf who’d just located a stray lamb.
Her pulse decided to throw a party of its own. With violins. And wine. And some form of undignified dancing. Could one heart flutter so much?
“How did you find me?”
“I saw you weren’t at luncheon.”
“So you hunted me down,” she accused, before she could stop herself.
Sebastian had the good grace to look mildly abashed. “Well. Yes. But in the least creepy way possible.”
“There’s ascale?”
“I believe so. Somewhere between sweeping all the hall andchambers and making a few enquiries.”
He was still grinning, though it had softened into something more amused than roguish. His shirt collar was slightly crooked. His coat hung open. His hair, unruly at the best of times, looked like it had been at war with a stiff breeze and lost.
He looked… unfairly edible.
“Why did you come looking for me?” Maddie asked, smoothing her skirts for no reason whatsoever. “I mean—did someone send you?”
“Do I look like an errand boy?”
“Yes,” she said instantly. “A tall, dangerous one with impeccable boots.”
