Sebastian turned slowly to face Freddy, the whole staging of the scenario now crystal clear.
‘Innocent? The whole thing was carefully planned, wasn’t it, Freddy?’
Freddy, still absorbed with his linen, looked up. A muscle twitched in his cheek. ‘My dear Somerton, how dare you make such an accusation? I know only what my eyes told me: my sister, distressed and deshabille, in your company. I expect you to address the situation as a gentleman.’
Sebastian glared at the man. ‘So, tell me, as you have been some weeks in the planning of this, what am I, as agentleman, expected to do?’
‘He means,’ Harry said, his mouth a grim line, ‘that you must marry the chit.’
‘Marry her?’ Sebastian turned to his friend, his heart sinking.
‘You have ruined my sister’s reputation, Somerton, of course you must marry her,’ Freddy said.
Sebastian sank down onto the couch. Connie sat down beside him and began dabbing at his ruined cheek with a kerchief supplied by the colonel.
‘Marry her?’ Sebastian repeated. ‘I would sooner return to the field of Waterloo.’ He looked up at Freddy. ‘You have played me for a fool, Lynch. You and that dim-witted sister of yours were never going to accept any offer of settlement. Nothing less than a title for your dear sister. Isn’t that what you said?’
Freddy straightened, his fingers going to the pin in his cravat. ‘I can see you are overwrought, Somerton. We will speak in the morning when you have had time to consider your situation. This unfortunate incident has regrettably brought the evening to an end, so I will see to your guests and bid you all a good night.’
Numb with despair, Sebastian buried his face in his hands as Freddy left the room. Connie slipped her arm around him andlaid her face on his shoulder in a comforting gesture he appreciated.
‘We believe you, Bas,’ she whispered, her own voice sounding close to tears.
‘I should have seen this coming,’ he said at last, shaking his head in despair.
‘They seemed so nice,’ Connie said in a wavering voice, and her brow furrowed. ‘But she did try to steal my earrings.’
‘Looks are deceiving,’ said a voice from the doorway.
They all looked up to see Isabel standing framed by the light from the hallway. Sebastian rose shakily to his feet.
‘Isabel...’
‘I suggest we all go to bed,’ Isabel said without meeting Sebastian’s eyes. ‘I will take Fanny with me back to the dower house tonight. In the circumstances, it is hardly proper she stays in this house. Colonel, thank you for your help. I am sure his lordship appreciates your friendship. God knows, he is going to need his friends in the next few days. Good night.’
She gave Sebastian a last pitying glance and walked away.
Sebastian sank back on the sofa. Had it only been a couple of hours earlier when he had kissed Isabel and told her he loved her? Only a few hours since his future had a contained a promise of happiness with a woman he loved by his side?
‘Isabel is right,’ Connie said softly. ‘I think we should all go to bed. The world will seem much brighter in the morning.’
She sounded so like her father that Sebastian gave a bitter laugh. The world would be no brighter in the morning. He would still face the grim prospect of a lifetime with Fanny. He wondered if challenging Freddy to a duel would satisfy honour, but it wasn’t Freddy’s honour at stake. It was his, and if he considered himself an honourable man, he had no choice but to marry Fanny. The Lynchs had set a fine trap, and he had walked blindly into it.
After seeingFanny settled into the guest chamber, looking for all the world like a well pleased cat, Isabel sought the sanctuary of her own bedchamber. Shutting the door behind her and turning the key in the lock, she took a deep, shuddering breath, gasping as a physical pain gripped her. Laying a hand against her chest, she put out the other to support herself against the post of her bed.
This, she told herself,was what people meant when they talked of a broken heart.
A little voice inside her cried out,He said he loved you.
And I should have said I loved him,she answered the little voice, but I didn’t, and now it is too late.
She had allowed herself to hope. For a few fleeting moments she had imagined a life with Sebastian, and it had seemed like a warm sun on the cold, barren plain of her life. In her heart she had already shed her widow’s weeds and donned brightly coloured gowns. She would dance with him, feel her hand gripped in his strong hand. They would have been happy here at Brantstone... a brood of strong, handsome children...
She gave a strangled cry and sank to the floor, leaning her head against her bed and allowing her grief to overwhelm her.
Chapter Forty-Five
Isabel stood at her window, looking out at the parkland with dulled eyes. The grey fingers of dawn washed the colour from the landscape and a light fog shrouded the trees, matching her mood. She had hardly slept and her future now appeared as grey and bleak as the weather.
