She covered her face with her hands. “I’m so embarrassed that my staff has seen me in such a state. I’m sure they’re all whispering below stairs.”
He moved to her and sat momentarily, catching her hand again. She wasn’t wearing gloves and her palm was soft in his. “My dear Marianne, you are not the first person to have a few too many drinks at a spirited gathering. You won’t be the last. And I’m certain that you were charming and kind to your staff, as you always are to everyone, whatever state you’re in. I know you were so when we were on the veranda together last night.”
“We were on the veranda?” she gasped.
He laughed again, but before he could say anything the butler returned with the items Sebastian had suggested, which he set up along the sideboard. When he had gone, Sebastian went to them and took up a crystal glass from a set. He went to work, feeling Marianne watching his every move, even if he didn’t look at her.
When he returned, holding out the glass that was now filled with cloudy liquid, she eyed it suspiciously. “What’s floating in it?” she asked.
“It’s better not to know,” he assured her. “Just drink up.”
“I trust you,” she said softly, and then took a large swig of the liquid before he could fully digest those words. She gasped and coughed, glaring at him over the rim of the glass. “Sebastian, that is dreadful!”
He nodded. “It is, it really is. But itwillhelp. I am far too experienced at recovering from overindulgences, I’m afraid. Terrible character flaw, but it allows me to be your servant in this case. Keep drinking and let’s discuss why it was you invited me here today.”
Her eyes went wide as she struggled to swallow a second mouthful of the curative. “I invited you?” she said at last. “Good Lord, Iwassenseless, it seems.”
He laughed softly. “A bit. And yes, you invited me. You said you wanted my help. You weredesperatefor it.”
She took the last sip of the drink and set the empty glass aside with a disgusted expression. “I think you’re teasing me.”
“Me?” he said with a shake of his head. “You wound me. I would never.”
She smiled a little and he once again felt that triumph that he could cause it. It was always fun to play with her, tease her gently, watch her blush and titter. “Help me with what, exactly? Or did I say in this altered state you describe?”
“Well,” he said with a wink. “You said you wanted to learn some naughty words. You said something about a list.”
Her lips parted and now the teasing pleasure left her face as she got to her feet and swayed slightly. Then she took a long step away, putting her back to him. “A-a list? Whatever could that mean?”
He wrinkled his brow.Thatwas an interesting response. Almost…guilty. Fascinating. It only made him want to understand more about why.
He pushed to his feet and took a long step toward her, crowding into the space she had created by walking away. “I’m sure I couldn’t know. Perhaps we could talk it out. Try to get to the bottom of it together.”
She pivoted and seemed surprised by his proximity if the way she jolted as she looked up into his face was any indication. “I’m certain it was just a strange twist of phrase in my drunken state. It needs no—no further exploration.”
He narrowed his eyes as he examined her. She was trembling ever so slightly. “I see. So does that mean you don’t want to learn any swear words,naughty wordsas you put it?”
Briefly panic crossed her face at the idea that he would leave, but then she smoothed it away. He tilted his head at how good at covering her emotions she was. Had she always been so?
“Well…well, you kindly came all the way here to call for the purpose didn’t you?” she asked. “It seems rude if I turned you away instead of taking you up on the offer.”
He nodded slowly, but he was gathering evidence as he did so. It seemed that though she might not remember entirely what had happened the night before, she knewexactlywhy she’d asked to learn profanities from him. She still wanted to know them, even if she would deny him the true reason why.
He stepped closer and now he was near enough that he could reach out to touch her. He heard her breath catch, watched as her pupils dilated ever so slightly when he moved into her space.
But she didn’t back away, not even when he said, “Do you want to tell me what’s really going on, Marianne?”
The world was spinning as Marianne stared up into the brightest, bluest eyes she’d ever seen and found them so entirely focused on her that she could hardly draw breath. Sebastian had always paid her attention, of course, but it was playful. And though this…interrogation, for she had no better word for it…had begun that way, now it felt like it had shifted. The entire world had shifted actually, and her knees were trembling as she tried to gather her wits.
He wanted to know what she was doing, why she was asking him for such inappropriate things, but she couldn’t tell him. Not him. He would pity her for one. And he would most definitely report her actions to Finn. Her brother would never understand. Never. He might even try to stop her in some misguided attempt at protection.
“Going on?” she whispered, and then cleared her throat to try to make her voice stronger. “I cannot imagine what you mean.”
“Marianne,” he said, and it felt like his voice got deeper when he put that warning edge to it. Like it resonated all the way down her spine.
Despite all the good reasons she had just listed to herself not to tell him, in that moment she almost wished to ignore all that and do it. Give him her heartbreak and her desire to be more than just a pathetic wallflower that no one thought of, if only for a few short days or weeks.
But no.
