They drank tea for a while, discussing the wedding and friends and whatever other topic came to mind. Finn tried to stay focused, but he found his mind wandering more than once. Over and over again Esme, to everything they’d discussed and done two nights before. He hadn’t heard from her and he wanted to. Needed to.
“Do you still have Mama’s emerald leaf necklace?” Marianne asked, drawing Finn from his musings.
He cleared his throat. “Yes, of course. It’s with the rest of her things in the old wing. Why?”
“If you don’t object I’d…” Marianne’s voice cracked a little. “I’d like to wear it on my wedding day. I would return it, of course, afterward. It was meant for the countess and I’m certain you’d like to save it for whoever she ends up being.”
Finn swallowed hard. It was too easy to imagine Esme in that necklace that would match her eyes so perfectly. His voice was rough as he said, “I would love for you to wear it. Do you want to fetch it now?”
Marianne nodded. “Oh yes, I do. Tomorrow we have my next fitting for my wedding gown and I wanted to try it so that my seamstress may lay the bodice correctly to display it to its best advantage.”
Sebastian stood as she did, his face bright with a smile. “I cannot wait to see your gown.”
“But you must,” Marianne said with a laugh as she moved to the door. “It’s bad luck otherwise. I’ll have Bentley help me find it. Entertain yourselves, gentlemen.”
Sebastian looked down at Finn when she was gone and shook his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you fail to rise when a lady exited a room. Certainly not Marianne.”
Finn jolted. Was he not standing? God, he wasn’t. He did now and smoothed his waistcoat. “How abominably rude of me. I cannot believe I didn’t. I shall apologize to her later.”
Ramsbury moved to the sideboard where the tea remained and bent to open one of the lower cupboards. He brought out a fine bottle of scotch and poured them each one.
“She doesn’t care and you know it. Her only concern would be the one I share, which is thatyouare out of sorts. And you have been, even before our trip out to the country and all that transpired there. Still, I must ask, is your poor mood only related to that fact that you are still displeased with me about everything?”
There was true concern in his friend’s tone as he handed over the scotch. Finn swirled it in the glass, staring as the amber liquid rolled around the edges without sloshing over. “On the contrary, when I see my sister light up as she does wheneveryou’re near her, how can I be anything but pleased, despite the unfortunate details of your beginning?”
Ramsbury smiled and there was something so gentle about it. Something that changed his rake of a friend into an infatuated lover. Finn didn’t think the other would ever return. He both mourned and cheered that fact.
“I truly do love her, Delacourt,” he said softly. “You should not fear otherwise.”
“I don’t. I can see you love her. It’s written all over your face.” Finn forced a smile, but turned away to slug half his drink in one burning gulp.
“Then what’s wrong?” Sebastian asked.
Finn crossed to the window and looked out at the garden below, but he didn’t truly see any of the cool, green beauty. Not except to compare it to Esme’s eyes. The garden seemed faded in comparison.
“It’s nothing,” he lied. “Just a silly distraction that I will get over soon enough.”
“I see.” Ramsbury was quiet a moment. “And what is her name?” Finn pivoted away from the window to stare at his friend and found Sebastian with his arms folded and a little smirk on his face. “I’m a veryrecentlyreformed rake, Phineas. I can still see the signs of a man taken in by a lover, or a potential lover.”
Finn pursed his lips. Sebastian wasn’t wrong, of course. Esme was nothing more than a lover, no matter how many of her secrets he had uncovered, or how many offers of help she took or didn’t take. And yet that term felt dismissive. It wasn’t enough to encompass the connection they had.
But he wasn’t about to tell Sebastian that. Instead he shrugged. “She isn’t anyone you’d know. Just a…it’s just a lark.”
That felt even worse to say.
Sebastian’s smile faltered and his brows lowered. “No, it doesn’t seem like a lark. You’d hardly be so troubled by a bit of fun like that. Or left so bleary eyed by one.”
Finn rubbed a hand over those very eyes. “Perhaps it’s more then. It’s a conundrum, for certain, of most frustrating proportions.”
“That sounds serious.” Sebastian took a step forward. “What can I do to help?”
Finn stared at him. Even with the tension that had developed between them in the past few months, under any other circumstances he would have turned to Sebastian. Very few people in the world knew him better, or would have better advice. But if Finn revealed the truth of his problems, he would also be revealing Esme. “I promised the lady in question that I’d reveal nothing of her circumstances. I must keep that vow.”
Sebastian nodded slowly, but his expression was intense. Like he could see something in Finn, something he didn’t want to acknowledge, even if only to himself. So he turned away.
“If anything changes, you know where I am,” Sebastian said softly.
“Sneaking into my sister’s house at night, no doubt,” Finn said with false glare toward his friend.
