“I will go now. I know that he is there.”
“Are you not tired?” Tessa asked.
“Yes, but I will be unable to sleep. I must see him.”
His Grace nodded. “We will see you to his home.”
“He is not there, but at The Emerald Garter. It is where he said he was going.”
After gathering his winnings, Frances put on her cloak and then entered the carriage, but it wasn’t until the carriage stopped before The Emerald Garter that her hands began to shake.
What if he sent her away? What if he hated her now?
Her heart hammered in her chest and Frances anticipated that it would shatter before her meeting with Seth was complete. Except, this time he would not be the cause, but her and her own foolishness.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Seth stared down into his glass of brandy. When it had first been poured, Seth had intended to become foxed, but he had yet to take a sip.
All that he had worked for was gone.
If only he could turn back time, except he could not.
Decisions that he had made five years ago had brought him to this. Not five, but fifteen if he considered the moment his life had been irrevocably altered with the death of Amelia and he had decided to choose wealth over love.
Frances had called him a coward, and she had not been wrong.
It was safer to be alone even if lonely.
It was also the very reason he never fought the reputation of rogue in London. It kept women at a distance. As far as they were concerned, he was the spoiled second son of a duke who found his pleasure with lightskirts, brandy and gaming.
Now he was alone with nothing to show for his work and sacrifices.
Worse, he had lost Frances.
He thought she had forgiven him and that they would be what they once were.
He had wanted to marry her, but she had only been manipulating him up to the very moment she won his Emerald Garter.
Did she hate him so very much?
He had finally stopped denying how much he was in love with her and wanted Frances in his life permanently. He was ready to relinquish his bachelor state to have her by his side, but she had different plans and crushed his heart as surely as he had shattered hers five years ago.
At the sound of the door to The Emerald Garter opening, Seth looked up and framed in the doorway was the woman who had brought him down.
“Is your revenge as sweet as you had hoped it would be?” he asked.
“No.” She came forward and placed a pouch on the bar before him. “You forgot your winnings.”
He picked it up and weighed it in his hands. “Foolish of me as this is all I have left.”
It was then that he noticed another shadow at the door and stiffened. He should have locked it after he came in as nobody was about, but it hadn’t occurred to him. Not that he wanted Frances gone, and was glad she was here, no matter what the reason, but any miscreant could walk in off the streets and rob or kill them.
The figure stepped forward and Seth relaxed. “Your Grace,” he greeted.
Frances turned. “You said that you would wait in the carriage.”
“I wanted to make certain Lord Seth was here, and that no harm would come to you.”
