“I asked you how Stuart knows,” Sebastian bit out.
She whirled back around, glaring at him through a sheen of tears. “I told him. I went to him, desperate to try anything to get out of the marriage. I thought if I told him I was having an affair he would want to cry off since God knows Papa would never allow me to. The dolt forgave me.” She laughed humorlessly. “Said he didn’t care. Gave me permission to take a lover once I’d provided an heir.” She stared accusingly at her brothers. “And that’s what you want for me. A man who doesn’t care that I’ve been another man’s lover.” She shook her head in disgust.
“What will Mamma and Papa say?” Sebastian asked in a weary voice.
“I’m beyond caring,” She shrugged. “Why should it matter to me what they think? They were only too willing to consign me to a life of unhappiness. I’m sorry if I can’t conjure genuine regret for disappointing them.”
But even with the false bravado of her words, she was dying on the inside. Her parents’ inevitable shame in her made her want to weep all over again.
“What’s happened to you, Jenna? I had no idea you were so miserably unhappy. Yes, I knew you didn’t want to marry Stuart, but I never imagined you would go to such lengths. I never imagined you to be so spiteful.”
His words hurt. She looked over at Quinn who stood watching her in silence. The hurt on his face was nearly as stabbing as the thought of Mama and Papa’s reaction. Then she turned back to Sebastian. “Spiteful? How have I acted spitefully? I’ve spent the last two weeks in agony over the possibility of discovery. Of shaming Mamma and Papa. Of letting you and Quinn down. All my life I’ve done everything for my family. Wouldn’t dream of doing anything to dishonor them.
“I did this forme. Not to spite you or anyone else in this family. I wanted a few moments of happiness. Was that too much to ask? I made damn sure no one found out what I was doing. Didn’t flaunt my association to theton. And all because I cared what everyone thought of my family.”
She was crying in earnest now, barely able to see her brothers through her cloud of tears. “It was all for naught. I wish to God I had never done it. All it’s done is outline in stark detail what I can never have.”
“You’re in love with him,” Quinn said quietly.
Sebastian jerked around. “Love? We don’t even know who this fellow is. How could she be in love with him?”
“I think I know,” Quinn said never taking his eyes from Jenna. “It’s Grayson Douglas isn’t it?”
She saw no need to deny it and nodded, a new round of tears welling in her eyes. “How did you know?”
“I saw the way you looked at him at Lady Lockhart’s ball. And the way he looked at you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me of this?” Sebastian demanded. “No man should have been looking at herthatway. Damn it, I am going to kill him.”
“You’ll do nothing of the sort,” Jenna retorted.
“He is a bounder, a rake, a complete cad! He took advantage of you, Jenna. You couldn’t possibly have been equipped to deal with a man of his caliber. It’s time someone put a stop to his seducing innocent women.” Sebastian’s face was mottled in anger, his blue eyes sparking.
“He didn’t take advantage of me. I approached him.”
“What? You did what?” Sebastian stared at her his jaw gaping.
“I went to his house and asked him to become my lover.” She rubbed her temples, willing the dull ache to go away.
“I don’t believe this,” Sebastian said shaking his head. He finally dropped onto the settee raking both hands through his hair. “I don’t care. He still took advantage of you. He should have turned you away and come straight to me.”
“Oh yes, you men should rally together and make the female populous be more cooperative. I don’t know what we would do without so many men to tell us how to live, act, dress. Tell me, Sebastian, would you turn away a woman who asked you to be her lover?”
“I most certainly would,” he protested. “That is if she were noble born.”
She looked at him in disgust. “So you’d accept an offer from an actress.”
“I fail to see that this has any bearing on our current situation.”
“You can’t continue this, Jenna,” Quinn finally spoke up.
“I’ve already ended it,” she said bleakly.
“I think it best if you remain at home until Mamma and Papa have returned,” Sebastian stated.
“I don’t care what you deem best. I won’t be a prisoner.”
“Youwillstay here, if I have to lock you in your room. When Mamma and Papa return, I’ll let them decide what to do with you.”
