He grasped her reasons with both hands. “The woman is a reckless hoyden with no care for her own person.”
The fire reflected her pity-filled eyes, resembling Rivers’ same when the man informed Sebastian his daughter had departed for Exford.
He hurled his glass at the fire. It crashed against the hearth, sending shards flying. “I suppose you are here to tell me she didn’t attempt to entrap me into marriage at your come-out seven years ago.” He knew the minute the words came out of his mouth, even were it true, he didn’t care. He was an idiot to let her go. And an imbecile in not going after her.
Rather than shocking Gabriella, her peal of laughter reverberated against the walls. “That’s your reason?” she demanded when she gasped for breath.
Sebastian didn’t care if it was true or not. He’d vowed not to force Rebecca into marrying him, and she’d chosen to take him up on it, but he wasn’t about to tell his sister that.
“Oh, Seb.” She grabbed his hand. “Rebecca didn’t throw herself at you all those years ago. Her Aunt Isolde insisted on her having a debut ball and I insisted she share with me. I thought you two would be perfect for one another. Don’t you understand?”
Spots edged his vision. “What are you talking about? I was there,” he choked out in a stilted tone.
“Ipushed her. She was mortified. She almost didn’t forgive me.” She squeezed his hand. “Rebecca made me promise never to tell you.”
“And yet you’re telling me now.”
“It slipped out,” she said without an ounce of remorse.
Sebastian rose from his chair and stalked the length of the room unable to sit any longer. “You know where that scar on the inside of Rebecca's arm came from, don't you?”
He turned in time to see guilt and regret slash Gabriella’s features.
“Tell me,” he demanded.
She stared into the fire. Her shoulders slumped forward. “I-I…”
He strolled back to her, watching her face carefully. “It had to do with that time I took you out of school, didn't it? Something to do with the stable boy.” He reached back into his memory. “WherewasRebecca? She wasn't at your side. Up to that point, the two of you had always stood together.”
Her defiance reared its head. “I told you at the time it wasn't Rebecca’s idea, that it was mine.” Gabriella’s eyes glittered with anger and self-recrimination, if he had to put a name to it. “She tried to talk me out of my stupidity. But I was too stubborn, too hardheaded to listen.” Tears spilled over her lashes, but she didn’t seem to realize it. She sucked in a deep breath. “That degenerate pinned me down, determined to have his way with”—her fingers clenched into fists at her side—“a prime article, he called me.”
Sebastian felt sick. He didn’t want to know but he had to. “What happened?” he asked without inflection.
“Oh, I fought, but Rebecca came flying at him with tack she’d filched from a hook in the stable. She took a swing at him. It barely fazed him. He grabbed a-a rake,” she whispered. “He got in a good hit of his own. A couple, I think.”
Sebastian flinched.
“By the time you arrived to take me home, her father had already whisked her away.” Gabriella broke. The tears streamed down her face.
He pulled her in his arms and hugged her to him. “That’s enough, darling.”
“Oh, but it’s not, Seb,” she whispered. “They wanted to amputate her arm, but the earl refused. He said it would break her spirit. He knew she’d rather be dead.” She shuddered and he hugged harder. “I thank God every day for the friend He bestowed me.”
Sebastian’s insides shattered. “A warrior.”
Gabriella stepped out of his hold, her arms wrapped about herself, seeming not to have heard him. “She did everything for me,” she said fiercely.
“And what did you do for her?” He wasn’t blind. His sister and Rebecca’s bond was unbreakable.
Staring back into the fire, she lifted her shoulders. “Nothing so heroic. I told her stories.”
That confused him. “Stories?”
“Of Rose, Claire, Antonia… you.” A small smile tipped her lips “Mostly, told out of frustration, but Rebecca loved them. I suspect it was because she was an only child. No mother, no siblings.”
And Sebastian had denied Rebecca even the joy of visits with her friend. He was a selfish brute. He’d never despised himself more than in that moment.
Gabriella turned from facing the fire, looking at him, her cheeks tear-streaked. “It isn’t just that she needs you, you know. You need her too.”
