Chapter
Fifteen
The Mitchell woman dominated the dinner
conversation at The Homestead that evening. “I’m afraid I couldn’t
even pretend to be sympathetic,” Laura declared. “As far as I’m
concerned, Mitchell should be strung up by his balls for what he
did to her.”
There was an instant of stunned
silence, broken by Jessy’s low-voiced, “Laura.”
Chase spoke up quickly, “Now don’t
shush her, Jessy. It’s the first unladylike thing that’s come out
of her mouth in years. She just might be a Calder after
all.”
“Hear, hear.” Sebastian toasted her
with his wineglass.
“It might not be a bad idea to mention
this to Logan the next time you see him,” Laredo suggested. “If
nothing else, he can swing by there now and then. It might help
convince the wife that she can call for help.”
“Good idea,” Jessy agreed.
“I wouldn’t bother calling him
tonight,” Trey said. “Logan says things always get crazy on nights
when there’s a full moon, and we have one tonight.”
Laura perked up. “We do?”
Trey nodded. “About as big and round as
it gets.”
She turned an eager glance on
Sebastian. “How about we saddle a couple horses and go for a
moonlight ride?”
“I would enjoy that.” His answering
look was lively and warm, and Laura felt that familiar curl of
excitement deep in the pit of her stomach.
“Good.” Laura pushed her chair back
from the table. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go change into my riding
clothes.”
“But what about dessert?” Jessy looked
at her in surprise. “Allie’s made a fresh strawberry
tart.”
Laura exchanged knowing glances with
Sebastian. “I’ll pass. I’ve already had my quota of fresh
strawberries today.” She rose from her chair and headed into the
hallway.
An hour later the first blush of sunset
tinted the evening sky as Laura left the barns and rode toward The
Homestead, a saddled horse in tow. Chase was ensconced in his
rocker on the veranda, pushing it back and forth in a slow
rhythm.
Laura reined in her horse, halting it
near the front steps. “Where’s Sebastian? I thought he’d be out
here by now.”
“He’s on the phone with his sister,”
Chase replied. “I expect he’ll be out directly.”
“I hope so. The moon will be rising
soon.” Laura hooked a knee around the saddle horn and resigned
herself to waiting, conscious of the day’s heat rising from the
sun-baked ground and the utter stillness of the air.
“You surprised me today,” Chase
continued his idle rock.
“How’s that?”
“Getting personally involved with that
Mitchell woman. That’s something I would have expected from
Quint—or even Trey. But it isn’t like you.”
She smiled in a chiding fashion, not in
the least offended. “Now, Gramps, you know very well that I
wouldn’t have walked out and left her lying on the floor all
battered and beaten.”
“No. You would have called an
ambulance.”
“Believe me, I wanted to,” Laura
admitted without apology. “But she wouldn’t hear of it. And once
she managed to convince Sebastian her injuries weren’t serious,
there wasn’t much I could do.”
“And there was the business with the
groceries. You went and got them yourself instead of simply handing
her some money.”
“She was in no condition to go,” Laura
reminded him. “And the children were starving. I’m not
heartless.”
“Sometimes I think you like to pretend
that you are.”
“Don’t be silly.” She dismissed his
claim.
“No, you’re guilty of letting your head
make most of your decisions instead of following your
instincts.”
“If I had followed my instincts today,
the police would have been called and an arrest warrant issued for
Mitchell,” Laura informed him.
“Not if the wife refused to file
charges against him, it wouldn’t have,” Chase countered. “I think
that young English fella knew it.”
“He should. He’s a lawyer, or a
solicitor, or whatever they call attorneys over there,” Laura
replied with a careless shrug and idly tapped the reins against her
boot.
“He seems to be a good influence on
you.”
Once more Chase had her full attention
as a suspicion formed. “Don’t tell me you’re trying your hand at
some matchmaking, Gramps.”
“Good God, no.” He was emphatic in his
denial. “I think you’ve made the right choice. This Crockett will
make you a much more satisfactory husband.”
“Really?” Laura was surprised and a
little pleased by his unexpected endorsement of Boone. But there
was a part of her that wasn’t sure she believed him.
“In your own way, you’re an ambitious
woman. . . .” He paused to study her for a moment. “Perhaps in the
mold of Lady Elaine. If the stories that have been handed down
about her are true, she thrived on business and politics.
Considering the way Tara has filled your head with stories about
her, I wouldn’t be surprised if you toyed with the idea of marrying
a titled Englishman, especially after meeting Sebastian. But it
would never have worked.”
“How could it, when he was after my
money?” Her voice had a little edge to it.
“That’s your pride talking, not your
head.” His accusation stung. “The money part of it wouldn’t have
mattered.”
“Really?” Laura challenged
coolly.
“Yes, really. From what I’ve always
heard, those English bluebloods are pretty much a closed society.
They might have tolerated you, but I doubt you would have ever been
accepted into the ranks. It’s for sure they would have made it
tough on you. I suppose in time you might have been able to talk
Sebastian into trying his hand at politics. He has the looks and
charm for it—maybe even the intelligence. It’s the sort of
challenge that would definitely suit you. But all the odds are
against you,” he declared, then nodded. “Like I said, you’re better
off with Crockett. His father has all the money and power you could
ever want. And you’ve got Tara to pave your way into Texas society.
You’re walking into a ready-made situation that isn’t going to
require much from you at all.”
A knowing smile curved her mouth.
“Honestly, Gramps, you are about as subtle as a bullfighter with a
cape.” She unhooked her leg from around the saddle horn and slipped
the toe of her boot back in the stirrup.
“What?” He gave her a suitable innocent
look.
“Come on. That whole monologue was an
attempt to convince me I should marry Sebastian, and you know
it.”
“Why would I want my only granddaughter
to marry some foreigner and move halfway across the world?” he
argued, then snorted. “It’s bad enough that you’ll be living in
Texas.”
His exaggerated denial was almost
laughable. Yet it filled Laura with an almost overwhelming sadness.
This old stoop-shouldered man idling away the hours in a rocker was
a far cry from the big, robust grandfather of her
youth.
The front door opened, and Sebastian
stepped onto the veranda, eliminating the need for Laura to respond
to her grandfather’s last remark. “It’s about time you showed up,”
Laura declared and gave a tug on the reins of the second horse,
pulling it around to the front of her saddle.
“Chase did explain that Helen phoned, I
hope.” Sebastian crossed to the top of the steps and started
down.
“He did,” she confirmed.
“By the way, Helen asked me to give you
her regards.” He took the reins from her outstretched hand and
moved to the near side of the saddle.
“That was thoughtful of her.” Laura
waited until he had mounted, then threw a wave to her grandfather
and reined her horse away from the veranda. “No problems at home, I
hope.” She slid him a questioning look when he swung his horse
alongside of hers.
“No new ones,” Sebastian
replied.
“Just the same old money ones.” She
tried for lightness, but she knew it fell short.
He arched her a curious look. “Do I
detect a trace of bitterness?”
“Probably,” she admitted a little
grimly. “But it doesn’t have anything to do with you. It’s Gramps.
Age has started affecting his judgment. It just doesn’t seem fair.
And don’t say it,” Laura warned. “I already know that life isn’t
fair.”
“I shan’t bother to remind you, then.”
His smile was easy and warm. As always, Laura found it impossible
not to respond to its sexy charm.
She lifted her horse into a trot,
pointing it south toward the tree-lined river. Sebastian’s mount
followed suit as dusk settled over the land.
With her back to the house, Laura never
saw Trey walk onto the veranda, a cordless phone in his hand. He
halted when he caught sight of the two riders already halfway
across the ranch yard, and carried the phone to his ear. “Sorry,
Tara. I was too late. They’ve already left.”
“They?” Tara stiffened instantly. “What
do you mean, they have left?”
“Laura and Sebastian. They’ve gone
riding,” Trey replied.
“Where?”
“With Laura, who knows? There’s a full
moon tonight, and she decided to go riding. Do you want me to leave
her a message to call you tomorrow.”
“Yes, you do that, Trey,” Tara stated
and hung up, but she didn’t turn away from the phone. The phrase
ride in the moonlight echoed through her
mind. There was nothing about the sound of it that Tara
liked.
She was well aware that Laura was
attracted to Sebastian even though she had walked away from him. It
infuriated her the way the Calders had welcomed him when he had
shown up at the ranch. Her mood didn’t improve when Tara recalled
the lack of enthusiasm the family had shown when they learned of
Laura’s engagement.
The longer she thought about it, the
more convinced Tara became that Jessy was hoping to undermine
Laura’s engagement to Boone. She suspected that Chase was probably
in on it, too. Considering the way he had allowed his own daughter
to marry a common lawman, it was obvious he had no understanding of
the importance of marrying someone of similar status and
wealth.
Ordinarily Tara would have been
confident that Laura wouldn’t be swayed by Sebastian’s charm,
regardless of any attraction she might have for him. But if, as she
suspected, the family was involved, they could tilt the
balance.
“We’ll put a stop to that right now,”
Tara murmured and picked up the phone, rapidly punched an
eleven-digit number, and waited through three rings.
“Rutledge residence.”
“This is Tara Calder. Let me speak to
Max, please,”
“One moment.”
Only seconds later, his familiar voice
came over the line. “Tara, this is a surprise.”
“Not a pleasant one, I’m afraid. I
thought I should let you know that Sebastian Dunshill is here in
Montana. In fact, he’s staying at the Triple C.”
“What’s he doing there?” The sharp
demand in his voice matched her own feelings.
“Obviously he’s making one more try to
win Laura. He’s wasting his time, of course. Just the same, I think
it might hasten his departure if Boone were here.”
“Do you think that’s necessary?” Max
challenged.
“I wouldn’t say it’s necessary.” Tara
was walking a fine line here, and she knew it. Max would be
insulted if she told him her suspicion that the Calders were less
than thrilled about Laura’s engagement to his son. “I just want the
man gone, and I know Boone’s arrival would accomplish
that.”
“Didn’t you tell Chase about Dunshill’s
financial troubles?”
“I told both Chase and Jessy, but they
have chosen to leave the decision as to whether he stays or goes to
Laura. She finds his persistence a bit more amusing than I do.”
Aware that she had to be careful, Tara managed a slightly
theatrical sigh. “It’s hardly surprising, though. Any woman’s ego
would be flattered to have a man follow her halfway around the
world. It’s natural that Laura wants to savor the feeling,
considering that she’ll be married soon.”
“I suppose. She is young.”
Tara jumped on his comment. “Too young
to understand the way people can talk. That’s why I want to make
certain Sebastian’s visit is a brief one.”
“I agree.”
“Wonderful.” Tara smiled in
triumph.
The moon resembled a giant silver
dollar in the eastern sky, its light so strong that any point in
the landscape cast a shadow, including the two riders cantering
their horses across the grass plains. The rhythmic cadence of
pounding hooves, the belly grunts of the horses, and the occasional
creak of saddle leather were the only sounds to be heard in the
hushed night.
Cresting a rise in the undulating
prairie, Laura reined her horse down to a walk. Sebastian checked
his own mount and swung in alongside of her. Hatless, Laura wore
her hair in a French braid that ended in a queue between her
shoulders. The play of moonlight over the planes and angles of her
face enhanced the classic perfection of her profile.
With an effort, Sebastian dragged his
gaze from her and made a sweep of the unbroken land before them.
“It would be remarkably easy to believe we are the only two on
earth.”
“Very easy,” Laura agreed. “I love
riding at night.”
“Really? And I was convinced you
favored places that were loud and crowded.”
“Usually. It depends on my mood.” She
lifted her gaze to the immense sky and its incredible encrusting of
stars. “You must admit there’s a definite magic to this night.
There must be a million stars up there, all of them so far away,
yet they seem close enough to touch.”
“Indeed.” But it was Laura he wanted to
touch.
“You get a feeling of peace, don’t
you?” She studied the glittering canopy above them and let a little
sigh slip out. “I guess that appeals to me tonight.”
“Yes, it tends to make the troubles at
the Mitchells’ seem like a bad dream,” Sebastian said, following
his own train of thought.
With a downward dip of her chin, Laura
angled a glance his way, something light and teasing in her eyes.
“Did I mention that my grandfather thinks you are a good influence
on me?”
“Which is undoubtedly the reason you
are convinced age has impaired his judgment.”
Her laugh was soft and musical, in
perfect harmony with the surrounding hush. “How astute. Are you
that quick in court?”
“A solicitor doesn’t argue cases in
court. That is the role of a barrister.”
“I believe you told me that once
before. Oh, look. A falling star.” She pointed to a white scratch
in the sky an instant before it vanished from sight. “Did you make
a wish?”
“It went too quickly.”
“They always do.”
A coyote yipped somewhere off to the
east, an eerie sound in the quiet land. Sebastian’s horse swiveled
an ear in its direction but never changed the pace of its steady
walk. Turning in the saddle, Sebastian rested a hand on the cantle
and looked behind them. The buildings of the ranch headquarters had
long ago disappeared from view. Only a faint glow in the distance
remained to suggest its location.
Facing the front again, he remarked,
half in jest, “I hope you know where we are.”
“I do. See that dark line of trees over
there?” She nodded to the southwest. “That’s the river we crossed
when we left the ranch yard. It makes a big, sweeping curve to the
south. All we have to do is follow it and it will lead us
home.”
“Upstream or downstream?”
“Downstream. Worried about getting
lost, are you?” Laura said with a laugh.
“No, but I like to be
prepared.”
“Don’t tell me you were a Boy
Scout.”
“Sorry, no.”
After a short run of silence, Laura
remarked. “It’s a warm night. Usually it cools off after the sun
goes down. It might be cooler by the river. Let’s ride that way.”
She laid the reins against her horse’s neck, pointing it toward the
dark line of trees, and tossed a challenging look at Sebastian.
“Race you there.” She dug her heels into her horse’s side. It shot
forward, reaching a full gallop in two strides.
Sebastian gave chase, bending low in
the saddle, urging his horse on. The river was less than a quarter
mile distant. Laura’s horse was in the lead by a nose when she
checked its headlong pace and reined it away from the treed bank.
Sebastian broke in the other direction and circled his horse back
to join up with her.
“I won.” There was laughter in her eyes
and in her face, a glowing joy from within that only added to her
natural beauty.
“A head start and a lighter weight in
the saddle might have had something to do with that,” Sebastian
suggested with a grin.
“Life isn’t fair that way,” Laura
reminded him, playfully.
“But races are supposed to
be.”
“In that case”—her horse danced
sideways as she scanned the shadowed edges of the tree line—“we’ll
have another one.”
“Where is the starting
point?”
“Up there.” Energized by the run, her
horse bounded into a canter the instant Laura signaled him forward.
Sebastian quickly urged his horse alongside her. Together they
loped parallel to the river until Laura pointed to a break in the
trees growing along the banks.
“That is my own private swimming hole,
wonderfully secluded,” she told him, a naughty look shining in her
dark eyes. “The perfect spot for skinny-dipping. Are you game? Be
warned, though, the water is only chest-deep.”
In response, Sebastian kneed his horse
into a gallop and tugged his shirttail loose from the waistband of
his jeans. Reaching up, he undid the top two buttons, conscious of
hooves pounding the ground directly behind him. By the time his
horse plowed to a stop near the open section of riverbank, he had
pulled the shirt over his head and unfastened his
jeans.
Wasting no time, he peeled out of the
saddle and dropped the shirt on the ground along with the reins. He
had already tugged off one boot when Laura swung off her horse. The
second boot followed the first. Then it was an easy strip of his
jeans, shorts, and socks.
He threw one look at Laura, catching a
glimpse of her as she shrugged out of her bra, and he ran for the
water. His second step into the river, he planted his foot and
pushed off, making a shallow dive into the center.
When he surfaced, Laura was there,
stretched out in an effortless sidestroke, the moonlight silvering
the paleness of her skin. “Cheater, you had fewer
clothes.”
Letting one foot touch the bottom,
Sebastian wiped the water from his face. “This time the advantage
was mine; last time it was yours. That’s only fair, don’t you
agree?”
She slapped the surface with her hand,
sending a spray of water at his face, and the water fight was on.
It ended the only way it could, with Sebastian pulling her under
the water.
They pushed to the top in unison,
emerging only inches apart. Laura swiped a hand across her face and
gave a brief toss of her head to shake off the excess water, then
fastened her gaze on Sebastian, a darkening in her eyes that was
full of invitation.
“I’m cold.” She crossed her arms behind
his neck and dipped her head toward his mouth. “Warm me
up.”
“That was my plan all along,” Sebastian
murmured and met her halfway, his mouth moving onto her lips,
parting them to deepen the kiss.
The buoyancy of the water made her
weightless in his arms, leaving his hands free to explore every
tantalizing dip and curve of her body. But he kept coming back to
her breasts and the nipples that the chilly water had turned
pebble-hard.
With a faint groan of need, he lifted
her partway out of the water, but the slickness of her wet skin
made it difficult for him to keep his grip. She would have slipped
if she hadn’t wrapped her legs around his middle, solving the
problem for him. Her fingers dug into his hair as he rubbed his
mouth over a gleaming white breast, briefly teething its hard point
before sucking it into his mouth.
Need grew, stimulated by everything
from the rounded cheeks of her buttocks and the hard peaks of her
breasts to the writhing push of her body against him and the little
animal sounds she made in her throat.
Adjusting his stance to gain a better
footing on the muddy river bottom, Sebastian pried a leg from
around his middle, lowering her. In the next second her hand was
there, guiding him inside her.
Only briefly was he conscious of the
water lapping against them as he drove into her again and again.
Then he was lost to everything except the hot race of his blood and
the screaming ache for release. It came with an explosive,
shuddering rush that had both of them straining to hold on to the
intense pleasure of it.
His foot slipped, and they both went
under, the suddenness of it separating them. Sebastian broke the
surface an instant before Laura came up sputtering and coughing.
But her sputtering quickly dissolved into laughter.
“I’ve never made love in the water
before. Next time I’ll remember to hold my breath,” she declared,
then shivered. “Brrr. Now it really is cold. This time I think we
need to get dressed. Come on.” She caught hold of his hand and led
him toward the shore. Glancing back, she noticed his enigmatic
smile. “What are you looking so pleased about?”
“To be frank, it had crossed my mind
that this might be another one of your good-bye scenes. Obviously
it isn’t, since you don’t seem averse to talking.”
“But you will be leaving sometime,”
Laura said lightly, releasing his hand and crossing to her pile of
clothes.
“Why? Because of that ring on your
finger?” Sebastian mocked. “Rutledge isn’t going to make you
happy.”
“You’re wrong,” she replied easily and
stepped into her jeans, tugging them up her wet legs.
“Am I?” He aimed a taunting smile her
way as he scooped his jeans off the ground. “You’re obviously not
in love with the man, or you wouldn’t be cheating on him
already.”
For a stunned instant, Laura simply
stared at him, then slipped on her bra and worked to fasten it.
“I’m not really cheating on him.”
“Then what am I?” Sebastian challenged
lightly. “A last fling before you walk down the
aisle?”
The corners of her mouth deepened in a
smile. “That’s exactly what you are. Disappointed?”
“Not in the least.” Jeans on, he sat on
the ground and pulled on his boots.
“Good. Because when you leave, I don’t
want you to go away mad.”
“But it wouldn’t bother you at all if I
left with a broken heart, would it?” Sebastian picked up his shirt
and unfastened the rest of the buttons.
A laugh bubbled from her. “And it’s
very likely you will be brokenhearted, because you’ll leave the way
you came, with empty pockets.”
“No one can fool you, can they?” He
smiled.
“Actually, you did, but not for long.”
After tugging on her last boot, Laura stretched out a hand so he
could pull her upright.
Together they walked over to where the
horses were grazing and gathered up the trailing reins. “In time
you will become very bored with Boone,” Sebastian stated as he
swung into the saddle.
“And why is that?” Laura asked, her
enjoyment for this back-and-forth banter showing in her
expression.
“Because you’ll find you can’t match
wits with an unarmed person.”
She made a face of mock dismay. “Ooh,
that’s an old joke, Sebastian.”
“But extremely accurate in this
case.”
“He suits me,” Laura declared and
pointed her horse toward home.
With their hair wet and clothes damp
from the brief swim, neither was inclined to dawdle along the way.
They cantered across the moonlit plains on a straight course to the
Triple C headquarters and crossed the river just south of the
barns.
After seeing to the horses and stowing
the tack, they set out for The Homestead. Sebastian’s hand brushed
the back of her hair as he companionably draped an arm around her
shoulders.
“Your hair feels dry,” he remarked
idly.
“Almost,” Laura confirmed and let her
glance wander over the white-pillared facade of the big house,
noting its many darkened windows. “I wonder what time it
is.”
“Somewhere around midnight, I imagine.
Hardly late by your standards.”
“By Boone’s it is. Ranchers are always
early risers.”
“I’ve noticed that,” he
murmured.
“Uncivilized, isn’t it?” Laura replied,
tossing him a smile.
“Very,” he agreed. “Were you planning
to call Boone—and ease your conscience a little?”
“Not for the reason you think. I just
remembered he was supposed to call tonight.”
“Poor man,” Sebastian murmured in
feigned sympathy, letting his arm fall from her shoulders as they
started up the veranda steps. “No doubt he expected his loving
fiancée to be sitting by the phone waiting for his call. Instead
she’s off swimming nude in the moonlight with another
man.”
“I don’t think I’ll tell him that.”
Laura said, matching his teasing tone.
“I wouldn’t, either, if I were you,” he
agreed, perfectly straight-faced. “I suspect he wouldn’t be very
understanding.”
“Would you be?” she countered, stepping
back as Sebastian opened the front door for her.
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
Having no quick answer for that, Laura
walked into the house. The utter stillness of it had an immediate
impact as she instinctively spoke in a hushed voice, “I think
everyone’s asleep.”
“As you said, it is late,” he murmured.
“Long past time for naughty little girls to be tucked into
bed.”
“That sounds remarkably like an offer.”
She slanted him an upward glance of amusement.
“That doesn’t sound like a refusal,”
Sebastian countered and let her lead the way across the darkened
living room to the oak staircase.
“Rein in the horses, Charlie,” Laura
admonished him. “Right now I think a hot shower will provide all
the warming up I need.”
“If you should change your mind, you do
know where my room is,” he said, following her up the stairs. “And
the name is Sebastian.”
“My mistake, and I do know where you’re
sleeping. But it isn’t in my bed.”
“Perhaps another night,” he suggested
and accompanied Laura to her bedroom door.
Turning, she put her back to it. “I
doubt you’ll be staying that long.”
“You might be surprised.” He leaned a
hand on the doorjamb near her head. “I enjoyed our moonlight
excursion immensely.”
As he dipped his head toward hers,
Laura turned the doorknob and backed into her bedroom, eluding his
kiss. “Good night.” Her eyes laughed at him as she closed the
door.
Sebastian remained where he was, and
waited. In mere seconds the door was jerked open, and a stunned
Laura faced him. “The portrait,” she began and threw a quick glance
at the painting propped on a chair in her bedroom, as if to confirm
it was still there. “How . . . When . . . ?”
It was the first time he’d known her to
be at a loss for words. “I didn’t spend the entire time after
dinner on the phone with Helen.”
“But . . . why?” Confusion clouded her
expression, along with a certain wariness.
“I should think it’s obvious; I wanted
you to have it,” Sebastian replied easily. “After all, Lady Elaine
was never an ancestor of mine, while it seems quite likely that you
are related to her.”
Turning, Laura moved out of the doorway
and walked back to the chair with the painting. “But it’s always
hung in Crawford Hall.”
Sebastian let his hand fall from the
doorjamb and wandered into the room behind her. “It would have
ultimately fallen to the gavel, as Crawford Hall will, along with
the bulk of its contents. Rather than have that happen, I prefer to
give it to you as a memento of your visit to England.”
“You said it had little value. Surely
you could have kept it.” Her gaze studied him, alert to any change
in his expression, no matter how small or brief.
“I have no need for a portrait to
remind me of you.” A wry smile curved his mouth. “Forgive me for
sounding maudlin, but you have haunted my mind since the day you
left Crawford Hall. It came as a bit of a start to realize that I
had fallen in love with you.”
Amused, Laura cocked her head. “You
don’t really expect me to believe that, do you?”
Sebastian chuckled. “Ever the skeptic,
aren’t you? I would have an easier time of it if your name was
Smith or Brown and your bank balance no better than mine. Ironic,
isn’t it? Initially I pursued you for your wealth, and now I wish
you didn’t possess it.”
“You are a smooth one, Sebastian.”
There was a trace of admiration in her chiding tone.
“Naturally. That’s why you find me so
irresistible. In fact, I suspect you’re more than a little in love
with me right now.” Standing less than an arm’s length from her, he
raised his hand and traced the curve of her cheek with his
fingertips. Her skin tingled from the featherlight
contact.
“Maybe a little,” Laura conceded,
honest with herself and him. “You are always so full of surprises.
But I am not about to marry you.”
“Boone is a much safer matrimonial
choice, isn’t he? He has money, while I am a . . . poor risk, shall
we say?” Sebastian remarked, eyes twinkling.
She laughed. “An extremely poor
risk.”
“But our life together would never be
dull. I doubt the same could be said of a life with
Boone.”
“Just the same, he suits
me.”
“Not as well as I do,” Sebastian
countered, then paused. “I have a proposition for
you.”
“I can hardly wait to hear this,” Laura
mocked.
“Return his ring, marry me, and keep
your money.”
His words brought a little surge of
hope, but Laura quickly saw through them. “How very
clever.”
“Clever?” One eyebrow arched in silent
inquiry at her choice of adjectives. “I thought it was very simple
and straightforward.”
“But if I keep the money, you’ll lose
Crawford Hall. Then where would we live?” Laura
challenged.
“I have a small flat in
London.”
She shook her head. “That wouldn’t do
at all. I’d want to live in something big and grand . . .” The
pause was deliberate. “Something like Crawford Hall. And if I’m
buying a large estate, why not the family manor? It would be
logical to own the place that goes with title. And you’re counting
on that, aren’t you?”
There was a flicker of annoyance in his
expression. “Clearly your mind is much more devious than mine.” His
mouth had a slightly grim set to it that seemed to match the new,
cool amusement in his eyes. “Enjoy the portrait, Laura. At least
I’ll have the consolation of knowing that every time you look at
it, you’ll think of me and wonder.”
He made a leisurely turn and walked out
of the room, pulling the door closed behind him. Laura stood there,
certain she hadn’t been wrong in her assessment. His leaving was
merely an attempt to plant some doubt in her mind. And yet . .
.
She looked at the painting and
wondered.