Page 25 of The Lost Letter: A Victorian Romance

“Our father drank exactly enough to get him through the day.” He took another swallow of brandy. “As do I.”

“Well, I daresay Papa’s days were not as trying as yours.”

“No doubt.”

“But I cannot like it, Sebastian. Especially when you are making so much progress with Miss Stafford. You must not ruin your chances with her by becoming intoxicated.”

Two glasses of brandy was a fair way from being intoxicated, but Sebastian did not argue the point. “Where is Miss Stafford?”

“She is waiting for me downstairs in the drawing room. I am supposed to be fetching my paints and canvas. We are going to walk down to the bridge. Will you come with us?”

“No.”

“Not even to see Miss Stafford? I promise I will not chaperone you too closely. Indeed, you will scarcely know I am there.”

Sebastian frowned into the fire. The truth was he would have liked nothing better than to see Miss Stafford again. Unfortunately, if he were to go out of doors on such a sunny day as this, she would also have to see him. It was bad enough that he had already exposed himself in the light of the picture gallery window. God only knew what Miss Stafford was thinking of him now that she had got a proper look at his face. “Another time, perhaps,” he said vaguely.

He waited for his sister to leave, but she remained where she was, regarding him with the same bright, hopeful expression. “Did you really sit with her in the picture gallery, Sebastian?”

“As you observed.”

“And you were civil to her the whole time?”

His chest rose and fell on a ragged breath. Damn it all, he had not been civil to her. He had been a brute. A beast. He had thought he had cause, but now, after what Miss Stafford had told him, he was no longer sure of anything. He drained his glass and set it down on the table beside him. “What was Thomas Rotherham doing with you this morning?” he asked abruptly.

Julia’s smile dimmed. “Doing with us? Why…nothing. He only accompanied us on our ride.”

“And how did he know that you were going riding?”

For the barest instant his sister appeared to be on the verge of an elaborate falsehood. Then her shoulders slumped. “I sent a note round to Moreton Grange,” she confessed. “I invited him to come with us.”

Sebastian ran a hand over his face. His head was beginning to pound. “Dare I ask why?”

“I thought…if you saw him with her…” She gave him a rueful look. “I hoped you might be jealous.”

The fire crackled ominously in the grate.

“And it worked, did it not? You and Miss Stafford have reunited and—” Julia broke off uncertainly. “You have, haven’t you? Miss Stafford has not confided in me, but surely you must have reconciled with her, else you would not have been sitting so close together in the picture gallery. And without a chaperone, too!”

Sebastian fixed his sister with an implacable glare. “I have half a mind to write to Harker and tell him what you’ve been up to.”

She shrugged. “I would not care if you did. Harker does not mind my matchmaking. Especially when I have done it to help my very own brother.”

“Does he not?” Sebastian’s deep voice lowered to a menacing rumble. “If you were my wife I would thrash you within an inch of your life.”

Julia’s mouth fell open, her expression transforming into one of almost comical dismay. “You would never thrash your own wife!”

“And lock her in her room, too,” he added for good measure.

“I do not believe you,” she said. “You would never hurt a woman.”

Sebastian recalled the devastated look in Miss Stafford’s eyes when he had told her that he had had a fortunate escape three years ago. “You think not?”

“No,” Julia said. “And I don’t see why you should be so cross with me! Everything I have done has been for your benefit. Why, only last week, Miss Stafford was ready to return to Cheapside. She would have done so, too, if I had not tricked you out of your rooms today.”

“She’s decided to stay, I take it.”

“She has not said so,” Julia admitted. “But I hope she has. Perhaps if you were to tell her that you wished her to stay?”