Page 51 of The Lost Letter: A Victorian Romance

Her words were lost as he brought his mouth down on hers. She gave a muffled exclamation of surprise. And then she brought her arms to circle his neck and her lips softened under his. She knew she must look a fright, with eyes swollen and her face blotchy from crying. She knew she must taste of tears. But he did not seem to care. He kissed first her lips and then her cheek and then her temple, all the while holding her in an unyielding embrace.

A light tap sounded at the door.

Sebastian’s lips stopped on Sylvia’s cheek mid-kiss. “Julia,” he muttered. “Confound her.”

Sylvia drew back from him as she heard the sound of the doorknob turning. “I thought she would not come back until you summoned her?”

“That was the idea.”

The door opened a crack and Lady Harker poked her head in. She was beaming. “I could not help overhearing!” She entered the library, shutting the door behind her. “Is it true, Miss Stafford? Are you really going to marry my brother? Oh, but you’ve been crying!” She hurried to Sylvia’s side. “What have you done this time, Sebastian? Did I not tell you that you must be nice to her and say only sweet things?”

Sebastian looked as if he might throttle his sister at any moment. Sylvia impulsively caught his hand in hers. She felt his fingers close around her own. “If I have wept, it is because I am so happy,” she said. “Your brother wrote to me from India, did he tell you?”

“He has said so, but he will not tell me what he wrote. And he says that you wrote to him as well, though he will not confide in me about the contents of those letters either. I do not know how I am expected to be a help when I have been kept so much in the dark!”

“You may be of help right now,” Sebastian said. “Miss Stafford and I are going to marry a week from today. You may assist with making the arrangements.”

“In a week!” Lady Harker clasped her hands to her bosom. “So soon? But then I must get started right away, for you shall have to have a wedding breakfast. And Harker will want to stand up with you, Sebastian. And I will stand up with you, Miss Stafford.”

Sylvia smiled. “I would like that very much, Julia.”

Lady Harker’s face shone with pleasure. “How wonderfully it has all worked out!” she declared, moving briskly back to the door. “And to think if I had not come to London and found you, the two of you would have gone your whole lives without knowing about those silly letters! But that is of no account now, thank goodness.” She let herself out, still chattering as the door shut behind her.

Sylvia looked at Sebastian, her lips quivering with laughter.

“My sister,” Sebastian said disgustedly. And then he, too, began to smile.