Page 34 of Surrender to Sin

Her uncle laughed. “Every one, my dear. Good for a marriage to have some spice, even after thirty-five years.”

Icy cold, sore, and struck with an attack of uncontrollable mirth, Grace buried her face in Sebastian’s shoulder.

“Take me away, please,” she choked out.

“Where do you want to go?” said Sebastian. “Your father’s house?”

“No. I want to go home. To Fallen.”

“Now wait one damned minute,” said Waverly. “What fustian is this? You’ll come and stay with your aunt and I. Unless of course there is a stronger claim. Say, a betrothal approved by the head of the family to a titled man of the right age, with a large fortune, good lineage, decent address…”

“Subtle, very subtle, your grace,” said Sebastian, but there was amusement in his voice. “You couldn’t have at least given me a minute? Or allowed travel to a more suitable location?”

“Pah. No time like the present, m’boy. I proposed to Anne as she sat in the middle of a mud puddle her mare had just deposited her into.”

“Ha. I should’ve said no,” said her aunt. “Shocking rake that you were. But Sin, my husband does have a point. If there is something you would like to say…”

Grace stilled, the pain and cold fading as joy dawned. “Sebastian?”

He took an audible breath. “I know I’m not the man you were dreaming of, someone in business.”

“Yes.”

“One third owner of a pleasure club and inclined to freeing women from pimps and bawds.”

“Yes,” she said dreamily, wishing he’d shut up and kiss her.

“Someone who deals with flour bag assaults, come-stained costumes, and chronic sweet shortages.”

“Yes.”

“A man known to the world as Sin.”

Grace sighed. “You’ll always be Sebastian to me, but how many blasted times must I say yes to your proposal?”

He froze in the starlit darkness. “You’re accepting?”

“That’s what I heard,” said her aunt cheerfully.

“She said yes three times, you treacle-brained idiot,” called Lord Grayson, as he and Diaz dragged Baxter back to his own carriage and shoved him roughly inside. “Now can we get the hell out of this unsavory corner of London before we’re all murdered? I have ledgers to tally.”

Grace threaded her fingers through Sebastian’s hair and tugged his face down for a kiss. “Just to confirm, I love you madly and my answer is yes, Lord St. John.”

For what lady wouldn’t, when offered heaven?

…

Two weeks later

“Sin, as I have told you on five previous occasions, you are not going in there. It’s bad luck to see the bride in her wedding gown before the ceremony. You’ll see it on that day, and not a moment before.”

He smiled his best choir-boy grin. “Come on, Nell. I haven’t seen her since this morning thanks to Alice’s army of seamstresses. At least give me some hints. Color? Fabric?”

“No,” said Grace’s maid-companion, folding her arms and giving him a stern governess glare. The woman had taken to Fallen like a duck to water, and now practically ran the place, which was both a good and bloody annoying thing. Like now, for instance.

“I’ll pay you for information. Name your price.”

“No.”