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However, having seen the delicate brushstrokes himself, Sebastian knew it could be argued that Matteo was indeed fitting company for the most talented artists to have walked the earth. He owed it to his friend to help solve the mystery of Matteo’s long ago journey to England and his subsequent disappearance.

CHAPTER 4

Two brilliant sapphires are your eyes,

Reflecting light from azure skies;

No gem on earth can e’er outshine

The radiant glow that in them lies.

The New Ladies’ Valentine Writer (1821)

* * *

December 11, 1821

The cold air bit at Sebastian’s face as he stepped down, the sleek black carriage bearing the Scott family’s crest gleaming in the pale winter sun as he came to a stop in front of Harriet’s door. Her townhouse stood dignified and immaculate, though he wondered if its façade concealed deeper unrest. Her cryptic remarks about changes she had wrought were still unexplained, but he did not know how to ask her about the comments. He adjusted his gloves, pausing to compose his expression, uncertain what the day would bring.

A couple of weeks in her company.

Then the painting.

Then closure.

The door swung open before he could knock. Mrs. Finch, the housekeeper, barely spared him a glance.

“Lord Sebastian.”

“Mrs. Finch.” He inclined his head.

The painted room remained as he remembered—elegant, curated, designed to highlight Harriet’s beauty. His fingers brushed the back of a gilt chair, which made him think of a similar one at Avonmead on which she had liked to pose—laughing, confident, always the center of attention. Yet when she entered the room at last, Sebastian’s breath caught.

Harriet entered with regal poise, draped in a deep blue pelisse trimmed with white fur, a matching bonnet framing her silky auburn hair, and her eyes gleaming with restrained joy. Her gloved hand rested lightly on the doorframe as she smiled in greeting. Harriet was a woman in her prime, possessing the confidence of a viscountess who had ascended the ranks of the noble classes to carve out her niche as a well-admired beauty, and Sebastian had never seen her more striking than this.

He was struck by how handsomely the deep blue suited her, the shades lending her an air of composed elegance that only deepened the impression she had always made upon him.

But Sebastian fixed on her face, mindful of the old wounds that proximity to her had a habit of reopening. The throbbing wounds of the past receded in the presence of such feminine perfection to leave him wondering … had he not been a spare all those years ago, but a man in his own right as he was now, a man who had made his own fortune, how different would their circumstances be? Would she have had the courage to walk away from society’s expectations? From her father’s expectations?

“Good morning,” she greeted with a warm smile.

“You look well.”

The words escaped before he could stop them, and his cheeks pulled into a grin wider than was proper, but he was not of the stilted upper classes any longer.

“Do I?” Her brow arched. Playful, but cautious.

Before the tension could thicken further, Lady Evaline Wood appeared, dressed in dove-gray wool. “I believe we are ready?”

Sebastian escorted them to the vehicle, handing Harriet into the carriage, then Lady Evaline, with him following close behind. Taking his place across from Harriet, he found his gaze settling on her as she peered out the window at the world passing by. As the wheels rolled toward the museum, he could not help but wonder whether this was truly just a courtship of convenience, or had fate offered them a final chance at something far more dangerous?

He could feel the risk even now, the urge to forget everything that had happened and discover if they were still as compatible as they had been back then.

Be careful, Sebastian. You have been fooled before.

It was a much-needed reminder as the carriage wheels rumbled over stone-paved streets. Harriet’s gaze drifted to the window. “It feels an age since I last visited the British Museum.”

Sebastian watched her profile. “You enjoyed it once. I recollect an enthusiastic dissertation when you regaled me about your visit.”