Once Upon an Accident 02 - Lessons in Seduction (16 page)

Sebastian moved several papers on his desk, stacking them in a neat pile. “Being the coward that he is, I have a feeling Cummings will not show to face Douglas. Even so, I do not want you revealing this to Colleen and especially not to Anna. That girl cannot keep a single, blessed thing to herself.”

Bridgerton snorted. “That is putting it mildly. There is not a secret she could hold for more than a minute.”

Sebastian did not even look at his friend. Instead, his gaze bore into Cicely. “Are we in agreement about Colleen and Anna?”

She nodded. “What do you propose we tell them we were all discussing? Anna will pounce on me the moment I leave.”

All three men were silent. Sebastian grimaced.

“History?” Douglas ventured.

That would certainly put Anna off, even if she poked and prodded.

Cicely began speaking of tomes and studies and Anna switched off, surveying the room for fabric samples.

“Wise choice.” Amusement threaded Bridgerton’s tone.

“Still,” Sebastian said. “I am the earl and the head of this household.

Tell them history if you must but I’d rather you just say you cannot talk about it.”

Deciding there was no arguing with them, and needing time to think, she stood to leave. “Very well. If you gentlemen will excuse me, I need to make it out before the streets are too crowded.”

“Out?” They said in unison.

She smiled sweetly. “Yes. Out.”

As she slipped into the hallway, Anna, true to her prediction, leapt on her, pulling her away from Sebastian’s study and into the formal greeting room. “What was that all about?”

“I cannot say.”

Anna frowned. “Cannot or will not?”

“Cannot. Earl decree backed by ducal threat. In a manner of speaking. There is nothing really to worry about.”

“I was not worried. I just wanted to know. I had not thought to be worried. Should I be worried?”

“No.”

“Very well, then I just want to know.”

Cicely laughed and offered Anna a hug. When she pulled back, Anna was staring at her curiously. It was then that she realized this was the first time she had offered affection openly.

To cover her embarrassment, Cicely said, “Really, it was nothing.

They had a historical question that I, with my contacts at the society, might be able to help them with.”

“Oh.” Anna’s eyes glassed over as Cicely expected.

“Do you want to go with me to the lending library?”

Anna shook her head. A smile tugged up the corner of her mouth.

“No. Dewhurst is stopping by for a ride in the park.”

“Betsy said everyone was staying in today.”

Anna laughed. “That had been the plan but he sent over a note requesting a ride in the park. Why don’t you come with me?”

“No, I need to get to the library. And, if the house is quiet, I can spend some more time looking over the diary. I started in again this morning, but, well…”

Anna nodded then leaned close, brushing her lips over Cicely’s cheek.

“I will see you later.”

She watched Anna scamper off to ready herself for the ride with her new beau and Cicely could not help but feel a bit envious. Even at Anna’s age, Cicely had experienced no carefree courting, rides in the park or flowers the morning after balls.

Shaking off her morose memories, Cicely ascended the stairs to her room. She needed a day out doing something she loved, something she coveted. Balls, courting and whatnot would just have to wait.

“Is there something I should know about?”

Sebastian’s voice cut through the silence threatening to strangle Douglas since Cicely had left.

He turned the heavy gilded book over in his hand, examining the structural binding. Whoever had originally bound the book had taken great care in his work. Douglas admired the craftsmanship. “No. Why do you ask?”

Sebastian paused, studying him, assessing him. Douglas hated the feeling because it brought back memories of being called into his father’s study, being reprimanded, and the lashes that always followed. His throat closed, choking him. He looked for Sebastian’s decanter. A good swill would help.

“Colleen noticed your regard last night.”

He returned the book to its precise position on the shelf and helped himself to a small one-finger pull. “My regard?”

“You seemed to be paying particularly close attention to Cicely before you left for the musicale. I am wondering now if she had the right of it.

There is something between you two.”

He examined the weighty cut crystal. The light refracted from the sharp, cut angles, the amber liquid inside adding to the effect. “Indeed.”

“Is there something we should discuss?”

“Other than how she finds me pompous and overbearing? Or perhaps how she does not care for my meddling in her affairs?” The word affairs almost choked him. He quickly took a swallow to cover.

Sebastian remained unmoved. “No. Not those things.”

Douglas opened his mouth to deny it again, but decided against it. It wasn’t time to speak of his intentions. “Not as of yet.”

“But you foresee the possibility of a reason to in the future?”

Douglas nodded, once.

“Well, then I believe that is all we have to say.”

Colleen let herself into Sebastian’s study, determined to get to the bottom of whatever was going on with her cousin. Before he left, Douglas had said little, evading her questions with a smile and promise to meet them at the theater later in the evening. Bridgerton told her to mind her own business.

Still, she was too smart to think it was nothing more than a visit between friends. The three men had stayed ensconced in the study for quite some time after Anna and she had left, even longer after Cicely had left them. Whatever could they have had to discuss? Something else was going on. Anna was not the only one in the house who wanted to be a part of the happenings, especially when there was such a large chance it involved her in some way, shape or form.

Colleen had known by Sebastian’s action that he had every intention of distracting her, but she would not be deterred. Something was going on with Cicely and Colleen was determined to find out.

Sebastian’s head lifted from reading some papers and the instant he saw her, he smiled.

“To what do I owe this pleasure to, as if I didn’t know.”

She walked around his desk and when he pushed his chair back, she settled in his lap. It was, after all, her favorite chair in the house.

“Tell me.”

He didn’t even pretend that he did not know what she was asking about. With a resigned sigh, he leaned back in his chair.

“I told your cousin not to tell you and here I am about to spill the gossip. If I do, you must swear to not let her know you know.”

“I swear.”

He pursed his lips, then kissed her collarbone. “This is big.”

“I swear. Now tell me, Sebastian.”

“First, let me say that it is under control. Second, no one can know. It quite upset Cicely, as you saw yourself.”

She nodded.

“It seems that Cummings accosted Cicely last night.”

She gasped. “She did not say a word.”

“Well, Douglas made it there before anything happened, thank God, but after a few heated exchanges, one of which Cummings apparently gloated about the fact he compromised her, Douglas challenged him to a duel.”

“He cannot fight a duel.”

Sebastian chuckled. “Your cousin is very capable of fighting a duel, sweetheart. But I don’t think that will be tested. In Cummings’ case, I have a feeling he will tuck tail and run away. The reason I tell you is threefold.” He took her delicate hand in his. “One, I know you would drive me batty until I told you. Two, I think that you should be prepared in case Cicely ever feels the need to talk to another woman about what she experienced. She still seemed a bit shook up when we spoke. And three, I think that you were right about our cousins.”

A grin lit her beautiful face. “I told you I saw something in the way he looked at her.”

“Well, that something is a bit more than it was last night. I could feel the spark between them.”

Pleased, she slipped her hands up to his shoulders and behind his neck. Both Cicely and Douglas deserved happiness. She hoped they found it.

“Are you busy at the moment?” she asked.

His hand flexed on her thigh. “Actually, I just finished working on some investments. I was thinking of taking a break.”

“Ahhh, and I am at loose ends now that Cicely has left for the lending library and your mother and Anna are out for a ride with Dewhurst. Oh, and I locked the door.”

As he brushed his mouth against hers, he chuckled. “How could a man want more from his countess?”

Cicely studied the weak selections on the history shelf and sighed. All that seemed to be left were historical romances. While she loved romances, she needed a good book detailing the Reign of Terror in England. There had been several intriguing clues, certain parties, people the writer knew, that might help Cicely start piecing together who the author of the diary was. If it was actually a true accounting and not fiction. Lately, as she read, her skin crawled. She felt as if she were being watched. She’d glance up furtively even though she knew Sebastian’s house was exceedingly safe.

It was the book. It had that power. It sucked her in. She felt its danger, its promise. There were times she found herself lost in novels, wanting to escape into a world of the author’s imagination. But this was different. Knowing there was a chance it was genuine, it was as if she were flung back into the time of the Terror. Cicely had even entertained the notion that the diary was written by a spy. In her hands was a living, breathing piece of history. How many counts of murder and intrigue had she already read through? If the men behaved even close to how they were described in the pages of the diary, she had every reason to catch her breath. They were treacherous men who protected themselves and their cause by any means necessary.

“So nice to see you, Lady Cicely,” Lord Oglithorpe intoned from behind her.

She suppressed a groan and turned to face him. “Oglithorpe, how are you today?”

“Couldn’t be better. Beautiful weather and now a beautiful woman.”

He looked over her shoulder then focused his attention on her again. “I see you, too, have come looking for history books.”

It took every effort not to yell at the older man. She had been a member of The Historical Society since the age of nineteen. And here he acted surprised by her interest in the subject. She drew in a deep breath.

Perhaps it was not censure or surprise. Perhaps the older man was pleased to see her browsing through the tomes.

“I was looking for a good book on England during the Time of Terror.”

He smiled knowingly. “Ah, yes, your little diary.”

His patronizing tone made her grit her teeth. This time she did not try to hide her irritation. “Yes, my diary. Thus far, it has been a fascinating read. It has sparked my interest in the time period. At the society,” she said pointedly, “we spend so much time on the classics.”

“I was wondering if you had shown it to anyone else. Sometimes that is just what a small piece of work needs. Mayhap you require an expert to look at it.”

She chewed the inside of her bottom lip. “No, I have not.”

“Possibly I could look at it. Give you my opinion.”

She blinked at him, amazed at his interest. “But your expertise lies with the Roman Empire. While, yes, many of the same military or strategic plot devices seem to have been shared and employed in the subject’s methodology, I don’t see how that could help.”

“All roads lead to Rome.” He chuckled. “I find myself with some free time, and I thought I would offer some assistance.”

His avid interest sent a chill down her spine. Other than to tell her she was wrong about every assumption she voiced during debates, Oglithorpe rarely paid attention to her. Until the last meeting. He paid her breasts more interest than he had ever given any of her discussions on history. Perhaps that was what caught her eye.

“I do not have it with me.”

“I could—”

“Lady Cicely, so pleasant to see you,” Dewhurst said.

When she saw the young earl standing close by, a concerned expression on his face, Cicely’s muscles relaxed and relief rushed through her.

“Dewhurst?” Oglithorpe asked. “Just what the devil are you doing here?”

Dewhurst smiled. “Why, looking for some reading material. I would assume the same as you.”

Oglithorpe mumbled something she did not quite hear and then said, “I will see you next week at the meeting, Lady Cicely. Remember my offer.”

Rudely ignoring Dewhurst, the older lord hobbled off toward the entrance. She watched him go, wondering just what the man was about.

He had never shown interest in her prior to the diary. Even then, the first time she’d mentioned it, he had promptly dismissed her. Excitement skittered over her skin. Maybe there was something to it. A man with Oglithorpe’s connections in government would know if there had been a plot against the Crown. That is, if the Crown itself knew.

“Lady Cicely?”

She shook herself from her fantastical thoughts and refocused on Dewhurst. The young lord studied her with concern.

“I am sorry, Dewhurst. I was woolgathering.” Then she remembered he had a date to drive about the park with Anna. “I did not expect to see you here.”

He grinned and she was again struck by his looks and good humor. If only she could love a man who was so amiable.

“I just returned from my ride with Lady Anna and her mother and decided to stop by for a book or two.”

“And I am ever so grateful that you did. Otherwise, Oglithorpe would never have left me alone.”

“He did not overset you, did he?”

She chuckled. “Oh, no. Oglithorpe is not a problem. More of a bother, really. The only thing I worry about is being smothered by his pompous personality. Did you enjoy your ride with my cousin?”

Heat crept into his face. Oh, splendid. It seemed that to some degree Dewhurst returned Anna’s feelings. Since Anna had never shown a particular interest in any gentleman, Cicely was glad that Anna’s regard was returned by Dewhurst.