As Sebastian had expected, his father was quiet for most of the ride home. He too, remained quiet—after all, there were only so many times a man could explain that he had merely behaved like any gentleman would have before getting exhausted by the mere prospect thereof.
It was pointless too, he realized as he thought back to William Wentworth’s stern face when he and his father had arrived in his study. He made it quite clear that the truth, at least to him, was irrelevant and Sebastian let out a frustrated sigh at this.
It was this sigh that loosened his father’s tongue as they arrived at the manor, and Fitzgerald looked at Sebastian with a dark frown.
“Do you have something to say, boy?”
“I just…” Sebastian sighed. He had not been granted much of an opportunity to say much at the Wentworth estate—his father had taken that upon himself.
“I just don’t feel good about this plan,” he admitted at last. “I am not fond of how it makes me seem. It does not sit well with me.”
Fitzgerald simply shook his head with a scoff. “Why must you be difficult?” he asked tiredly and Sebastian sighed.
“Father,” he tried reasoning again, though he was rather convinced that it was futile. “This was all a mere misunderstanding, and I am not certain that we are going about it the right way.”
“Oh!” Fitzgerald laughed derisively and glared at his son. “Do tell me, Sebastian, with your infinite wisdom, what it is we are doing wrong?”
Despite his father’s condescension, Sebastian still tried. “The entire ton has seen me with Beatrice,” he started but Fitzgerald merely scoffed.
“No announcement was ever made,” he quickly countered, and Sebastian sighed. “Perhaps not,” he relented, “but people have seen us together.”
Fitzgerald glared down at his son. “You are being deliberately difficult,” he accused. “We can explain that you were privately engaged to Caroline and that will explain why you spent time with her sister. People will be far more forgiving of your… indiscretion… if they believe that you were engaged to the girl all along.
Sebastian shifted uncomfortably at this. He did not like it one bit, but he knew that trying to explain that to his father would be a glorious waste of his time. Not for the first time, he wished that he could speak to Caroline or Beatrice—explain everything to them.
But asking would have been absolutely futile—this much he knew. He closed his eyes with a suppressed sigh.
“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen,” he mumbled, but rather than soothe his father, this seemed to inflame him even more.
“That is the problem with you, Sebastian,” he burst out. “You never mean for these things to happen and yet scandals tend to cling to you! You attract them to you, or you must simply be the unluckiest man in the world. It cannot possibly be that you are the one in charge of your own life, it cannot be that your choices cause these things, can it?”
Sebastian opened and closed his mouth, bitterness taking hold of him. His father’s claim that he was in charge of his own life was preposterous—but of course he could not dare to say that.
Again, he allowed his mind to drift to Caroline and the anxious look on her pale face he’d seen in the garden. Gone was the spontaneous girl who had challenged him over dinner, who hadlaughed with him on the balcony—she seemed to be a mere shadow of the girl he had met.
Marrying her would be the right thing to do, he realized. He had no choice but to go through with it—he had to help her. The poor girl was frightened out of her mind—that much was clear.
“I suppose I will marry Caroline,” he mumbled, and Fitzgerald looked at him as though he’d suddenly spurted another limb.
“Of course you will,” he said as though it had never been an option. “What are you talking about?”
As much as Sebastian wanted to say that he would only go through with this marriage if both women were alright with it, he knew that doing so would only irk his father even more. He could only hope that the results of this marriage would not be disastrous due to the circumstances thereof.
***
Caroline had fled from the garden and back to her chamber rather quickly after seeing Sebastian out on the lawn. His sudden appearance at the estate had brought back the treacherous dreams she’d had, and she could not stand to look at the man responsible for the thoughts that were such a gross betrayal to her sister.
Where she sat on her bed now, Caroline could not dim the light of curiosity that shone within her heart. Why was he there? She supposed it had to do with his marriage to Beatrice. She could only hope that there was a way to salvage her sister’s wedding—Beatrice, she knew, would never forgive her if Caroline ruined her marriage.
“My lady…”
A hesitant knock at the door had her looking up quickly, facing Anne with a forced smile. “My lady,” the other girl continued, “Your father is calling for your presence in his study.”
Caroline jumped to her feet and ran a hand through her hair. “Thank you… thank you, Anne,” she muttered—and she did not miss the sympathetic glance Anne shot her way. Her heart raced as she rushed down to the study. Hope stirred in her heart—perhaps her father would merely scold her once again before announcing that the wedding would go forward.
She hesitated when she noticed Beatrice already seated in their father’s study—her face pale and her blue eyes wide.
Though she wanted nothing more than to reach out to her sister, Caroline wisely turned her gaze to her father with a muttered greeting and waited for his permission to sit.
