At The Stroke Of Midnight (7 page)

However if he hurt Lizzie's
feelings, she did not show it.
 
Instead
she smiled prettily up at him as if he hadn't essentially told her that her
conversation was meaningless.
 
"Really, my lord, I fear that you are overset.
 
The last few days have been rather hectic,
after all.
 
I would think you would
indeed care a great deal that your future wife is clothed appropriately.
 
Perhaps a dance would help to relax
you."
 
Then, before Sebastian knew
what was happening, she had essentially grabbed his hand and practically
dragged him onto the dance floor.
 
Being
a gentleman, he did not resist.

In the ballrooms of London, she
would have looked a fool and the cutting, nasty remarks against her would have
begun almost immediately.
 
But here at
Blackstone, it was clear that she was the proverbial princess of the palace and
that any social misstep would be overlooked, if not immediately forgotten by
everyone assembled.

As he lined up for the next dance,
which thankfully happened to be a country dance, he saw Jane out of the corner
of his eye.
 
Clad in her lovely gown,
she moved alone the wall as if she were a ghost, a mere shadow passing through
the room and blending in with the holiday greenery that had been placed on the
window ledges.
 
She clearly did not want
to be noticed, and his heart ached for her.

He longed to step out of line and
pull her into his embrace and assure her that everything would work out.
 
But he could not do that, for he did not
know for certain that it would.
 
More
over, were he to publicly spurn Elizabeth in favor of her sister, he would
effectively be conceding the earldom to his cousin.
 
A man who would destroy it in less than a year.
 
He could not allow that.
 
Despite what his mother thought, Sebastian
did know and understand his duty, both to history and to those who depended on
him.

He simply did not like it very much
at the moment.

He also understood his duty in
finding a woman he could tolerate enough to take to wife.
 
One that, in time, he might be able to
love.
 
Certainly one that he could bed.
 
And he had found her.
 
But too late.

As the dance began, he made certain
that he kept a smile on his face as he moved through the steps, partnering with
a different woman each time the dancers moved.
 
He did not want to be anything less than charming.
 
He did not want to give anyone a reason to
suspect that his entire life was in disarray.
 
If he did, there was no doubt that Lady X would be writing all about it
in her next column, for he suspected that she had spies everywhere, even in the
country.

Yet the entire time he danced he
watched Jane from the corner of his eye, always certain he knew where she
was.
 
It was she who deserved to be the
center of attention this evening.
 
It
was she, as the eldest daughter who should be basking in the pre-Christmas
warmth and good cheer of the assembled family and friends.
 
She was not.
 
And that made him even angrier.

Instead, she was being treated as
an outsider.
 
As if she was no longer
part of this family.
 
Then, he glimpsed
Devonmont and his wife Angeline and immediately understood.
 
The old earl had formed a new family, one
with a wife who obviously did not approve of Jane.
 
This
was Devonmont's family now.
 
Jane and her mother were the past.
 
Elizabeth and Angeline were the future.
 
They were the females he would dote on.

As he watched Jane shrink even
deeper into the shadows, his heart broke a little more.
 
She was the true jewel of the family.
 
Not the shallow, empty-headed younger
sister.
 
The pity was, he seemed to be
the only one who could see it.

In the distance of the main
hallway, Jane could hear one of the footman sound the battered old gong to mark
the midnight hour.
 
For the next three
nights, the third night from now being Christmas Eve, the gong would sound its
deep, low tones as one day slid into the next.
 
It was the last of her mother's old traditions that had somehow managed
to survive Angeline's arrival.
 
Well for
this year, anyway.
 
Next year when Jane
herself was gone, she wasn't so certain that her stepmother would not attempt
to find a way to be rid of that "pesky, provincial tradition," as she
termed anything Catronia had done, as well.

The dancing was still well
underway, and technically she had been forbidden to leave the ballroom.
 
However, she was also certain no one would
miss her.
 
Angeline was ensconced in the
card room playing faro with her friends from town.
 
As for her father?
 
He was
well into his cups, which wasn't unusual during the Christmas season.
 
Jane's mother had died two days after
Christmas so the season was never a terribly cheery one for the Earl of
Devonmont.

Nor for Jane.
 
Not that anyone asked.

As she snuck out of the overly warm
ballroom and down a rapidly cooling hallway, Jane took note of the greenery and
pine boughs that adorned almost every doorway.
 
Red velvet bows and garlands threaded with holly draped the grand
staircase that led to the upper two floors.
 
Candles were scattered about in highly polished silver candelabra,
lending a warm glow wherever one looked.
 
The entire first floor looked downright festive without being overdone.

There were even numerous Christmas
trees scattered about, including nearly ten in the ballroom alone.
 
Lizzie had read about them in a ladies'
magazine and had begged their father to include one in this year's decorations
at Blackstone.
 
As always, he had
overindulged his youngest daughter and erected a stunning thirty trees through
out the house including one in the upper portrait gallery, which mystified
Jane.
 
No one, save for her, went there,
and that was only to look at her mother's portrait.
 
She doubted that he had placed it there for her benefit.

In truth, Jane was surprised that
Blackstone had been decorated at all, given how much her father preferred to
simply allow the season to pass by unnoticed, but she decided that it must have
been in honor of Lizzie and Sebastian.

Lizzie and Sebastian.

Even linking their names in her
mind hurt and a fresh wave of pain washed over her.
 
She had to become used to the idea, she knew, but it was still so
new that she could not help but feel a dull stab of pain each time she imagined
them together.

She had witnessed them dancing
together earlier in the night.
 
In fact,
he had partnered with just about every woman in attendance at the party.
 
Except her.
 
He hadn't even approached her, though to be fair, no one had since she
had hidden in a corner behind the drapes most of the night.
 
When her father or Angeline came looking for
her she was always ready to be found, but once they returned to the party, Jane
would slip back into the shadows and watch as the proverbial knife twisted in
her heart just a little more.

Again, she considered running away
but the snow had begun to fall heavily outside and really, there was no place
to go.
 
She was simply being silly and
overwrought - much like Lizzie often was.
 
Her future was already laid out for her and it was time that she
accepted it.
 
It would not include
Sebastian.
 
He was destined for her
sister.
 
He had never been hers to lose.
 
Not really, anyway.

She was about to mount the older
and more secluded back stairway - which had, at one time, actually been the
front stairway - that would lead to her suite of rooms without risk of being
seen by the other guests, when a shadow moved out of the darkness.

"Jane."

With that one word, her heart
plummeted to her knees and then back into her chest.
 
She would know that warm and sultry baritone anywhere.
 
She turned and saw Sebastian move into the
dim pool of light cast by the last of the candles farther back down the
hallway.

She heard the rustle of cloth and
felt the silk of her dress beneath her fingertips.
 
In an instant, she was back in that garden, her heart hammering
as if he had just kissed her.
 
She had
to stop this.
 
Nothing good could come
of it.

"Sebastian.
 
I understand congratulations are to be in
order.
 
Christmas Eve, if what Angeline
says is true."
 
She stood there stiffly,
unwilling to allow him to see the depth of her pain.
 
Or how he affected her so.
 
"Now if you will excuse me, I am to bed.
 
I am feeling unwell."
 
That much
was
true.
 
With
every second that passed, she felt more and more lightheaded, as if she might
faint.

When he still did not say anything,
she gathered up the skirts of her emerald gown, the one she had designed
specifically with Sebastian in mind, and attempted to brush past him and up the
stairs.
 
She had only taken a step or
two when his arm shot out and held her in place.

"It was supposed to be
you."
 
When she merely blinked at
him in confusion, he pulled closer so that she might see the truth in his
eyes.
 
"When I approached your
father, I asked to marry you.
 
But then
my mother became involved and the situation became complicated.
 
Elizabeth is her choice.
 
Not mine."
 
Then he sighed and Jane heard a depth of pain that mirrored her
own.
 
"I don't want your
sister.
 
I want you.
 
Only you."
 
Then he grasped her hand and held her in place, his eyes looking
into hers as if he never wanted to let her go.

"Then what is stopping
you?"
 
The words were out before
Jane could stop them, but once they were spoken, she knew that they had been
burning inside of her since the very moment her father had announced his
intention to see Lizzie paired with Sebastian.
 
"You are a grown man, Sebastian.
 
The choice of bride should be yours.
 
Not my father's.
 
Or your
mother's."

She thought that he was going to
release her then, but instead, he pulled her closer and then tugged her beneath
the stairway to a small, open room that would have been occupied by a butler or
footman when the area had been used as the main hall and stairway.
 
From here, there was still enough light to see
each other, yet not so much that their position would be obvious to anyone who
might happen to wander by.

Jane thought about protesting but
when Sebastian hauled her against him and locked her tightly in his embrace,
all thought of resistance fled.
 
It felt
wonderful to be in his arms again.
 
It
was as magical as she remembered.
 
Perhaps more so.

"I have no choice.
 
There are provisions in my father's will,
ones I was not aware of that complicate matters greatly.
 
Not to mention that your father seems
hell-bent on banishing you to a place where I cannot reach you while he matches
me with your sister for God only knows what reason." He growled the words
as he quickly outlined his predicament to her.

Suddenly, the pieces of the puzzle
began to fall into place in Jane's mind.
 
She knew the way Angeline's mind worked and suspected that much of the
current situation was her doing.
 
Or at
least done at her instigation.
 
"That is why I am being sent away.
 
My father never even attempted to secure me a position closer to
town.
 
He wanted me gone so there would
be nothing standing in the way of your marriage to Lizzie.
 
He was afraid that I would interfere or that
you would resist."

Sebastian growled deep in his
throat, pulling Jane closer to him.
 
The
overwhelming heat from his body warmed her until she thought she might burst
into flames.
 
"I have suspected as
much from the moment I learned you were to be sent to the Highlands.
 
You are being banished because of me.
 
I practically begged your father for your
hand that first day we met in his study back in London.
 
Later, I even threatened to run away with
you to Gretna."

"You did?"
 
Suddenly, all of the pain of the last few
days began to ebb away.
 
Sebastian
had
fought for her, at least as much as he was able.
 
He did care for her after all.
 
It was the first time any man had.

"I did.
 
Very much so."
 
His voice was low and filled with the same
passion she remembered from that night.
 
Something hot and dangerous flared in his eyes and she swallowed hard,
thinking that he looked as if he wanted to devour her.
 
Slowly, he backed Jane against the wall and
she felt her heart speed up at his closeness, just as it had on that long ago
night.
 
"However, as I have said,
should we embark upon that course of action, the consequences to those that I
am responsible for will be dire.
 
I have
a duty to them and to my family."
 

Sebastian stroked her cheek with
the back of his hand, his desire leashed now, but still simmering just below
the surface.
 
"I am still appealing
to my mother.
 
Her only objection to you
appears to be your age, but if I can convince her that it is not an issue, then
there is still yet hope.
 
I believe I
can win her over."
 
Or, at the very
least, he prayed that he could.
 
Though
with Jane in his arms once more, he wondered why he had ever been weak enough
to let her go in the first place.

Oh.
 
Right.
 
Duty.
 
Honor.
 
Obligation.
 
All of that came before
love.
 
And what he wanted.
 
What he needed.
 
Others before himself.
 
Wasn't that what his father had always taught him?
 
Wasn't that precisely what his mother was
currently demanding of him?

Well right now,
Jane
needed
him.
 
He would think of her before
himself.
 
That was logical, wasn't
it?
 
He would do and be what she needed.

And, at the moment, she looked as
if she needed to be ravished.
 
Just a
little bit.

He leaned in to kiss her neck,
gratified when she tilted her head to allow him better access.
 
She tasted so sweet, better than he
remembered.
 
"Jane, I need you.
 
I will find a way for us to be
together.
 
I promise.
 
I will not marry Elizabeth.
 
I cannot."
 
Then he brought his hand up to stroke her breast, praying that
she would not slap him for the liberties he was taking.
 
Then again if she desired him half as much as
he desired her, she might allow him more.

"Sebastian."
 
Jane was having difficulty thinking when he
was so close and showering her with those delicious kisses.
 
Yet she knew she must be strong and resist
him.
 
He was not hers and, despite his
claims, never would be.
 
She knew her
father's indomitable resolve when it came to what Lizzie wanted, not to mention
that of Angeline.
 
She had selected the
Earl of Covington as the preferred mate for her daughter and that would be the
end of it.
 
There was nothing anyone
could say or do that would change her mind.

"Sebastian, wait."
 
Jane tried again, pressing hard on his
shoulder, only to be met with a wonderfully delightful wall of muscle.
 
Instantly, she longed to see him naked, to
run her fingertips over sinew and bone.
 
However, thoughts like that would only lead to heartache in the near
future.
 
She needed to reign in her
baser instincts.
 
Still, who knew she
was such a wanton?
 
Well, at least where
Sebastian was concerned.

He licked at the long column of her
throat and she felt the trace of his tongue as if he was deep inside of her
somehow.
 
"I do not wish to
wait.
 
I want you, Jane.
 
Only you."
 
She felt him smile against her skin as he nuzzled her, and she
felt a lightness begin to grow inside of her.
 
"Do you know that you are the only woman whom I can indulge with in
this manner?
 
All of the other women I
know are far too short.
 
Nor do I like
them nearly half as much.
 
Nor do I
desire them.
 
That is yet another thing
I like so very much about you."