Page 16 of Unforeseen Affairs (The Sedleys #6)

Idly Colin wondered if Miss Sedley was this way with everyone, or if she’d singled him out as untrustworthy. He felt more hurt than he supposed he should at the thought of the latter.

She must have guessed his thoughts, for she released a little sigh.

“Very well. If you must know, I suspect Mr. Bass to share a sordid history with Mrs. Stone. He distresses her greatly.”

“Oh? What do you mean, sordid?”

She glanced aside, pursing her lips as if weighing whether to divulge more. The expression lent her a more youthful appearance, despite her dark, plain garments.

Colin attempted to imagine just what Miss Sedley might look like in a brighter, less severe frock, one more akin to the one Alice was wearing the last time he’d seen her. But thinking of such things was ridiculous, and he pushed it from his mind.

When Miss Sedley raised her eyes, it was with a hearty dose of the curious, unsettling power she seemed to draw from within herself, deep inside a well of mystery.

“What does anyone ever mean when they describe something thusly?”

Colin chose not to answer. Instead he reached for his mug, and began turning it in circles upon the rough-hewn tabletop.

“And this is reason enough to ruin a man’s reputation, his livelihood?”

“Yes.”

She spoke the word eagerly, with a playfulness he’d not detected from her before. It was different, and Colin welcomed it, albeit warily.

“After all,” Miss Sedley said, “it was because of a mere mild annoyance with Lieutenant Pearce that Mr. Bass decided to slander his character.”

“A mild annoyance, do you think it was?” Colin shook his head dolefully. “A capricious man, then.”

“Have no fear, Sir Colin.” She smiled wolfishly. “We will destroy him.”

By god, she could be terrifying. He stared at the young woman, wondering just what secrets she harbored, what desires she kept close to her chest.

“I appreciate your faith in the undertaking.” And thank the Lord I’m not in your black books , he silently added. “So what say you? What should our first move be?”

“As his current run of theatrical performances in London will end in a matter of days, we need to engage in another sitting with him, and soon. Obtain an invitation to a private spirit circle.”

His first and only séance having produced such calamity in his personal life, Colin had no desire for another turn. He frowned.

“But exposing him in a public setting, surely, would better produce the intended effect? Seizing him upon stage and pulling back the curtain, so to speak, with a large number of onlookers?”

“Of course,” she said slowly, as if speaking to a child. “If you wished to accompany me to Manchester, where his next series of shows will be, we could do it that way. I’ve a cousin in Lancashire, not far from the city.”

Travel to Manchester? With her? It was completely out of the question.

He thought of the keen interest on Quartermaster Crosby’s face as he’d tried to puzzle out just what Colin was doing in this odd corner with a striking young lady, and he blanched. He could not compromise Miss Sedley further, not when she’d agreed to help him.

“Point taken,” he conceded. “So you suggest we find a way into someone else’s table-tilting party?”

Miss Sedley nodded solemnly.

“But surely Mr. Bass will recall us?”

“Me? I highly doubt it,” Miss Sedley said. “I do not suffer the illusion that I’ve a memorable presence. In fact, I take pains to ensure the contrary.”

“What? Nonsense. You’re a charming young lady with quite—”

Her eyes widened. Colin realized he’d gone too far, and sputtered as he attempted to reel back his honest estimation.

“Quite… a…” He halted, then swallowed and tried once more. “You are quite the memorable individual.”

She looked to the side, saying nothing.

Oh, blast it all—he’d offended her. Between this and his casual toast to cunt, Colin would never redeem himself in her eyes. Her eyes which, thankfully, he hadn’t gone on to describe as mysterious and alluring, as he’d been about to. Curse his hateful honesty.

“And you arrived with Mrs. Stone, besides,” Colin spouted suddenly, wanting very much to move on from his faux pas . “Mr. Bass would undoubtedly mark you as her agent and turn you away.”

“Not necessarily,” Miss Sedley replied, as if nothing awkward had just transpired. “Mr. Bass is not a man to dwell much upon a silent young lady. But you…” She paused, her eyes widening again, staring at Colin so intensely he began to feel self-conscious. “You are a man of esteem. A valiant hero.”

“Nonsense—”

“I read the account in The Leisure Hour . Two ships, and such prize money. No wonder she knighted you,” Miss Sedley said familiarly, as if she and the queen regularly exchanged gossip.

Colin squirmed in his chair. The wood squeaked.

“You, Sir Colin, are someone worth knowing.”

He felt lightheaded, and panic surged within him.

No . He could not have an episode, not now.

Not in public, in front of the people at this humdrum café…

and especially not in front of her . Colin shut his eyes and tried to clear his mind.

How could he communicate the nature of his condition to a recent acquaintance, one of the strange Sedley clan?

No one who knew him had cared enough to even try to understand, and indeed, no one could understand if they tried, for his malady was so nebulous.

Even his new physician, though sympathetic, had been stumped.

Despite that, though, Colin did as the kind doctor had instructed and imagined the first light of dawn bursting forth over the wide-open sea, with a cold, harsh wall of wind at his back.

It was intended to settle him—picturing the setting where he felt calmest, the most like himself.

Colin wished he could smell the salt, feel the spray.

The seconds dragged on, until finally his head felt steady and the room stationary. Oddly enough, Miss Sedley had not said anything.

He opened his eyes and braced himself for the inevitable question, but it did not come.

“At any rate,” Miss Sedley continued, unbothered, “I have no doubt Mr. Bass would relish the opportunity to amaze you once more. And if you were to pass me off as an acquaintance or some poor relation, he would not think twice about any connection I might have with Mrs. Stone.”

Having only just narrowly beaten back a severe episode, Colin felt weary and unguarded.

“If you think so,” he sighed. “I confess I don’t put as much faith in my pull as you do.”

“Trust me, Sir Colin.”

He looked into her eyes, those large, gleaming pools of black.

He realized he meant the compliment he’d very nearly uttered.

Her eyes were mysterious and alluring. Otherworldly, even.

Eyes capable of ensorcelling men into forgoing their return home, into forgetting their duty and honor.

Tempting them to remain with her upon a secluded island and think of nothing but their own indulgence.

But Sir Colin Gearing was not one of those men.

Colin’s path was laid before him, brightly lit and well-trodden.

He would put these vertiginous spells behind him, and return to the sea in charge of his own ship.

No one would be able to insinuate that he was anything other than who he was meant to be.

A Gearing. A true leader. And then he’d marry Alice Pearce, and sire his own sons who would take to the seas in their turn.

But only if he could manage to restore Alice’s brother’s reputation. For his mother and father would never allow such a union as things currently stood, with Beaky named as a scoundrel of the first order.

“Very well.” He nodded. “I am, as I said, at your service.”

Miss Sedley, he thought, very nearly smiled.