The Duke in Denial (Scandal in Sussex) Read Online Free PDF Page B

behalf. She needed the marriage. More than he did. He considered whether that upset him, but the prospect of helping somebody through the marriage appealed to him.
    “Dorothea!”
    They turned to the voice. William strode toward them, his long legs carrying him swiftly. His eyebrows rose when he noticed Sebastian, and he beamed. “How remarkable. You’ve met already.”
    “You know each other?” Dorothea looked at William and Sebastian.
    “He rescued my hat.” Sebastian smiled at the memory of their meeting under the stars. He was happy to meet the captain again.
    William laughed. “He wasn’t nearly as appreciative then. I seem to remember him telling me to go away.”
    “I’ve reformed since then.”
    William’s eyes sparkled, rivaling the chandeliers, and Sebastian tore his eyes away from them with reluctance. He would be happy gazing at him for much longer.
    “I see my sister has already worked her good influence,” William continued. “How did you two meet?”
    “Your sister?” Sebastian’s chest clenched. He turned to Dorothea and frowned. He turned back to William.
    They resembled each other. Of course. He knew Dorothea had a brother who had moved in with her recently. “When you spoke of your sister, I didn’t realize she was Lewis’s Dorothea. I suppose it is a fairly common name, though . . .” Sebastian stammered then added quickly, “a very beautiful one.” He was in no rush to insult his future wife.
    William blinked, and his gaze clouded.
    “You were not at their engagement party,” Sebastian said. “I would have remembered you.”
    “You knew Lewis?”
    “He is—was—my cousin.”
    Shock flashed across William’s face, and his jaw tightened. “You are not—?”
    “He’s a duke, William,” his sister said softly. “The Duke of Lansdowne.”
    William stiffened. “Forgive me, Your Grace, I was not aware.”
    Sebastian flinched upon hearing William use the term “Your Grace.” The formal honorific seemed to distance them even further, as if William were seeking to stomp out any memory of their evening together.
    “I should have realized,” William continued. “I am not up on my knowledge of Sussex aristocrats.”
    Dorothea frowned at him. “The duke has been exceedingly kind. We are living in his house.”
    “One of my homes,” Sebastian hastened to say. “It was no trouble at all. Lewis would have wanted it.”
    A muscle tensed on William’s temple. “Yes. I—we—are most grateful for everything. Forgive me if I spoke flippantly before.”
    Sebastian’s chest twinged. The easy conversation between them had shattered with the revelation of his new, higher status.
    William gazed between Dorothea and Sebastian. He opened his mouth, finally saying, “Is my sister the lady whom you mentioned earlier?”
    “She is indeed.” The warmth of a blush ascended Sebastian’s cheeks, and he shifted awkwardly.
    “Oh.” William looked down.
    Sebastian sighed, deflated. William did not seem delighted at the prospect of a marriage between himself and Dorothea. Perhaps William had found him tiresome at the tavern and desired somebody else in the family. The captain had seemed eager to leave it.
    “How wonderful you should already know each other.” Dorothea smiled tentatively at the two of them, or as much, Sebastian supposed, as a woman could smile when in the presence of her brother and a man whom she might marry.
    “Indeed.” William flashed a smile, his lips tight.
    “I shall leave you two in peace.”
    Sebastian blinked as William sauntered off. His eyes lingered on the man’s form.
    He turned to Dorothea, conscious he should be delighted to be in the presence of such a splendid woman knowing a real possibility existed that he would devote the rest of his life to her. He just wondered why the coloring that Dorothea and William shared seemed to suit William so much better. Why the mannerisms they shared seemed to be that much more amusing on William.
    Shaking his