“The second one.” The words were soft, hardly a whisper, but he may as well have dropped an anvil directly between them.
“So the Jilted Duke has fallen in love with his wife. What a terrible outcome.” Sebastian picked up his glass again. “You are in a rather hopeless situation then.”
Dax pushed to his feet and went in search of more whiskey. “I’m beginning to dislike your use of that word.”
“It’s vexing, I should say, but it’s the only word that’s appropriate at the moment.”
Dax turned to study his friend. “Appropriate?”
Sebastian did not look at him as he replied and not for the first time Dax thought his friend to be addressing his own past more than the current question.
“Sometimes one must view a situation as hopeless to have any hope of acquiring the motivation to get out of it.”
Dax sat down without refilling his glass.
“You’re saying I must think the situation hopeless.”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. How are you to win her back if you think a weak apology will do the trick?”
Dax thought of the locked door he found every night, even now when nearly a week had passed.
“I don’t think an apology is what she seeks.”
“Of course, it’s not. She believes you willingly kissed Lady Isley. An apology will not convince her otherwise. An apology is nothing more than words, and she’s already learned not to trust words.”
“Then what can be done?” Desperation flared inside of him so unexpectedly, he had to grip the arm of the chair to keep from slipping to the floor.
Sebastian uncrossed his legs and sat forward, elbows to knees.
“The first thing I must ask you is this. Did you kiss Lady Isley or did she kiss you?”
Dax straightened at the question. “I hardly think that’s relevant.”
Sebastian helped up his hands and sat back. “If you are not interested in winning back your lady love—”
“Bethany kissed me,” Dax said quickly, pursing his lips in a frown.
“Did you return the kiss?”
“Y—” He had automatically turned to the affirmative, but now that the question was asked, he couldn’t really remember. He had been so overcome by the nostalgia of it that by the time he realized it was something he no longer wanted it had been too late. He shook his head. “No, I didn’t, but it took me too long to realize I didn’t want her kiss.”
“Too long because Eliza discovered you?”
“And it may have given Bethany the wrong impression.”
Bethany hadn’t returned to Ashbourne Manor since that day, but he still couldn’t quite recall what he’d said to her as he’d ushered her out to go in search of Eliza.
Sebastian’s expression darkened. “Do you think Bethany may return?”
“No, she wouldn’t.” Dax was quick to shake his head, but even he didn’t believe his words.
He didn’t know what Bethany could be capable of, but he knew with sudden clarity that he would keep her away from Eliza no matter what it took.
He sat forward in his seat.
“You must tell me what I can do to win Eliza back.”
A very dark part of him worried it was too late. He’d already shattered her trust in him once, and now he’d done it again. Only this time, it was the ultimate betrayal. He’d not only betrayed her trust, he’d broken their wedding vows.
The words shouldn’t have mattered, and any number of gentlemen broke them every day. But Dax was a man of honor, and he had sworn he would keep those vows no matter what it took. Except he hadn’t anticipated Bethany returning to his life.
“You must show Eliza that you mean it.”
Dax stared at his friend, worried the man may have drunken too much.
“Show her what?”
Sebastian sat forward again, his urgency palpable.
“You must show her that you mean your apology. You must show her you are contrite, that you are sincere in wishing forgiveness, that you will do anything to win her back, and then do it.”
Dax had never before heard his friend speak with such feeling, and once again, he wasn’t so sure about the role society had cast him in. His friend may have experienced something that had driven him to be so crass, but underneath it all, Sebastian was still the boy who fought the bullies alongside Dax at Eton.
“But what is it I can do?”
Sebastian sat back, crossing an ankle over the opposite knee. “That is something you will need to figure out.”
Dax’s shoulders sank as if he’d just been deflated by Sebastian’s words.
“You make it sound so simple, Sebastian.”
His friend shrugged and steepled his fingers. “Love never is easy. I don’t know who thought it was, but he needs to stop spreading lies about it.”
Dax sank back into his chair, his empty whiskey glass resting on his knee.
It was several minutes later when Sebastian spoke again. “You know I wasn’t the only one summoned here.”
Dax slid him a glance. “What do you mean?”
“Upon my arrival I was greeted by two rather spritely young women, one of whom came bearing a sharp tongue.”
Dax raised an eyebrow. “I can only assume they are sisters to my wife, and the sharp tongued one was likely to be Johanna.” He could readily recall her parting words of warning after the wedding.
Sebastian’s brow furrowed. “No, I do believe this one was called Louisa.”
Dax struggled to recall the quiet, nearly cherubic sister as she had been nothing but sunshine and flowers at the wedding, spouting happiness like a fairy trailing twinkling lights.
“Louisa? Are you sure?”
Sebastian shifted uncomfortably. “Quite sure.”
Dax could only shake his head. “If she’s asked her sisters to come, it doesn’t bode well for me.”
“How is that?”
Dax remembered what Eliza had said of her family. That no matter what happened she always had her sisters and her brother. For the first time, Dax understood and may have even envied her that.
He considered Sebastian and knew that at least he was not all alone in this. “Do you think I shouldn’t still apologize?”
Sebastian moved only his eyes as if what Dax had said was preposterous.
“Oh, you will most certainly still need to apologize, but it will not be enough. Haven’t you already apologized for the matter of calling your marriage a farce?”
Dax cringed. “I was thinking the same thing. Why should she believe me again when I continue to betray her trust?”
“Because this time you will show her you mean it with a gesture that says as much.” Sebastian grew quiet as if collecting his thoughts. “You do mean it, don’t you?” he finally asked.
Dax studied his friend as the rain continued to pound the roof above them. There in the quiet of the hunting cottage he knew he was safe to admit any truth, and Sebastian would take it no further. So Dax admitted the thing that could hurt him most.
“I do mean it. I love her, and I must find a way to prove it to her.”
This seemed to satisfy Sebastian as the tension melted from the man’s shoulders.
“Then you’d best come up with something astounding because your wife will have reinforcements in the way of her sisters.”