‘Should you be out of bed?’
Sebastian took hold of the drip stand awkwardly in one lightly bandaged hand and began to walk towards her, feeling her eyes on him and knowing what she saw when she looked at him. It had been there in her face in that unguarded moment—he had become a man with a ruined face, someone to pity, someone she would soon learn it was her duty to be with, to lie in bed with even if inside she felt disgust.
And Sabrina would never turn her back on her duty.
He turned away as he felt the fury and outraged pride rise in him.
‘Well, as you see, I am. The surgeon is apparently due to arrive in...’ He glanced towards his wrist and swore, then swore again as he banged the drip stand into the table positioned at the bottom of the bed.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing is wrong. I’ve left my watch in the bathroom and this thing is—’
‘I’ll get it.’ Sabrina moved past him into what was little more than a cubicle, clean but utilitarian with a basin, lavatory and shower.
‘How are you feeling, really?’ she called out as she lifted the metal-banded watch from where he’d left it on the edge of the washbasin.
‘Pretty much the way I look. Maybe under the circumstances pretty is not the right word.’
The bitterness in his voice made her pause; he could not blame her for what had happened any more than she was blaming herself. If she hadn’t run away from her responsibilities her sister and Sebastian would have read about the pile-up in the newspaper.
‘The scar will fade, you know.’ It sounded like a platitude and one it seemed he had no intention of responding to. Taking a deep breath, she prepared to go back and face his pretty justified anger when the sound of a new voice made her pause.
‘Outside, all of you!’
Poised on the point of walking out of the small bathroom, Sabrina instinctively shrank back into the room. The voice was unmistakably that of King Ricard.
‘I thought you’d had a heart attack, Father.’
‘A slight cardiac incident, that’s all,’ she heard the King correct. ‘You look like hell. What were you doing on that road with the Summerville sisters?’
‘Going for a swim.’
‘Do not t...t...try me, Sebastian.’
‘Shall I get that nurse back in here?’ No sarcasm this time, but concern roughened the edge of Sebastian’s deep voice as his father wiped beads of sweat from his upper lip.
‘She’s a doctor, not a nurse, and no, it’s just overly warm in here.’
‘You didn’t need to come in person. You could have just sent flowers but I’m touched. I really am.’
‘Why is everything a joke with you? This is the sort of attitude that made it necessary for me to come in person. The news that you and the Summerville girls were involved in the pile-up has leaked—inevitable, but annoying. However, there is some good news. They have decided that you were a hero. Don’t look at me like that. I don’t care if you were not—this is the way people will see you.’
Her back pressed against the white-tiled wall, she could hear the satisfaction in the monarch’s voice. An image of her parents sitting beside her sister’s bed drifted into her head. The last thing they would be thinking about was how the media spun the story. While in the other room the King had not even asked his son how he was!
‘And that is all that matters, the perception not the truth.’
Her eyes widened. It was as if Sebastian had picked up on her own thoughts, though he sounded more warily resigned than angry.
‘Do not take that sanctimonious tone with me, Sebastian. You are not some innocent. The royal family is a product and it is our job to promote it. You are my heir.’
‘You make it sound so attractive, Father,’ she heard Sebastian drawl. ‘Has it occurred to you that I might say thanks, but no, thanks?’
‘You always thought you could do the job better than me. Now is your chance to prove it.’
‘Spoken like a true manipulator.’
‘So is there anyone in your life at the moment—a woman?’ From her hiding place the King’s deep sigh of irritation was audible. ‘Fine, it makes no difference, but if there is get rid of her. Later on if you are discreet I see no reason you shouldn’t enjoy liaisons, but until you are safely married I want no sniff of scandal. Getting her on side is going to take delicate handling after what your brother did.’
‘I thought I did not have a brother.’
The King ignored the interjection. ‘The Duke and Duchess,’ he continued, ‘have become very sentimental. Their attitude is most disappointing. I suppose with the other girl in hospital...but hopefully they will rethink in due course. However, as it stands, they say they are not going to force Sabrina to marry you. They say it is her choice. So it is your job to make sure she makes the right choice. It should not be too hard for you—she has a sense of duty and you have a way with women. Do I make myself clear?’
‘Crystal.’
From her hiding place she heard the sneer in Sebastian’s voice but his father seemed oblivious to it.
‘In some way, you know, this accident could be a blessing. It will keep the wedding story off the front page at least.’
‘Spoken like a true narcissist. Pain, suffering and loss—who cares so long as it’s useful for us?’
‘At least you recognise that there is an us... Finally. This royal business we are in, love is best kept out of it.’
‘You told me you loved my mother.’
‘And it never gave me a moment’s happiness. What do you want? Oh, for God’s sake...’
‘Five minutes, I said, Your Majesty.’
‘All right, just watch what you are doing with that chair. Sebastian, we will speak later. Do not say anything to the press until you have spoken to Hugo and if anyone calls you a hero try to look modest. Who knows? That scar might even be useful.’
Sebastian waited until the royal party had exited, leaving the original guards outside, and went into the bathroom. Sabrina was sitting on the floor, her knees drawn up to her chin, her back pressed against the tiles as though she had slid down them.
‘I am assuming you heard all of that.’
Sabrina lifted her head, pushing her hair back from her face with both hands as she angled a look up at him. There was a remoteness in his face that she found chilling.
‘So, I’m going to be passed on to the next brother.’
Who doesn’t want me any more than the first one did...
She recognised it was irrational, but for some reason this knowledge was far more painful to her than the humiliation she had suffered at Luis’s hands.
The belief that she was doing the right thing had enabled her to take a pragmatic approach to the prospect of a loveless marriage to Luis, but when it came to Sebastian being coerced into taking his brother’s reject, Sabrina couldn’t be objective. Everything inside her just shrivelled up with horror at the prospect of living a lie with Sebastian; she hated the idea of him resenting her and their life together.
How long would it be before he did as his father had suggested and had a discreet affair?