Chapter 26

The warmth of early sunshine poured in on Sebastian's face and he stirred, blinking drowsily. He smiled to himself, memories of the previous evening flooding in and making his body flood with delicious warmth. He rolled over.

"Eleanor," he whispered.

He reached further, and then sat up, a small frown creasing his brow.

"Eleanor?" he called. "Where are you?"

He looked around the room. An Oriental style screen covered with thin paper decorated with a design of plants and flowers stood in one corner. He used it for dressing and undressing if a servant was in the room. He sighed, guessing she must have retired behind the screen to dress.

"Eleanor?" he called again, slipping lightly out of bed.

He paused, waiting for some noise or some comment from behind the screen, bending to organize the chaos of discarded clothing on the floor while he did so. When nobody spoke, his frown deepened.

She was not in the room.

Sebastian tensed, at first thinking that some terrible thing had befallen her—perhaps she had been taken ill during the night, or she had slipped out to the privy and fallen. Wild thoughts flooded his brain, from her being injured falling off the balcony to bandits abducting her from the terrace, and he took a deep breath.

"She's surely fine," he told himself firmly.

His belief that he could hurt those he loved had gone too far, reinforced over the years by Papa and Aunt Tessa. Oddly, after the discussion with Aunt Tessa about the origins of the curse, he felt a little better. To say nothing of Eleanor's comment about no curse being able to override God's will. It made him feel a little less able to condemn all those he loved.

He dressed swiftly; his haste no longer inspired by fear but by longing. He wanted to find Eleanor and hold her close and kiss her again.

He chose a fresh pair of trousers and a clean shirt, then slipped his feet into a pair of lightweight indoor boots and hurried up the hallway.

A delicious smell of pastries wafted out of the breakfast room, and he paused in the doorway, stomach aching with hunger. Surely, Eleanor had come in for breakfast? His gaze moved swiftly to the three cups and plates laid out at the table—one for himself, one for Eleanor and one for Papa. None of them had been used as yet.

He glanced around, seeing nothing to indicate that Eleanor had been in there that morning, and then hurried to the drawing room. The butler was there, tidying things away.

"Good morning, my lord," he greeted Sebastian politely.

"Morning. Have you seen her ladyship?" Sebastian asked swiftly.

"She was here not ten minutes ago, my lord," the butler answered lightly.

"Thank you," Sebastian murmured. "Have you any idea where she might have gone?"

"None whatsoever, my lord," the butler answered honestly.

Sebastian inclined his head, feeling a little worried despite his resolve not to think of what harm might have befallen her.

He thanked the butler and hurried out.

One place he had not looked was the guest-quarters, where she had slept when she first arrived.

As he wandered up the hallway to the guest-quarters, he noticed that a door stood slightly ajar. He ducked in around the door and grinned, seeing Eleanor's shapely body from the back, slightly bent forward as she rummaged in a cupboard.

"Good morning," he murmured, walking up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist firmly.

"Oh! Sebastian!" Her exclamation was one of sheer surprise and he grinned to himself. "Good morning."

He smiled as she straightened up and turned to face him. He tightened his grip around her waist, drawing her close, her head resting against his chest. He reached up and stroked her soft, lovely honey-dark hair.

"Have I told you that I love you?" he said softly.

She giggled. "I believe you did," she said, lifting her head from where it rested against his chest. "And I believe I told you how much I love you, too."

"You did," Sebastian agreed, leaning down, and kissing her lovely, soft lips.

"Have you had breakfast?" Eleanor asked softly.

"I have not, yet, no," Sebastian admitted. "I must say, it was not the first thing on my mind when I awoke this morning."

Eleanor went pink, her blush shading her cheeks beautifully, making her green eyes seem to sparkle with warmth. "It was likewise not on my mind," she teased gently.

Sebastian leaned forward and kissed her again, holding her tight.

"I never want to hurt you," he murmured. "You didn't and you will not, I am sure," she said swiftly. He shook his head.

"I don't mean that," he murmured, cheeks reddening. "I mean..." he stammered, feeling silly about mentioning the curse following her wise dismissal of it the previous evening.

"You mean the curse?" Eleanor asked, looking steadily into his eyes.

"Yes," he admitted. "Yes, I mean because of the curse." He blushed again, looking down at the hearthrug where he stood.

"I think there is no need to worry about the curse anymore," Eleanor told him firmly.

"What do you mean?" Sebastian asked. For one moment, he thought she had somehow communicated with Aunt Tessa, who had told her about the charm, but then she smiled and lifted something out of the cupboard where she had been rummaging when he entered earlier.

"Look here," she said softly.

He frowned, widening his eyes to read what she was pointing at. Though the lamps on the mantelpiece were lit and the curtains were open, it was still not easy to see.

"Edward Montague," he read, frowning more deeply. He looked at her, puzzled.

"Yes. He was my great-great-great grandfather," Eleanor replied, as if that made any form of sense. "This copy of the King James' Bible belonged to him," she added, gesturing at the Bible, which she had closed. "It was one of the first in print after King James made the translation."

"Oh," Sebastian replied, feeling confused. "That's interesting."

She smiled. "I think that solves our curse."

"Our curse?" Sebastian asked, his brow creased again with yet more confusion. "What do you mean, sweetheart?"

"I mean," she said, her cheeks reddening again as he smiled at her, "that Edward Montague was my great-great-great-grandfather. And I suspect, if I am not wrong, that it was someone in his family who cursed the Thornton line."

"What?" Sebastian gaped at her. "How could you know that?"

It was her turn to look puzzled. Then she blushed and looked at her toes. "Sebastian..." she murmured. "I hope you don't mind, but I, well, I took something out of your coat this morning."

"Out of my coat?" He stared in confusion. "Which coat?"

"Your evening coat. You left it in the hallway," she explained, her cheeks still reddening. "I was tidying the hallway this morning, so the servants..." she trailed off and he nodded.

"Yes. I wanted to tidy, too," he admitted. She chuckled.

"Yes. I lifted your coat and I felt something in the pocket, and, well, I was concerned that it might be a note from the bank or something valuable—something you would not want left lying about as a temptation for the servants. So, I took it out. I couldn't help reading it."

"There was something to read in my pocket?" Sebastian asked, confused. There had been no letter in there.

"Yes. Wrapped in a square of linen like a handkerchief, but much smaller," she said, frowning at him in bewilderment. "You must recall it?"

"I..." he paused, then the memory flashed into his mind at once. "Aunt Tessa's charm!"

"Charm?" she asked. Her own frown creased in utter confusion.

"Yes!" He chuckled, suddenly beginning to understand. "Aunt Tessa gave it to me. It was a newspaper article—I didn't even read a word of it. She said that she thought it would keep you safe from the curse. She said she didn't understand why. She just knew it would help ward it off somehow." He stared at her, his heart soaring.

"She did?" Eleanor whispered; her eyes bright with tears. "That was so kind. And she was right. She was so right."

"You mean that it broke the curse?" he asked.

"If there was one," Eleanor demurred.

He laughed. "Yes. If there was one."

"Then yes," she said softly. "I think we did. We broke it, Sebastian. Our love broke it. It undid what was done in the past."

"Yes," Sebastian murmured. "I think only love can do that. As Shakespeare tells us, it is infinite, not bound by time or space. I suppose it can touch each corner of the Universe and heal it."

She gazed up at him and he smiled down at her and then he cleared his throat.

"You think it was him?" he asked, gesturing to the front page of the Bible. "Edward Montague."

"Yes," Eleanor said at once. "I think he must have laid the curse on your great-great-great-grandfather."

"It wasn't him," Sebastian explained. "It was his aunt."

"His aunt?" Eleanor looked confused.

He chuckled, enjoying the fact that he had at least one fact that she did not.Aunt Tessa had told the story well, and his own version felt less interesting as he told it, but he tried. As he told her, they fitted the remaining pieces of the story together.

Her great-great-great-grandfather was Edward Montague, who was the man in the article. It related how he had lost all of his fortune after an investment in the High Seas Shipping Company. The company was the one begun by the Marquess of Ramsgate, Sebastian's great-great-great-grandfather.

"So, my great-great-great-great-aunt cursed your great-great-great-grandfather," Eleanor said with a smile.

"Yes," Sebastian murmured.

She grinned at him. "And that's why Aunt Tessa thought the newspaper article could ward off the curse. Because it held the truth in it of where the curse had come from."

"Yes," Sebastian replied softly. "I suppose. Truth and Love together. I think no darkness can stand against such a light."

"Quite so," Eleanor murmured.

He gazed into her eyes, his heart flooding with love.

"I love you, Eleanor," he said softly.

"And I love you, too," Sebastian," she whispered.

His heart was aching with love, and he leaned forward to press a kiss on her lips.

"The curse is broken," Eleanor whispered. She giggled; eyes bright as she looked up at him.

"I know," Sebastian said in a quiet tone. "But I still worry anyhow. I cannot help it. I know childbirth can be dangerous."

"Well, you needn't worry," Eleanor said firmly. "I want to have lots of babies."

"You do?" Sebastian laughed joyfully. "Well, I cannot argue with such a scheme."

"Good," she said, her green eyes bright and teasing as she looked up at him.

"I would not dream of arguing," he said warmly, and kissed her tenderly on the cheek.

She giggled and he wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

They kissed.