As Ellis neared the table, Sebastian snatched his stack of money and pushed to his feet.
“Where are you going?” one of his competitors asked in a harassed tone.
“Away.” He ignored the protests, brushed past Ellis, and stalked from the card room. He made it halfway down the corridor when a door closed behind him.
“Thorne, I would like a word.” It was Ellis.
Sebastian came to a halt, his fingers curling into a fist. The sounds of muffled music and laughter beyond the double doors at the end of the corridor reached him. He should keep moving. If they came to blows at a ball, Sebastian would only make things worse for Eve and Mother. Instead, he turned to face his adversary.
“Lying. Traitorous. Jackass.” Sebastian bit out each insult. “There are three words for you. I think they all fit.”
The muscles in Ellis’s jaw bulged and fire flared in his eyes, but the earl doused the flames. His smile was grim and forced. “I could say those words fit you as well, but I promised Gabby I would mindmy manners.”
“What do you want?”
Ellis took a step toward him, his footfall silent on the thick Turkish carpet. “My wife suggested we try to make amends.”
“Has your bollocks in hand, does she?”
The earl’s brows dipped low and he crossed his arms. “I refuse to exchange insults. I only meant to tell you I didn’t intend for matters to end badly for you.”
“Are you trying to say you are sorry?”
“For doing what I did? Never. I need Gabby as much as the air I breathe.”
Sebastian scoffed. “The chit has turned you into a sap.” He continued toward the ballroom, dismissing Ellis.
“I’m sorry for what my actions did to you, my friend.”
Sebastian paused with his hand on the door handle. The word friend was bittersweet. In all his years of competing with Ellis, Sebastian had never realized the earl was the only real friend he’d ever had. Now there was nothing but anger in Sebastian’s heart.
“I want to help,” the earl said.
“I never needed your help, and I don’t need it now.”
Ellis’s assistance had made his life hell years ago at Eton. When the earl had intervened in a fight between Sebastian and three older boys who had been tormenting Sebastian since his arrival at the school, he thought he’d made a lifelong friend. Then Ellis hadn’t arrived at the stables the next morning to ride with him as planned. The bullies had ambushed him. Their leader had taunted him. Where is your wet nurse, Thorne?
No one else had been in the building. Not even a groom could be found. The biggest one had smacked a riding crop against his meaty palm. Ellis won’t be here to save you today. He has better ways to spend his time.
Sebastian took a beating like he’d never known that day, and the attacks increased in intensity and duration over the next few weeks. He had lain in bed at night with the taste of his own blood feeding his desperation. He couldn’t stop fighting back. If he had, he would have always been seen as a victim in need of rescue from the heroic Anthony Keaton. Sebastian’s only hope had been to become better than Ellis.
At fisticuffs. At riding. At anything and everything.
Eventually, Sebastian established a reputation for fighting like the devil’s spawn, and the other boys began to give him wide berth and grudging respect. By the time he no longer needed to prove his superiority over Ellis, challenging the earl had become a game. One Sebastian enjoyed playing and winning until Gabrielle.
He met his former friend’s shuttered gaze. The sting of betrayal was as sharp as the moment Sebastian learned Ellis had run away with Gabrielle. As hurtful as the day the earl hadn’t come to the stables as promised.
Sebastian would be a fool to trust the man ever again. “Bugger off.”
Eight
Helena was ashamed to admit she was hiding from Lord Thorne. In the ladies’ retiring room, of all places. It was the one place she felt certain she wouldn’t bump into him again.
Unfortunately, one could only do so much primping before earning curious stares from the retiring room attendant. Helena glanced up to catch the young woman goggling her in the looking glass for the third time. The attendant averted her gaze.