Free Sebastian's Lady Spy by Sharon Cullen

her.
    Claire looked ready to argue, but Gabrielle was saved, or cursed, by the entrance of the two men. Nathan smiled at his wife and went directly to her side, while Sebastian nodded coolly at Claire and stood before the fireplace. Claire smiled up at her husband, then turned that smile on her brother.
    Gabrielle sat back and watched the brother and sister talk. While Claire joked with him, Sebastian’s responses were always serious. There were no smiles, no glimmers of humor in his eyes. Was Claire right? Had Sebastian forgotten how to have fun? Had the responsibility of raising his siblings warped him into a man who took the weight of the world on his shoulders? At times he truly did carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. The crown demanded much from him, as it did her, and sometimes that responsibility was suffocating.
    Seven months ago he’d laughed, he’d joked, he’d let his guard down. Maybe, instead of their affair being an aberration, his behavior those three days was the true aberration.
    He turned to Gabrielle, and for the first time she truly saw the downturned lips, the lines of stress framing his blue eyes that no longer twinkled.
    “Lady Marciano, would you care to ride to the ball in my coach?”
    Ah, so he deigned to speak to her. And he wanted to speak privately, for why else would he invite her to ride in his coach, just the two of them.

Chapter 9
    Sebastian helped Gabrielle up into his coach and settled himself across from her.
    The silence between them was pronounced. Gabrielle couldn’t stop thinking about her conversation with Claire. Sebastian’s sister had shed new light on him, making Gabrielle question everything she’d thought. If his behavior those three days in Venice was the aberration, then maybe he was angry at himself for letting his guard down.
    She enjoyed some satisfaction at that thought. Had she torn down his walls those three days? Had she unleashed something inside him that he’d never allowed to be unleashed? If so, he’d had seven months to rebuild those walls even higher and thicker, which accounted for his behavior. That was fine by her. She’d breached those walls before, she could do it again. If she wanted to.
    The question was, did she?
    Because those three days had left scars on her as well. She’d slept with men before, all at the request of the crown and all for one mission or another. Always she’d kept a part of herself to herself, allowing the men into her body but never her mind. With Sebastian, it had been different. For all intents and purposes, he had been her first. The first she had allowed inside her mind. The first who hadn’t involved a mission or a case.
    Dare she say, the first to touch her heart?
    As much as she’d enjoyed those days and cherished them as she cherished no other memory, could she let
her
walls down enough to do it again, knowing that nothing could come of it? That in the end they would have to walk away again, to separate missions and separate lives?
    “And how have you been these last few days? I have to admit, I was surprised you didn’t call on me.” She gave him a pointed look and banished her thoughts. What good were they when he didn’t want to be around her?
    “Duty called.”
    There was that damnable word again. “Yes, my own duty called as well. We need to speak about that.”
    His head jerked up and he looked at her. “What does that mean?”
    “Come now, Sebastian, you’re not the only one who has been working hard. I’ve not been sitting around waiting for you to grace me with your presence. Did you truly expect me not to do my job?” His face was granite, and she feared she would never break down those walls. He had taken one of the operatives’ commandments to heart, apparently.
Don’t let emotion get in the way.
“You complain that I’m useless, so I make myself useful, and now you’re irritated that I’ve done so. Really, Sebastian, you are vexing.”
    “You should have told me what you