Chapter Text
“A young lady would never do something as crass as chew gum, let alone pop it with such a crack.”
Molly resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Here she was, the daughter of a Lord, getting etiquette lessons, and all she wanted to do was leave. Run far far away. This was such a stifling life, it really was. And she was about to debut to the rest of society and bugger it all, there was no point! It was a modern day, a modern age. The aristocracy could stuff itself.
She elected to simply sigh and look out the window. There was a gardener who had the most exquisite build, with a shock of ginger hair and a piercing gaze. But it wasn’t a bad sort of gaze, not really, more like he saw the truth in things. Maybe he saw the truth in her, that she wanted...more. She wanted a life that was free, like the birds she admired in the sky flying to God knew where.
He was there, working on the hedges with a vest on, and she licked her lips. He had a broad back and nice muscular arms. Her sisters, if they weren’t married off, would have tried to seduce him. Somehow, though, she had the feeling Sebastian wouldn’t have given them the time of day.
Not like he did her.
She never treated him like the downstairs staff, though that was what he was. She treated all of the “downstairs riff-raff” with kindness because they worked hard. She took after her father in that regard, she supposed. He was fairer than most, even though their fortunes had turned and they’d had to lay off staff after the war. He gave them all something for severance, good recommendations and enough to make sure their families didn’t starve for at least a time from their own stores of food.
She just hoped if they lost more staff Sebastian wouldn’t leave. Who else would she talk to about philosophy and science and all the things girls weren’t supposed to be interested in? Her sisters may have wanted the empty life of heiresses but she? She wanted more.
As if he knew she was thinking about him, Seb looked up to the window she was sitting at and then winked. She smiled at him but didn’t wave, not wanting to risk her tutor’s attention to her lack of attention. Seb moved his hand up and down in the motion of a wave, and she nodded to let him know she’d seen him. Tonight, swimming lessons again. Good.
“Margaret!”
She jumped in her seat and turned back to her tutor. Tonight there would be fun. For now? Pure, unadulterated boredom.