Wiggle Room

What's a man to do when he finds the perfect woman and seconds before he plans to propose she tosses him a bombshell that could see all his plans go to hell in a hand basket? In the case of Sebastian, what the man does is find some wiggle room. Here he is playing fancy footwork with the truth.

He wanted to play for time, but there was no time. If he procrastinated or explained she might reject him for his own good. Under all the chatter she was a virtuous woman and a kindly one. He couldn’t let her make that sacrifice. She was his perfect love in every way but one. Right. There was a way around it and he’d take it. It wasn’t a noble way but it wasn’t entirely selfish either. He’d be helping someone else. And besides, the alternative was losing his lady and that was not to be borne.

“Philippa, I have something I have to do. Call it a knightly horse lord duty.”

“To do with the gee-gee?”

“Exactly. I have to take him over there to arrange for a breeding.”

She looked perplexed. “You’re pimping out the gee-gee?”

“Indeed. There are so few steeds of his type that his bloodline has to be passed on with an appropriate mare. It’s something I promised when he was foaled.”

“I suppose it has to be a fay horse? There are a few likely fillies around here.”

“She’d have to be compatible, and he has to make his choice. I should have arranged this for him before, but you see…” He let the sentence trail off and continued as if the two were related. “You see, I have something to ask you and I was waiting for the perfect moment.”

He paused, breathing hard. He hadn’t lied. Not quite. That was the important thing. A little rearranging of the timeline and a little grafting of sentences wasn’t lying.

Sebastian's wiggle room lets him have his cake and eat it too, but it makes a heck of a mess of things for other people down the track.