Marriage to a Mister (A Daughters of Regency #1) (10 page)

After delaying to her room to find her heavy woolen winter cloak, she had walked quietly down the hall, wondering what it could possibly be that Evan wanted to show her. But before she reached the back stairs, she heard her name. It came to her barely above a whisper.

She stopped and turned, finding him in a small parlor room, his dark silhouette contrasting against the unusual brightness of the room, the moon shining off the snow outside and reflecting on the walls.
 

He said her name again as one of his hands raked through his hair. Something about his voice and manner disturbed her. His eyes were hard and his jaw firm, his face ruddy, not only from anger but from the cold of the outdoors, from waiting for her. Her heart sank at the thought. She tried to explain, but he wouldn't listen. He never did.
 

He had rambled then, telling her he knew his efforts were all for nothing, the years he spent at school to make something of himself so he could have a chance to win her affections, all spent in vain. Her heart had soared at his declaration, but then came crashing down the next moment.

His voice was full of accusation, and he cut her down as he relayed what he'd witnessed — she and Edward kissing under the mistletoe. Evan had never known her to be so shallow, he never pegged her to be one to prefer the heir, he'd said, that she was the same as all the other feather-brained debutantes out to seek a fortune or a title, and that he regretted thinking her different.
 

And so she had shot back, her own pain overwhelmed by the shock of his words, and in her anger she compared the brothers. She asked him why she wouldn't prefer someone who could check his temper, who would never treat her the way he was treating her now, calling her names and assuming things about her character he knew not to be true. That Edward had always treated her with patience and care, and had never spoken thus to her.

Evan had walked away from her then, and she, regretting her words, called after him, but he ignored her and shut himself in his rooms. She had stood in front of his door, poised to knock but never finding the courage, when her father found her there.

She ran to her father's arms and he consoled her, and she promised herself the next morning she'd find Evan and explain. That she didn't mean it, that she never wanted him to be anyone other than himself, but that he needed to think of others too. All of her hopes were pinned on speaking to him but when she woke, Evan had left, leaving only a note saying he was returning to school.

The next season her father and her finishing governess had deemed her an age where it was inappropriate for her to frolic with the boys at Blackburn Hall, and they stopped visiting, only seeing one another at social functions during the season.

It was two years before she saw Edward again across a crowded ballroom. His mother, her sponsor, had reacquainted them, but by that time he had become Lord Ravenbrook, and she, Lady Fleur.
 

As for Evan, she hadn't seen him since the night of her sixteenth birthday. Later as she grew into a young woman, she finally understood everything she couldn't understand then, that neither one of them in their immaturity knew how to handle their feelings or their families' expectations. That Evan was afraid that if she married into the earl's family someday, it would likely be as Lady Fleur, Vicountess of Ravenbrook, and not as Mrs. Evander Woolf.

She leaned against the stucco wall, letting it hold her as her breath heaved. "What am I going to do?" she asked no-one, the night hiding her from everyone's gaze.

She felt like her whole world had stopped and centered on him when she saw him again. When she heard him laugh, her heart had raced, and when he spoke to her at first, she was so relieved, she thought for one blissful moment that they would talk again as old friends. Then in one tiny moment, everything shattered.

He had been so hateful, so cruel. His was the same voice that once laughed with her, had sat beside her while they abused the piano singing silly songs to make Julia laugh when they were stuck indoors from the rain, the same voice that used to greet her daily.
 

Evan hated her. She knew it, she felt it deep into her very soul.

A sob rolled through her, and she held her breath to stop it. Once she had control, she let it out in one shuddering breath. "What's the matter with you? He left you ages ago. You do not need his approval nor his company," she whispered to herself. Her anger flared and then quickly subsided when she realized Julia would come for her any moment.
 

As she walked below the upper veranda, not far from the ballroom doors, she could hear the boisterous yelling and laughing of the young men above. They were talking animatedly and smoking cigars, and she wondered if it was the card room as it seemed to be rowdy enough and there were no ladies present.

She was just about to make her way back to the main door stairway when she felt something slam into her from behind, knocking her down to the ground and her breath away from her. Dazed, she looked up into dark eyes just before all hell and the devil broke loose.

***

Evan stormed through the halls of the Brockhursts' home before finding an exit to the side yard, needing a brisk walk and the cool night air to clear his anger. What had he bloody said back there?
Frightened Fleur?
Good Lord!

He had been a complete arse – no, he was worse than that, he was the one who was frightened. If any other man had dared to be cruel to Fleur in the manner he had just been, he would have drawn his cork right then and there.

Shamed, he stopped and threw his back against the wall as he leaned and looked up into the night sky, trying to understand himself. He saw her standing there with her sister, his wish of finding her coming true, and before he knew it, Nathan had walked up to the girls before he could stop him.

In that moment he felt uncontrolled and unrelenting jealousy. It had overwhelmed him, and thinking back on it, he couldn't say whether it was the thought of her marrying Edward or the scene of her speaking so easily to Nathan that did him in. Any and all good sense he had gained over the years left him and all he knew was he wanted to lash out at her.

He had repeated past mistakes without even a pause or a second thought, and the knowledge of it made him cringe. Like so many times before, he had let his emotions run away from him, and he exploded before running from her, leaving her to pick up the pieces he left behind. Would he never learn from his past mistakes?

He was distracted from his sulking when he heard laughter come from above. He lifted his gaze and saw Lord Brockhurst's youngest son teetering on the edge of the veranda in his drunkenness, only the railing keeping him upright. He snorted when he saw the man barrel into a few of the potted plants situated on the railing, sending them into a spin. His eyes couldn't help but travel to see where the plants would fall and what he saw made his blood run cold.

Evan looked back up just in time to see two of the pots sway dangerously. Without even stopping to think, he ran. He ran faster than he thought possible and blindly jumped a hedge. Just before he heard two loud crashes, he flung himself at Fleur, knocking them both spectacularly to the ground in a tangle of skirts and limbs.

When Evan lifted his aching head, completely disoriented from the hard landing, he couldn't tell what happened first. The ladies screaming around them, or the loud promises to kill him that came from above, or the shocked murmurs that he could hear from just inside the ballroom as people gathered at the door. He started to come around and shook his head trying to clear the fog when he heard someone cry out Fleur's name.

He looked over and saw Lady Julia with no fewer than three other ladies, as a small crowd started to form around them. To his right he saw his father's pale face and the Duke of Norfield barreling towards him with a face so red he thought the man might be choking. He followed everyone's eyes down in confusion only to meet a wide blue gaze.

It was then that Evan finally noticed he was lying right on top of the lady with her legs tangled about him and his hand so far up her skirts, he was touching the bare thigh above her stockings.

Evan whipped his hand out of her skirt and jolted backwards, falling onto his backside in the grass. He saw Fleur's face, burning with deep embarrassment, not unlike his own as he stood and backed further away.

Once he moved, Charity Preston and Julia ran towards her to set her skirt to rights. He didn't see much more, however, as a fist came sailing through the air, hitting him squarely in the jaw.

"Norfield, stop this. Julian, no!" Evan heard his father say. He touched his hand to his lip, blood seeping through his fingers and looked up to see his father and brother holding steadily onto a very angry duke.

"Papa, please stop. It's not what it seems," he heard Fleur say, trying to cut through her father's angry fog.

The duke looked her over, and satisfied she wasn't hurt, began his tirade. "Not what it seems? Then what the devil was it that gave him cause to have you on the ground screaming?" he asked before turning to his own father. "I'll have your whelp's answer by God, Blackburn, or I swear I'll slap my glove in his face right now and meet him at dawn!"
 

"I say, Norfield," a blustering Lord Brockhurst interrupted. "Let's get the lady inside and then we can all discuss this rationally."

"Yes, Julian, let's all go inside. Think of your daughters, look how you've frightened poor Fleur." Evan heard his mother frantically say.

 
Lord Brockhurst broke up the small whispering crowd, sending them all back into the ballroom while Lady Brockhurst escorted them into the library, away from the onlookers and the gossip that was surely already brewing.

They were all there -- his parents and brother, and of course her father and sister. Even his cousins Felix and Dom were standing off to the side with a clearly upset Nathan. Evan looked over to the door when he heard it open, and Lord Brockhurst came in, breathing heavily from walking briskly, the excitement likely the most exercise he had in decades.

"Now, let's all stay calm and see what's happened, shall we?" Brockhurst asked, as the duke continued to glare at Evan.

Even knew what it
looked
like he was doing, he knew he should be careful with his next words, but that had never stopped him before, not when he temper was so far gone.

"Your brat is what happened, Brockhurst," he said angrily. "He was doing a drunken dance on the veranda and whilst doing so he knocked over two pots from the railing. I only reached Lady Fleur in time. One more second and they could have struck her on the head and killed her."

"Oh, I say." Brockhurst said, his mustachioed face puffing up as his wife ran over to comfort a shaken Fleur .

"Oh, you poor dear!" Lady Brockhurst exclaimed. "I shall make sure the gardener removes every pot from the railings, to think you could have been killed!"

Evan threw his hands in the air before placing them on his hips to pace the room. The absurdity of the situation made him even more agitated.

"Why the devil did you not say as much outside?" the duke asked. "And did you have to knock her clear down to the ground, her skirts above her ears for all and sundry to see?"

Evan stopped and glared at the duke while the ladies gasped at his words. "Why yes, you are absolutely right, your grace," said Evan, "Next time I'll just let the pretty little pot fall on her pretty little head while I decide how best to save her, shall I? Would that have suited you better, Lord Norfield?"
 

Fleur burst into tears then and buried her head in her sister's shoulder. He started to go to her, but the duke threw himself in front of her. Evan opened his mouth to argue again but his own father stopped him.
 

"Evan, that's enough," his father commanded. "Julian, it's clear that Evan was saving your daughter, not debauching her, and as you can see she is fine, though understandably shaken. I suggest you take her home, and tomorrow we can discuss what is to be done. In the meantime, Felix and Dom, along with the Brockhursts, will spread around the story, making sure to bury any suspicions of impropriety."

Edward moved from the side of the room towards him, speaking for the first time. "Evan, I think you should go home. I'll come fetch you when it's time to meet tomorrow. Nathan, you will escort him, won't you?"

"Yes of course —"

"I don't need a damned guard, I can take myself off!" Evan yelled at Edward, storming past him and yanking the door open. Nathan apologized to the ladies for his friend for what seemed like the hundredth time that day and quickly followed after him.

"Come, Fleur, Julia, we are leaving. I'll see you in the morning, Blackburn." Julian escorted his daughters out of the room, followed by the Brockhursts.

Lady Blackburn paced the room, much as her son had earlier. "Charles, what a ghastly nightmare. How could things have possibly worsened since this morning? I must go and find Lady Brockhurst. I love the dear but I need to know she is saying the right things. The woman could talk the ears off an elephant," she said before walking towards the doorway.

Felix stepped towards her, grasping her hand in his own. "No, Aunt, let Dom and I handle this. If you walk out there now you'll be ... just let Dom and I," he said, trying to calm her nerves and spare her the hurt she was surely to feel if she went out into the fray. "We will go and try to control some of the damage in the ballroom, and later we will even go around the clubs to make sure all is well and nothing untoward is spreading. I'm sure you will be announcing their betrothal on the first night of your house party, so why don't you let Uncle and Edward escort you home."

"But I really must —"

"Madeleine," said Charles, the use of her full name breaking through and drawing her attention. "Felix is right, we must let them handle it the best they can. If you were to arrive now they would pounce on you, demanding to know what your announcement would be and as we don't know ... that is to say ... we can't be certain of anything now, we need to talk to Julian first."