Marriage to a Mister (A Daughters of Regency #1) (20 page)

Evan laughed. "Of course. I devoted so much time to sitting up here, Fleur too, when we were younger."

"I bet her father loved that."

"He didn't mind. We were but little things then."

"Is there a reason we are here now?" asked Nathan, daring to peek out the window once more.

Evan's fond memories faded along with his smile. "I just wanted to see the old place again."

"I think it's more than that."

Evan's head swung around, staring Nathan down. "I don't know what you mean."

"You do, you only have to discover it for yourself. Let us start with the fact you have been avoiding your wife for the past two days."

Evan snorted. "Have you been speaking to Edward? He said the same thing to me last evening."

"No, but it is not hard to see. I can understand, you know, it must be hard, to be thrown together with someone you were not previously courting, but you and Lady Fleur have so much history. Why is it that you run from her?"

"It's not so simple. We have history, yes, but that does not make it any easier, I assure you. If anything, it makes it harder."

Nathan shook his head. "I don't understand."

Evan looked out of the window once more, not sure he could help Nathan to understand, but decided to try.

"The first time I knew I was in love with Fleur I was standing right here, much as we are now. She was taking a walk with her sister and I was sulking, having wanted to walk to town with her like we always had before, but that time my mother had forbidden it. I was seventeen at the time and Fleur fifteen, and I suppose she was right, it had become rather inappropriate for me to escort her around alone and unchaperoned."

Nathan laughed. "I should say."

"I know, but at the time I thought my mother was barking, because who could ever suspect something between Fleur and me? We were friends, nothing more. But that day I secluded myself up here, and when I heard voices below I stood and looked out of the window, and I could see her. I still remember it so clearly, she was laughing at something Julia had said, wearing a lavender walking dress. I even remember the ribbon in her bonnet was white."

"Ah, you were definitely smitten."

Evan nodded. "Then Edward came upon them and she took his arm, as she had done many times before, mind you, but I was so angry and full of ... I'm not sure ... jealousy I suppose. I couldn't stand seeing them together. I could not speak to why I felt so bitter in that moment, but as the days passed I realized that I loved her. I didn't know how to handle those emotions."

"Did you ever confess to her?"
 

"I tried once."

Nathan gave Evan a look. "Perhaps you could elaborate?"

Evan smirked. "Fine, but you won't like it. It was little more than a year later and I was home for the holidays. It was Fleur's birthday and I had prepared a gift for her." Evan Laughed, remembering how nervous he had been. "I thought I was so clever, but really I was still too immature to handle my feelings. I was going to tell her that night that I loved her and propose marriage, she was but sixteen and I nearly as young. I knew we would have to be patient to actually exchange our vows, but I could not wait to ask her. It would had been wiser if I had."

"My God, she refused you?"

"I did not give her a chance. I asked her to meet me here that night and I waited so long for her to come, but she didn't. It was freezing and I became worried, so I walked back to the house, and I could see her through the windows with Edward. He was kissing her under the mistletoe, innocently enough on the cheek, but everyone around them was cheering and making a fuss, and they were smiling at one another."

Nathan nodded, knowing that seeing such a thing as a love-sick youth would be soul crushing.

"What did you do?"

"I did what I always do, I became angry and we quarreled. I said horrible things to her, Nathan, and then I shut myself up in my rooms. The next morning, I saddled my horse and went back to university. I did not see her or talk to her again till the night of the Brockhursts' ball."

Nathan's brow furrowed and he paused, letting calm take him over lest he shout at Evan that he was a damned fool. "That was cold, even for you. Just think how devastated she must have been."

"Now you know why our past complicates things."

Nathan clucked and slapped Evan in the arm. "Are you finished?"

Confused Evan looked to Nathan. "What?"

"You said you came up here to sulk when you were younger, and now look at you, are you finished sulking yet?"

Evan shook his head, irritated. "Not quite. What would you have me do?"

"Woo her, you fatwit! You have to show her that she still means everything to you. She does, does she not?"

Evan gave a curt nod. "I would not know where to start."

"You start, my friend, where everyone else does, from the beginning."

Even huffed and whipped his head back towards the window. "That is impossible. She could never forget."

"It sounds to me like you are the one holding onto the past. Your negativity does neither you nor Lady Fleur credit. She is gentleness itself and no one could ever lead me to believe she is capable of holding a grudge. I am not telling you she won't be angry - you deserve, it you know - but she will forgive you. I'm certain."

"So I am just supposed to ask her for walks, take her on drives, bring her flowers, and confess my undying love and devotion?"

Nathan sighed. "If you had never met the lady before, what would you do?"

Evan thought long. He did not have any experience wooing ladies or the like, he only knew what other men did.

"Perhaps ... perhaps this evening I could ask her if she would like to walk in the gallery? Away from the others?"

Nathan smiled. "There, you see? A beginning."

Evan laughed and put his head in his hands, embarrassed. "I suppose it is."

"I am curious though. The gift you brought her for her birthday so many years ago, what was it?"

Evan placed his hand in his coat, pulling a small silver watch from his pocket, handing it to Nathan. The edge was tarnished, and the colors dulled with age, but Nathan could see that the watch doubled as a miniature portrait of Evan himself, as he was when they went to school together.
 

"From the day I meet you, you have always fiddled with something in your pocket, and it was this all along?"

Evan nodded. "When I left for university, Fleur was quite upset. I had it commissioned while at Cambridge from one of the artists. Took my whole damn allowance for the year."

Nathan laughed, his shoulders shaking, his smile wide, as he handed the watch back to Evan.

"What is so funny?"

"Oh, nothing, just the fact that you have carried around a miniature of
yourself
for the past eight years."

Evan laughed and placed the watch back in his pocket. He looked over the grounds once more and felt more content than he had in a long time.

Nathan was right. There had to not just be a beginning between them, but something new, something that would not erase the past but help them remember the fond memories, not only the ones that held pain.

WOOING A WIFE

Fleur took a turn around the room with Charity while the others enthusiastically talked about tomorrow's plan to ride across the grounds to picnic in the woods.

She reached out to take Charity's arm in her own when she saw her friend blanch. "We do not have to go if you would rather stay. I can invent some excuse and you can say you do not wish to leave me alone."

Charity smiled but shook her head. "No, it really is silly. Who ever heard of an Englishman, or an Englishwoman for that matter, being afraid of horses?"

Fleur stopped and turned to her friend, grasping both of her hands in her own. "It's not silly at all. Charity, you lost your brother to a riding accident not even two years ago. It makes perfect sense to me."

"That is because you love me without question, no matter my faults or disagreeable temper."

Fleur laughed at Charity's mischievous smirk as they walked towards the far window in the drawing room. "You aren't disagreeable, not to me."

"Yes, well you and Julia have known me since we were children, though your sister hates me —"

"She does not hate you, Charity, she just doesn't know you like I do."

"Fine, then Prudence hates me. Don't deny it, I know she does. And I know it is horrible but I don't care one fig about what Prudence Wilson thinks of me. I don't have time to coddle her hurt feelings when I'm already five and twenty and no sign of a husband on the horizon."

"You have plenty of time—"

"Time is the one thing I don't have. Fleur, my father is ill, and the doctors say it is only a matter of one year, perhaps two before..."

Charity swallowed hard, blinking swiftly, and Fleur sat them down upon the window seat. "I didn't know, I'm sorry."

"Nobody knows. My father doesn't want to appear weak, but he is fading. I must find some kind of security before then, before my cousin inherits."

"But surely your cousin will provide for you, it's his responsibility —"

Charity laughed, a bitter sound caught in the back of her throat. "My cousin has, in a few short years, squandered his own inheritance gambling and racking up more debt than the estate can handle. He will ruin the estate and finally the family line. The Earldom will become penniless and along with it myself. Even my inheritance is in danger should he decide not to honor it. He knows I would not drag the family name through the mud with a suit."

"Oh." Fleur didn't know what to say.

"Prudence would laugh if she knew. I'll be worse off than she is in a few scant years. At least she can find work as a governess if the need calls for it, but who is going to hire an earl's daughter with no references or work experience? I will be a laughingstock."

"You do her an unkindness. Prudence would never laugh at someone's misfortune. Besides, I would never let you suffer such a fate, and neither would Julia, Phoebe, or even Prudence."

"You must not tell them, Fleur, promise me?" Charity said quickly, looking around the room as the men made their way inside.

Fleur gripped her shaking hands. "I promise."
 

Charity put on a smile for the room, straightening her shoulders and looking around, her stiff and haughty protection back in place, her fan out and waving between herself and the rest of the room.

It was then Fleur understood how tired Charity must feel. First losing her mother then her brother and now her father. In that moment, Fleur felt lucky despite her own loss in life and love.

"So how is married life?" asked Charity, wanting to lift the concerned look Fleur was giving her.

"It has only been two days, so I cannot rightly say. I haven't even really had a chance to talk to him."

Charity's brow arched, her smile sharp. "As his wife he will have to talk to you eventually. You know I always thought you might marry into this family, though of course then I figured it would be to the elder brother."

Fleur thought to herself that her friend didn't know how close that came to happening.

Charity looked over at the viscount and saw him watching them. Her breath quickened, and she fanned the heat from her face. Finally able to tear her eyes from the his, she turned fully towards Fleur. "Look alive now, here comes your beloved, Mr. Carter, and one of his cousins. Which Woolf is that?"

"Felix," said Fleur, her heart quickening.

"And is he eligible?"

Fleur laughed. "Charity!"

"What? Time is of the essence, remember?" Charity put on her most flirtatious smile and closed her fan. She knew she looked ravishing in her blue silk.

Felix walked straight to Fleur. "Ah, cousin, may I call you that?" He asked, not even pausing for an answer. "It is a bit dull in here, maybe you could astound us with a song? All ladies sing well, don't they? Or maybe play a jig for us, a dance seems agreeable."

Fleur sat frozen. "Oh, no, I don't sing at all, Mr. Woolf, nor play."

Felix waved her off. "Nonsense, of course you do."

Fleur flushed. She really wouldn't have to make a spectacle of herself in front of all, would she?

"Felix," Evan said, his face pinched. "Leave her alone would you? Fleur, you look a little warm, would you care to —"

"What if Lady Preston joined you for a duet? Would that be more agreeable?"

Charity, taking pity on her dear friend, intervened. "Mr. Woolf, I would be happy to play for you if the room agrees. Might I inquire if you have any musical talents of your own?"

"I have been known to sing a tune or two. Shall we entertain these poor clods?" he asked, holding his arm out for Charity to take.

She took his arm and stood. "Yes, let us do. Lead on, Mr. Woolf.

"Call me Felix, please," he said as he lead her away. "And may I call you Charity, Lady Preston?"

"You are very impertinent, Mr. Woolf, and are you not aware, sir, that you horrified poor Fleur back there? She did not even have a moment to make our introductions, as such we should not even be speaking."

Felix laughed, somehow feeling he had met his vocal equal. "I was trying to incite Evan's protective feelings for the lady, lest they dance around each other the rest of the summer. A little interference won't go astray."

"Unless the interference is interfering itself, again you are not aware, but he was trying to ask her for a walk. A private one."

Felix stopped walking. "Really?" he asked, looking back at his cousin, who was standing with his hands behind his back, looking anywhere but his wife. "That does not seem likely. Look at them. Perhaps we should go back, give him a nudge."

Charity huffed and held tighter to his arm when he made to turn. "Of course it doesn't seem likely
now
, he's lost his nerve, poor man. I beg of you not to try to help in the future. You are not very talented at matchmaking, Mr. Woolf."

Felix stood affronted. "I'll have you know I am the one who brought the happy couple together, Lady Preston. I'm brilliant at it, the best. Name two people in this room, and I will have them swooning over each other within a fortnight."