It was not the answer he had hoped for when he had come to call upon her. In truth, he had been counting on the fact that Selina would have asked Evelyn to join her for the final excursion. Not once had he supposed that she would be too busy, or too unwilling, to be part of it.
“You are, of course, referring to your upcoming nuptials?” he asked, aiming for nonchalance. “I remember Frances and Joan being rather frantic in the weeks before their wedding. Being unwed myself, I am often surprised by how much work goes into such events.”
Evelyn turned her face away to watch the clock on the mantelpiece, her jaw so sharp that he had a sudden impulse to run his fingertips along the line of it. And as his gaze wandered down the curve of her neck, he was struck by the same instinct that had almost overwhelmed him at Ashcroft: a yearning to kiss that smooth skin, all the way to the peak of her shoulder.
“Yes, exactly,” she mumbled in reply.
“You must be excited,” he said, frowning, searching the profile of her face for answers. “Is it not the day that all young ladies dream of?”
Her eyes pinched. “There is too much to do to be excited.”
Again, it was not a clear answer, her vagueness frustrating him.
“Have you seen your betrothed much since your return?” he pressed. “I noticed he did not leave with you and your family.”
She swallowed. “No, tonight will be the first time since.”
“Are you looking forward to it? Are you to be married here in London?”
“Your Grace, I really must continue to get ready for the evening,” she said, her voice catching, a sort of terror in her face as if this was the last thing she wished to discuss.
“Is this what you want, Evelyn?” he said, intensely serious. “Is marriage to that man what you want?”
She twisted around to face him as though he had pulled her toward him himself, her pretty face draining of color, her dark blue eyes misting up. A strange noise sounded in the back of her throat, like she was trying to find words but could not force any of them to emerge.
“Please, Your Grace, just go,” she managed to say, at last.
“I will not go until I hear your answer,” he replied sternly. “Is this what you want? Is the baron what you want? Is this the future you have truly accepted for yourself?”
Her breath hitched, her face falling. “Please, Your Grace, I need you to l?—”
“What is the meaning of this?” A harsh voice interrupted, as Evelyn quickly turned away again, dropping her chin to her chest.
Hugo shot a dark look at Matthew, who stood puffed and haughty, no doubt thinking he could avenge himself after his scolding in the Ashcroft woods.
“I came to pass on a message,” Hugo said coolly.
Matthew raised an eyebrow. “It takes this long to pass on a message?”
“It takes as long as it takes,” Hugo replied.
And I cannot go until I know.Although perhaps her pale face and her plea for him to leave had already given him his answer.
“My sister is busy,” Matthew said, puffing his chest a little more. “She has important matters to attend to, and you are disturbing that. My father might be too polite to tell you to leave, but I am not. If you have given your message, you can go.”
It was an interesting conundrum that Hugo found himself in. Ordinarily, he would have the grounds to tell this impudent creature to watch his tongue and mind his manners, but things were rather more complicated when one was in said person’s home. Station did not matter as much as ownership, courtesy dictating that Hugo should heed whatever was asked of him in a household that was not his.
“There is still much that I must discuss with your sister,” Hugo replied. “When I am done,thenI will leave.”
If ithadbeen Josiah, or even Luke, perhaps Hugo would have been more obliging. But there was something about Matthew that he simply could not stand. A disgust that had begun to form within Hugo the very moment he had heard about the ‘jape’ with the toads.
“I have asked you to go,” Matthew shot back. “Are you intending to defy me in my own home?”
“With respect, it is your sister’s home too,” Hugo pointed out. “She should be just as free to hold a conversation within her own drawing room as you are.”
Matthew’s face reddened, flushed with the raspberry hue of swallowed fury.
Before the man could burst, however, Evelyn stood abruptly. Shaky hands smoothed over the silky fabric of her skirts, her shoulders pulled back as she turned and settled her gaze upon Hugo.
