“He has not insulted us, Father,” Luke shot back. “He has honored us, if anything, by falling in love with Evelyn. She will be a duchess, for goodness’ sake. If nothing else, you should be glad of that, though I am more heartened by the fact that he loves her! He loves her, Father. He came here this morning, ready to risk his life for her. What more could a father ask for, for his daughter?”
“The baron came too!” Josiah protested.
Miles cleared his throat. “I came so that I would not be declared a coward. I did not come here for Lady Evelyn.”
“What are you doing?” Matthew took a step forward, wearing the same fury as his father. “Get out of our father’s way.”
“I will not repeat myself,” Luke replied. “Evelyn has been a stranger in our household for nineteen years, since the night Mother died. She has been alone, she has been ignored, she has been unloved and uncherished, despite her attempts to get us to just be kind to her. We have been… awful to her, and I have only recently realized it. This is her chance at happiness, and I shall keep standing here until our father relents and finally,finally, allows her to have something good, to marry His Grace, where she shall never be alone or unloved or ignored again.”
Josiah’s eyes narrowed, though he lowered his pistol some more. “I have not ignored my daughter. How dare you suggest that I have been unkind, or that I have… neglected her.”
“What is her favorite book?” Luke asked sharply. “What is her favorite song to play on the pianoforte, that you have always griped about her playing? Goodness, what color dress was she wearing at her engagement dinner?”
Josiah froze as if he had been struck, his mouth opening and closing though no words came out. Hugo could almost hear the man’s brain struggling to come up with an answer to any of the questions.
“What color are her eyes?” Luke said, some sadness in his voice.
“They are…” Josiah blinked. “They are… Well, they are… the same color as yours and Matthew’s. They are… a sort of greenish blue.”
Luke shook his head. “They are the color of Mother’s eyes. Dark blue.”
“They are still blue,” Josiah retorted. “And how should I know what color dress she wore to the dinner last night? I do not pay attention to such trivial things.”
Luke barked a cold laugh. “It was your only daughter’s engagement dinner. You should know. It was not a triviality. Youdid not notice because you do not notice her.” He sighed. “Just let her go, Father. Everyone will be happier for it.”
“Please, Father,” a quiet voice said, as all eyes turned toward the narrow entrance between the bushes that surrounded the dueling spot.
There, drenched to the skin, shivering in the cold, her face pale and her hair plastered to her skin, was Evelyn.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
It was not that Evelyn had not trusted her brother’s insistence that he would keep Hugo safe; it was more that she had not trusted her father not to do something wretched.
She had heard them all leaving the townhouse that morning, through the cracked-open door that Luke had not locked. She had heard her father declare that Hugo would never trouble their family again, and that had been enough to make her mind up: she would follow her family to Hyde Park and stand in Hugo’s way if she had to.
But I did not have to.Tears welled in her eyes, hidden by the downpour, as she looked at her eldest brother. He had kept his promise and more. He had stood up for her when it mattered, using himself to ensure no harm came to Hugo.
“Evelyn, what are you doing here?” Hugo rasped, breaking away from the protection of Luke’s stance, running toward her.
A moment later, his arms were around her, his hand splayed above her head in a vain attempt to keep the rain from falling upon her face. She shook violently, wondering if she had ever been so cold in her life, but it could not stop the warmth from spreading through her chest as she pressed her cheek to Hugo’s chest, holding onto his wet lapels, pulling him closer.
“I could not let you risk your life for me,” she whispered. “I thought of Octavia, and how stricken she would be, and… I hoped to stop it before anything could happen. But I lost my way through the park. I had forgotten that it would be dark, and the rain did not help matters.”
“You silly, stubborn thing,” Hugo murmured, as he hastily shrugged off his sodden coat and put it around her. “You beautiful, foolish, stubborn thing.”
“Step away from her,” Josiah barked.
Peering around the peak of Hugo’s shoulder, she cast a fiery glare at her father, possibly the first she had ever dared to. “I love him, Father. It is him or no one.” She pressed tighter against Hugo, her hands finding fistfuls of his wet shirt instead. “Please, just permit me this one thing, and I shall never ask for anything else. I shall never darken your door again, if that is what you want. Just… let me marry the man that I love. Let me have what Mother had.”
It was a lie, for she knew that her mother had never loved her father, not in the same way that he had loved her. But she wastired of trying to do the right thing and reaping no reward, so if she had to bend the truth a little, then now was the time to do it.
Her father dropped the pistol in shock, a soft gasp slipping from his lips, heard even above the drumming of the rain. “What your… mother had?”
She nodded. “Let me marry Hugo, Father.” With a sigh, she peeked out a little more. “He loves me, as you loved her. I know I am being disobedient, but I never wanted to marry the baron. I agreed to it because you asked me to, because I thought it might please you. But… I should like to please myself, just this once. Give your blessing, Father. Please.”
Her father continued to stand with his hand slightly curved, as if he thought he was still holding the pistol. He did not seem capable of moving a muscle, his eyes flickering with every raindrop that struck, his mouth twisting as if there were things he wished to say, but could not. Mention of Evelyn’s mother had changed everything; she could see it on his face.
“Father, you are not seriously considering this,” Matthew hissed.
