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“Must you be so stubborn?” I asked.
“I trust only my people,” Evander muttered and lay back on the divan, swallowing slowly. “Do not allow strangers into my home again.”
“Next time, I shall merely leave you to die,” I scoffed and took a drink of brandy. “What happened?”
He did not answer, because he was Evander and seemed to care only about one thing. “How am I to make this up to her? I had just gotten her to speak with me, and not in anger.”
“When?” Then I remembered the recent gossip. “Ah, the dress shop. What makes you so confident she would have accepted you had you not been delayed?”
He did not answer, which was troubling. Instead, he said, “She would have accepted me because she loves me still.”
I laughed, pulling up a chair. “If only we could bottle your ego, for it is stronger than all of the brandy in the world.”
“You mock us unfairly,” he muttered.
“I mock only you, and you give me no other choice,” I stated and drank once more.
“Can you not just support me as you once did?” He groaned, shifting to his other side.
“With blind loyalty? Never. Evander, please let my sister go. I do not want her involved in whatever this is. Women need reliability.”
He chuckled and opened one eye. “Never would I have thought you to say something like that.”
“Yes, some of us grew up,” I scoffed, looking at the bottle in my hand. “You have a sister, and a younger brother who could come into control of your estates should something happen to you. Surely, you would not like to hand such a victory to your stepmother.”
“That woman and her children are my curses,” he sneered. “Am I mistaken, or was she at your home?”
“You are not mistaken.”
“Your mother did not kill her?”
“She did in every way but physically. My mother called her a pig, as well as being ill-bred and tarnishing the very clothes she wore. She left the dowager standing there in front of all the ton, dumbstruck.”
Evander laughed outright. “I did not think I could regret missing tonight any more than I already did. Your mother has always been my heroine.”
“At a great cost to the rest of us, I might add,” I shot back bitterly. “I often wonder what sort of friendship inspired such deep loyalty that it superseded your mother’s passing and moved on to her children.”
“The irony of you asking that when here you are, my loyal friend.”
“I am most definitely no longer your friend!” I declared, pointing to him. “As I said, I am merely a—”
“A Good Samaritan? Yes, I heard you. In fact, your voice is still very much ringing in my head. You certainly can yell.”
“I see you truly will survive, for you have returned to being a nuisance.”
“We will be brothers again, so it is best you get acquainted with the feeling once more.” He grinned and closed his eyes.
“I hope my sister shatters your heart.”
“She does every day when I awake and see that she is not my wife.” That was the last thing he said before succumbing to his exhaustion.
Love’s greatest fool.
Aphrodite
“Where is Damon? Is he not yet awake?” Father asked as he came to the breakfast table and walked to the head chair.
“Not so loud, my love,” my mother whined, waving him to sit down.
