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Yes, this proposal suited the needs of all concerned.
Except Evie, who had, once again, made assumptions about Hunter’s behavior which simply were not true.
She lowered her lashes, knowing exactly what she had to do now. “I sincerely apologize for thinking badly of you.”
“Heaven forbid this morning should be different to any other,” he answered bleakly.
Evie winced as she looked up at him. “I really believed you were going to send Mr. Harker to the gallows.”
“I am aware of what you thought.” Hunter rose to his feet to cross the room in several long strides. He stopped in front of the window, his back to the room. “I really am not the monster you think me, Evie,” he said softly. “I now realize and accept I have been somewhat negligent in my dealings with you, but I do not believe I have been deliberately cruel.”
Guilt instantly swamped Evie’s emotions. As she was the daughter of the mistress of Hunter’s father, he might well have ignored his father’s request altogether five years ago and cast her out into the street to fend for herself. As a female aged fourteen years, there would have been only one way in which she could have done that.
She repressed a shiver. “No, you have not.”
“Unreasonable?”
“No.”
“Unfeeling?”
“No.”
“Forced you to wear rags?”
“No.”
“Deprived you of female company?”
“No.” Her voice warmed. She would have been lost without Lady Margaret’s gentle company following the loss of her mother.
“Provided no home for you to live in or food for you to eat?”
“No,” she confirmed heavily.
“Left you without an allowance to buy yourself pretty gowns and the baubles to match them?”
“No.”
“Then by all that’s holy”—Hunter turned, his expression one of barely contained fury—“what did I ever do to you to make you think I am such an unfeeling bastard as to send any man, let alone one who was forced to act unlawfully out of desperation, to the gallows?”
Hot tears stung Evie’s eyes. “I am so sorry,” she choked. “I did not… I should not have…” The shake of her head dislodged the tears from her lashes, causing them to cascade down her cheeks. She buried her face in her hands. “I am so sorry, Hunter,” she repeated. “So very sorry.” She began to sob in earnest.
* * *
Hunter resisted as long as he was able—which was not very long at all—before crossing to Evie’s side to take her in his arms.
She instantly melted into him, her arms wrapping tightly about his waist, her cheek pressed into his chest, her hair a soft caress beneath his chin.
To Hunter, it felt as if he was suddenly complete.
As if he had finally come home.
It was the first time he had ever felt such an emotion.
Oh, his houses and estates were all maintained and furnished for his comfort. But they did not feel like this. His current feeling ofbelongingwas unlike anything he had ever experienced.
Possibly because he had not realized until now that his home would not be made out of bricks and mortar but was another person. A single person. For him, it seemed that person was Evie.
