“Oh, mercy, that is good news.” Caroline huffed a strained breath like she thought she had ruined her cousin’s prospects entirely. “I was about to regret telling you what I have just told you.”
Olivia shook her head. “Do not regret it, dear Caro. I am glad that I know.”
Although, “glad” seemed like a somewhat obscene word after such a revelation. Olivia was not glad that she knew; she was devastated for Evan and the boy he had once been, seeking love but receiving only punishment and pain.
Having spent time with him, she would not have known that he had been through such a wretched period, for he smiled and laughed with ease, showing no sign that he had ever known anything other than a comfortable, charmed life. Yet, considering his reputation, Olivia wondered if that was where he had poured his troubled past.
Is the comfort and warmth of women how he has managed to survive his pain?It baffled her that she was even thinking of an explanation for such behavior, but she had seen how distress could affect people. Her mother, for one.
“Are you well?” Caroline asked nervously.
Olivia put on her best smile and cast it toward the sweet girl. “I am… pondering, that is all.”
“Do not tell Mama I told you,” Caroline pleaded.
“Of course,” Olivia promised, pretending to lock her lips. “I shall not say a word.”
Her heart, however, called to Evan, alone in his chambers with nightmares that must surely still hound him. And, as her heart began to ache on his behalf, she realized that she did not know how she was supposed to proceed with her scheme, knowing what she now knew. To add pain and torment to a man with a past like that, she was not sure she had it in her to be so cruel.
CHAPTEREIGHT
From the window seat in his chambers, Evan watched the two young ladies sitting on the low wall of the old fountain. He had tried to distract himself with other things—beginning correspondence, washing his face, changing into his evening attire, contemplating writing something in his journal—but each time, he was drawn back to the window, observing while simultaneously feeling like he was trespassing on something secret.
“What are you whispering about?” He longed to know, hopelessly attempting to read their lips. Every time he looked at Olivia’s lips, he could not concentrate, thinking of how they had parted slightly when he had kissed her bare hand and what they might feel like upon his own.
Just then, Olivia glanced up at his chamber window. Heart lurching, Evan threw himself behind the heavy velvet drapes, crouching low as if there were intruders in the manor, and he did not yet know how to proceed in chasing them off. In a way, he supposed he was not far wrong; therewasanintruder in the manor, and nothing he had done so far seemed inclined to make Olivia leave.
Slowly, curiously, Evan crawled back up onto the window seat, realizing that he must look quite ridiculous from behind. He peeked over the sill and stared down at the spot by the fountain.
The ladies were gone.
Evan breathed a sigh of false relief, his heart somewhat disappointed by the absence of Olivia. “I ought to take a nap. That will clear my thoughts,” he muttered, turning around on the window seat and sitting with his back to the pane. The cold glass soothed the heat that flared up the nape of his neck.
As he closed his eyes, enjoying the cooling sensation, an almighty thud hammered upon his bedchamber door. Evan jumped so hard it twinged the muscles in his ribs, his eyes flying open, wild and confused. Had Olivia come to confront him? Was she coming to tell him she was leaving? Was she about to yell at him for kissing her bare skin?
The door opened without his permission, and his aunt breezed inside, carrying a tea tray.
“You cannot long for this union that badly, Aunt,” he chided, catching his breath. “You seem to want me dead before any wedding can take place.”
Amelia frowned at him. “Pardon?”
“You, striding in after pounding upon the door like a woman possessed!” he shot back, still jittery.
Amelia’s frown deepened as she looked back at the door and then returned her gaze to him. “Oh, I suppose I was rather brutal with my knocking, but you sleep so deeply; I had to be sure you would awaken,” she explained, setting down the tray. “I thought you might enjoy some coffee to liven you up. This really is not the time to be napping—sweet Olivia might think you lack vitality or are sickly.”
“As you can see, I am not resting, though I was considering it before you frightened me half to death,” Evan grumbled, getting up off the window seat to partake in some coffee; he could smell it, wafting toward him like a lover singing him home.
Amelia chuckled. “Were you spying on her?”
“Excuse me?” Evan stared at her, aghast.
“Olivia and Caro went out into the gardens. I believe they settled somewhere right beneath your window,” Amelia replied knowingly. “And as you arebythe window, when you claim you were considering a rest, I have to wonder…”
Evan turned his back on his aunt and made a show of pouring himself a cup of the weak, fragrant coffee. “Why are you bringing me refreshments, anyway?” he murmured. “Now that you have bound me in the shackles of an engagement, have you truly nothing else to occupy yourself—is this what it has come to, performing the services of the staff?”
“Shackles?” Amelia sounded wounded, and Evan immediately regretted his tone. “Are you not pleased with her? You seemed to be so… enamored in one another’s company. Why, you did not cease smiling all throughout your game of skittles. Do not tell me I have misunderstood.”
Evan sighed and turned, holding his cup of coffee as a thespian gripped a necessary prop. “She is… too good for me,” he said after a moment. “Do you not think that she and Daniel would be better suited?”
