Yet, those thoughts, those feelings, those pleasant desires kept coming back, undeterred by the retribution. She liked to think it was merely the lingering gratitude of him saving her, and it would soon fade away, but for the time being, she could not trust herself to be around him or alone with him. As soon as she got down from this horse, she would never permit them to be by themselves again.Thatwas far more dangerous than any fall from a rearing horse.
“Olivia! My goodness, Olivia!” A frantic quartet raced toward her, waving their arms and crying her name.
Evan leaned into Olivia, whispering close to her ear, “I believe this is where I must take my leave.” To prove his point, he slipped down from the saddle and raised his arms to receive her. “I will catch you,” he told her in earnest, his eyes swimming with that same sweet longing that had left her so disarmed.
Aware of her approaching audience, Olivia tipped forward off the saddle and into his arms. His hands settled upon her waist for just a moment before she was on solid ground once more, and he was stepping away from her.
“You should rest,” he said to her. “I will have a physician sent for, and I have no doubt that my aunt will be furious with me. If you must attend our engagement celebrations wearing a sling, she might never speak to me again. Indeed, she might call the entire thing off in order to punish me.”
He flashed her a wry smile, and with that, he took hold of the reins and began to lead his horse toward the stables. Olivia watched him go, her heart following him.
“Are you well?” Matilda reached Olivia, observing the makeshift sling with an expression of guilt. “Where have you been? Everyone else returned hours ago!”
“We were about to summon every able-bodied person in the manor to look for you!” Phoebe concurred.
“We thought you were dead!” Leah cried.
Meanwhile, Anna smiled. “I had a feeling you would return safely, but no one believed me.” She cast a subtle nod toward the retreating figure of Evan. “Call it a hopeful guess.”
Olivia could not look Anna in the eye, dropping her gaze as she clasped her good hand to her chest, pressing her palm against it in the hopes of slowing her thundering heart. Anna could see it. Anna knew. Somehow, Anna already knew what Olivia could not admit: she was falling for Evan… and if she gave into that feeling, she would be doomed to suffer far more than a wounded wrist.
CHAPTERSIXTEEN
“Quite the filly you have captured, Thorne,” a voice declared as the gentlemen sat in the hunting lodge, sipping brandy before dinner. The scent of forest and horse was thick in the parlor, the men exhausted from the day’s futile hunt.
Evan snapped out of his daze, his mind all the way across the lawns and gardens to wherever Olivia was recuperating. “Pardon?”
“I said, what an interesting woman you have found yourself betrothed to,” repeated one of the gentlemen closest to the fire. Peter Oxton, a school “friend” of Evan’s, whom he had never actually liked. Indeed, several times, Evan had thought about scapegoating Peter for the gossip and rumors that miraculously found their way into society about him.
Evan shrugged. “Are not all women interesting, in their own way?”
“Come now, you know what Oxton means,” another gentleman, Lord George, interjected. “The girl was wearing trousers, for heaven’s sake! Is she quite well? Is there a history of… peculiarity in her family? It is important to know such things before marching down the aisle to your doom, Thorne. If I had known about my wife’s mother and her weak heart, I would never have married the girl. The last thing you want are weak sons, and my boy is proving to be a feeble creature indeed.”
Evan rankled at the gentlemen’s coarse tongues, but it was another man who jumped in before he could say a word of defense toward Olivia.
“She is one of those ‘modern’ harpies,” said the older gentleman, whose name and face were utterly unfamiliar to Evan. “My daughter told me of her before I arrived. She is infamous, by all accounts, for being a member of ‘The Spinster’s Club’. I doubt I need to venture into great detail about what manner of degenerate she must be, to be involved in such a thing.”
A rumble of disgruntled assent made its way through the lodge, spiking a swell of protectiveness through Evan’s chest. Here were these embittered men, casting judgment on others while denigrating their wives and children, all thoroughly depressing in terms of company. What right did they have to comment upon a lady who sparkled with such life and had more courage in her little finger than any of these gentlemen?
“She almost caught the boar,” Evan said, waiting for the reaction.
It came in a wave of shocked gasps and disbelieving remarks muttered under sour breaths.
“I saw it with my own eyes,” Evan continued. “She almost had the beast, and likelywouldhave captured it, if I had not charged in obliviously. I did not know she was there, you see, for she was hiding in the shadows, luring the boar to a snare. The trap was mere seconds from springing, but I spooked the creature.”
“That is precisely like a woman,” Lord George muttered. “They are too soft for such gentlemanly exploits. No man would bother to snare a boar. I assume she was merely holding that rifle for show; women do not know how to shoot. I am surprised she was even able to keep her seat upon that horse.”
The gentlemen did not know about Olivia’s wrist, nor did Evan feel inclined to inform them of what had happened. Yet, he could not explain the sudden urge to champion her with everything he possessed, even at the risk of losing the respect of the gentlemen around him, either.
I do believe I care more for her opinion of me than theirs,he realized with a smile and a warmth that spread through his chest like honey. At that moment, he wanted to return to the manor and see how Olivia was faring rather than pretending to enjoy the company of those around him. But he stayed put, knowing his aunt would not like him offending her guests. He could not disappoint her—after all, she was the one who had brought Olivia into his world.
“I hope that we may often ride through the countryside together, when we are married,” Evan said defiantly. “She has excellent horsemanship, and I believe the only reason she attempted to snare the boar was so she could bring it back here alive, as undeniable proof that she caught what you could not, and that she caught it without killing it. A far more difficult challenge, I am sure you will all agree.”
The gentlemen stared at him as if he had taken leave of his senses. All but one. From across the room, Daniel smirked as if he knew a secret and flashed a discreet wink in Evan’s direction as if to say,“I could not be prouder of you.”
Evan had not mentioned anything of the conversation he had overheard between Olivia and his cousins, but something in Daniel’s expression suggested that he knew. A satisfaction of sorts, as if he had been proven right.
* * *
