It was a tedious, brandy-filled hour before Evan finally managed to catch Daniel alone to delve deeper into the strange, knowing look he had seen upon his cousin’s face. Daniel had stepped outside for some “fresh air,” and Evan had promptly followed, knowing the signal.
“They are right, though their words are… unsavory,” Daniel began before Evan had caught up, the former treading into the cool shade of the forest where they would not be overheard.
Evan frowned. “Whatever do you mean?”
Daniel thumbed back at the hunting lodge. “The gentlemen in there who are soothing their wounded pride with liquor,” he explained, grinning. “My mother has matched you with quite the lady. I doubt I have ever encountered anyone like her, but I would hope for nothing less for my dearest cousin. She is tremendous.”
“You are lying,” Evan replied. “You have traipsed all across the Continent; I find it very unlikely that you have never encountered someone like her.”
“I promise, I am not flattering to deceive. She is, perhaps, an amalgamation of ladies I have met, but that is what makes her so unique. Why, I wish I could have a portrait commissioned, perfectly capturing the horror on the faces of those men when she dropped her cloak.” Daniel’s eyes lit up with mirth, and Evan could not help but share in the amusement. He, too, wanted to keep that memory in complete clarity forever, to cheer him in any solemn moment.
“You sound as if you admire her,” Evan said, hoping to gauge if there was more in Daniel’s reply. He could not have suppressed his anger if Daniel had remarked upon Olivia in any way that seemed flirtatious.
Daniel laughed. “I thinkyouare the one who admires her, likely more than you care to admit, even to yourself.” He paused, turning serious. “I might have journeyed far and wide, but what I saw upon your face when you looked at her was something a man could search the entire world for, and never find. And when she spoke of you, in return, I knew my mother had conjured something magical by making this match.”
“She spoke of me?” Evan sniffed, pretending he did not care, pretending he was not moved by every word his cousin said.
“I know you were eavesdropping in the library, cousin,” Daniel replied, chuckling. “I would know even your softest footfalls at thirty paces, after so many years of us trying to scare one another senseless. I would never rest easily again, even in the farthest reaches of Spain or Austria, if I had not trained my ears to prick up at the faintest noise. All because of our foolish, glorious games.”
Evan sighed. “Yet, this is the grandest trick that anyone has ever played upon me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have never wanted marriage, I have never pursued it, I have never felt an ache to follow tradition. As you well know, I have adamantly desired the opposite, content to live alone, making myself so repugnant to the fairer sex that I would foreverbealone.” Evan hesitated, frowning. “And then,shearrived.”
“Someone was bound to find out the truth eventually,” Daniel said. “Feeding tall tales of rakish exploits to the scandal sheets and the gossipmongers was never going to be a permanent solution, especially without actual evidence. The fiction was always going to catch up with you.”
Evan expelled a tight breath. “But that is the conundrum, Daniel. She believes the fiction still, and I know she wishes me to sever the engagement because she is even less eager to marry than I am, but…” He trailed off, not knowing how to explain the knotted, tangled feeling in his chest, even to the man who was more like a brother than a cousin.
“You have realized that you want to marry her,” Daniel filled in the rest, not posing it as a question. “And now, you have no notion of how to proceed.”
A lump had begun to form in Evan’s throat. “Olivia will hate me if I do not end our engagement, but Amelia will smother me in my sleep if I do.”
And yes, I have realized that painful truth and cannot win either way,he added inwardly, for Olivia’s mind had been made up from the moment she arrived. Likely before. And though he only had to remember how close they had been in the woods, how earnestly she had peered up at him with her palms pressed against his chest, her lips slightly parted as if about to say,“Yes, my dear, kiss me,”to doubt her opposition, it was not enough to convince him, either. After all, in the end, she had pushed him away, though hewouldhave kissed her—he would not have been able to help it—if she had hesitated for just a moment longer.
“I think you might be surprised,” Daniel insisted.
“With whom—Amelia or Olivia?”
Daniel smiled as if his cousin already knew the answer. “I say let nature take its course.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Continue as you are and see if she seems as determined to end this engagement,” Daniel replied. “As I said, I think you might be surprised. She might be, too.”
Evan puffed out a breath; he had always hated surprises.
CHAPTERSEVENTEEN
“This might be the perfect excuse,” Matilda urged, pacing back and forth in front of the bedchamber window, tapping her chin as she thought aloud. “Tell your mother that you must have the immediate attention of your family’s physician, and that you cannot hope to continue with this charade while you are in such pain. Anyone would understand, and once you are back at home, you need never return.”
Olivia held her sore shoulder. “A physician has already been sent for.”
“But notyourphysician, not someone trusted by your family,” Matilda replied.
For what felt like an eternity, Olivia’s friends had been talking in circles around her as she stared into the distance, feeling only a dull ache in her arm. Indeed, that was the first time Olivia had spoken in a long while after she had explained the circumstances of her injury and assured them all that she was quite well. She could tell they were worried; Matilda only paced when she was fretting.
“It is no good,” Olivia admitted quietly. “The sickness that has taken hold of me is far greater than any sore arm, and it is something a physician cannot remedy.”
