“I have some beef in my pocket, just in case,” he told her.
“You do not!”
He grinned, leaning in. “No, I do not. If I did, you might think me too strange to marry.”
“Never,” she murmured, closing her eyes as their lips met.
In the soft, tender press of their kiss, Evan saw his entire future spooling out before him in a way he had never before imagined. He saw joy and laughter and long summer evenings wandering in these gardens. He saw himself enduring all of the traditions she had spoken of and wondered if he might, perhaps, come to like the snow and the cold as long as he had her there to warm him. He saw the prospect of children, once a frightening thought, and sensed that it would only add to their happiness.
I will be everything my father was not,he hoped, catching her mouth with his, kissing her with the urgency of that promise.Thanks to you, my love, I will be free of his curse forever. He will never know us, he will never be welcome, and he will have to watch our joy from the periphery, never permitted to feel the warmth of the family we shall create together.
He could not yet picture himself back at Lisbret House, holding the title of Duke, but he had no doubt that, with Olivia beside him, that awful house, filled with so many terrible memories, would be transformed into a home. A place where no one would ever cower in fear again.
“Thank you,” he whispered against Olivia’s lips.
“For what?” she murmured back.
He smiled, kissing her harder, certain that was answer enough.
CHAPTERTWENTY
“Olivia!” Leah gasped, clasping the necklace at her throat as if it were a rosary. “You were told to rest, not completely ignore common sense! Are you certain you did not hit your head when you fell from your horse? It is the only explanation I can think of for this… worrisome news.”
Anna swayed on the spot. “She is in love, Leah. It is not worrisome in the slightest.” She pointed an accusatory finger at Leah. “You are merely worried because you might see Olivia and His Lordship being sickeningly happy, and you might start to want a love of your own.”
“I would have to be smacked in the head for that to happen,” Leah retorted, shaking her head.
Olivia and her friends were making their way down to the party, and though there had been ample opportunity to inform her friends of the previous night’s events while they were preparing for the celebrations, she had only mustered the nerve while they were about to descend the staircase. It had seemed like the safest location, being half in view of the household yet far enough away to avoid anyone else hearing. And none of them would have been shocked enough to throw her over the balustrade; she was almost certain of that.
“Did the physician give you something potent?” Matilda’s eyes were so wide that her eyebrows were almost at her hairline. “Might it be that that made you… kiss him?”
Phoebe laughed. “Let us not pretend we did not see this coming,” she said, weaving her arm through Olivia’s. “Curiosity caught you on its hook, and His Lordship reeled you in. The moment you told us you were falling in love with him, I knew it was over. The battle was lost already… or won, depending on how you view it.”
“You do not sound disappointed in me,” Olivia said, surprised. She had been preparing herself all day for the onslaught of outrage and betrayal from her friends, but the reaction was far gentler than anticipated, even from Matilda and Leah.
Phoebe shrugged. “Why should I be? You are a splendid woman with your own mind and heart; if they are set on His Lordship, what right do I have to be cross? Besides, I want the same for my sisters, and as you are an extension of my family, why should I not wish for your happiness and security, too? I will not be a hypocrite. But Iwillensure that he remembers how lucky he is, every time I see him. And if he should hurt you, Olivia…” She drew her forefinger across her throat, grinning.
“I will inform him,” Olivia promised with a shy smile.
Matilda made a strange sound, partway between a cough and a gulp. “But… you do know that if you decide this, there will be no recourse for undoing it, do you not? You were so vehement about not becoming like your mother.”
“I believe my vow, in that regard, will hold true even though I will be married,” Olivia replied. “Evan is nothing like my father, so how could I possibly end up like my mother?”
Leah wrinkled her nose. “I, for one, do not believe his story. Gentlemen lie.”
“Say that his story is true, and he is a gentleman of reasonable merit, a marriage to him might still go awry,” Matilda interjected. “You will not be permitted a divorce. You will, in essence, be just as trapped as your mother, but perhaps for different reasons.”
“Cease,” Phoebe said, while Anna nodded in support. “She has made up her mind, and it is not our place to scare her with ifs and buts and possible futures.”
Anna smiled. “After all, shemightjust be extraordinarily happy. The happiest lady in all of Christendom.”
One can hope,Olivia considered, as the five women continued down the stairs, following the lilt of sweet music coming from the ballroom.
There were already more than the promised thirty guests milling about the hallways and rooms, dressed in their finery, but no one had mentioned a surprise wedding or the attainment of a special license. It made Olivia wonder if there had been a mistake in that regard, not that she minded, for she rather preferred the idea of getting better acquainted with the man her heart desired. Perhaps, by the time theyactuallycame to marry, her budding love for Evan would have transformed into a true, fully unfurled love.
There he is…Olivia’s eager heart swelled as she looked ahead of her and saw Evan himself standing on the threshold of the ballroom’s grand entrance as if her thoughts had summoned him there. He smiled back at her, extending his hand long before she reached him.
“My dear Olivia,” he said, bowing his head as she took his proffered hand.
