“Of course, but that does not explain anything,” Daniel insisted. “What happened? Tell me, I beg of you, or I shall become quite mad with the frustration of it all. It is like a play one barely knows, spoken in a language one barely understands, and all the actors keep forgetting their lines.”
Evan mustered a tight laugh. “I never much liked the theater.”
“You never much liked anything until you met Olivia, so I ask again—why have you cast her aside so brutally?” Daniel’s voice caught in his throat, snagging Evan’s attention. It was the sound someone made when they were pretending they were not hurt, making Evan wonder if he had also wounded Daniel by absconding.
Is it because I did not seek out your counsel?Evan and Daniel had been one another’s confidantes for years, telling each other things they could tell no other. It stood to reason that Daniel might have been expecting a conversation, but Evan had fled too quickly.
Swallowing another mouthful of brandy for courage, Evan began to tell his version of the story, as it happened upon that hazy night. He told Daniel how he and Olivia had recently confessed to one another, pledging their loyalty and fidelity to one another, and how he could have happily danced all night with her, even if his legs had ached.
“She said there was something she had to tell me first before we continued. I was distracted, I was listening to the music fade, wondering if we would dance again,” Evan explained slowly, remembering as he spoke. “She claimed it was a delicate matter, pertaining to her father and mine. She wanted to explain something, but then… I saw him. My father. I lost sight of Olivia. All I saw was that man… and then, I saw who he was speaking with.”
Evan went on to describe the encounter with Amelia in the storage room, and how he had intended to leave the manor to draw in some fresh air, only to be apprehended by his father. He detailed, as best he could, what his father had said.
“In his own words, he told me, ‘I knew she would be the perfect choice to bring you to heel. She seemed to agree in that regard, and she has certainly done an exemplary job of enchanting you. Better than I could have imagined, in truth.’ Tell me, cousin, how I should explain that if Olivia was not involved in the entire scheme?” he concluded miserably. “It was all a ruse. She never held any affection for me. She was playing a part, and I… believed every deceitful word.”
Daniel huffed out an exasperated sigh. “You are a prize idiot, Evan.”
“Pardon?”
“You heard me.” Daniel shook his head. “Perhaps, you should attempt to explain to me why a renowned spinster—indeed, a lady who was proudly part of a club of spinsters—would join forces with your father to trick you into marriage? Moreover, according to Caro, this is a lady who despises her father, would do anything to disappoint him, and likely could not pickyourfather out of a very small crowd. Mother was quite insistent that your father had never met your betrothed.”
Fear prickled down the back of Evan’s neck; a sickening fear, ignited by the confirmation that, in some regards, he had mistaken the situation.
“I cannot explain your father’s words to you, but you were in the heat of a row with him. Nay, you had ignored him which, in his mind, is far worse!” Daniel went on. “Do you not think it is possible that your father was trying to rile you? After all, he cannot hit you any longer. He needed another way to make you feel small and vulnerable. Olivia would have been an easy weapon.”
Itwaspossible that those were his father’s intentions, but in the red mist of his anger and his hurt, he had not been able to see the obvious. Yet, hearing it summarized for him so bluntly by Daniel, Evan’s prickle of fear transformed into a stubbornness of pride. In a way, he did not want to admit that he had, in fact, hurt Olivia needlessly, for that was too awful a notion to bear.
“Why would she be ‘in agreement’ with my father if she was not somehow part of the scheme?” Evan replied tersely, his stomach roiling.
Daniel shrugged. “You would have to ask her, but as you charged off like a scolded child, you gave her no opportunity. You have admitted as much.” He paused. “Now, I suspect, she will not speak to you at all. Would you, in her situation?”
“Then, all is as it should be,” Evan muttered. “If you are right, if Olivia is innocent, then it is better for her not to see me again. If you are wrong, and she was involved, then the outcome is the same.”
Daniel shook his head. “If you truly believed that you would look more relieved, and less heartbroken.” He gestured to the bottle on the side-table. “And you would not be finding solace at the bottom of a brandy bottle. You have always declared you hated the taste.”
“I do, but I find the numbing qualities rather pleasant,” Evan replied.
“Because your heart is hurting.” It was not a question. “You have been foolish, but you cannot admit it, because if you do, that pain will double. You forget, dear cousin, I know you.”
Evan clutched his cup. “Perhaps, but neither of us really knowsher. You are making assumptions.”
“And you are not?” Daniel fired back. “You were… so,sohappy, Evan. You had what every man secretly dreams of, you were about to embark upon a joyful life, and you let your past ruin it all.”
“Says the man who never had a harsh word spoken to him,” Evan seethed. “You had a hero for a father, who loved you and cherished you and nurtured you. You still have a mother who would do anything for you and worries for you when you are away. So, do not speak to me of my past, all the way up in your ivory tower.”
Daniel leveled a hard gaze at Evan. “As you are in such a dire temper, I will forgive that. Yes, I was lucky, but that does not mean I cannot say what I see before me, when a misunderstanding is obvious. Nor does it mean you are exempt from being held to account when you have made a mistake.” He got up. “You are to return to Westyork with me, and I shall not be taking ‘no’ for an answer.”
“Do you have an army waiting?” Evan replied belligerently. The brandy had hit him, the acid of it reaching his tongue.
Daniel walked to the door. “No, but I shall fetch one if you do not follow me.” He paused. “You have five minutes, and I expect you to write an apology to the gamekeeper for what you have done to this cottage.”
With that, he stalked out, and in the cold shaft of daylight that streaked in, Evan saw the mess for what it was: a child’s tantrum, embarrassing and unbecoming. And as he stooped to pick up a few of the dishes and blankets he had cast asunder, he began to feel the true weight of what he had done. To punish his father, he had forsaken the most precious thing to ever come into his life. A gift that, now, he realized he did not deserve.
I doubted her,he lamented, for though he still lacked all the details and evidence, his heart knew she was innocent. The rest would merely confirm that he had lost his future in one hasty moment.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX
Olivia’s home of Canrave Hall had never felt more like a hall in all her life—so empty, so large, the rooms echoing and chilly with a draft she could not find. It had been a week since ‘The Grand Embarrassment,’ as she had decided to call it, and though she pretended—rather successfully, she thought—to be back to her usual self, she could not get her inside to match the unbothered exterior.
