She narrowed one eye at him, raising the other in a nearly comical expression. “Aunt Eugenia has lived with us for some time. Ever since our father decided to pursue his business pursuits,” she said, shrugging.
“I see. Is she a mother of sorts to you?”
“No,” she said with a chuckle. “She is an eccentric aunt. Nothing could come anywhere close to my mother. But she’s kind. Shecares for us. All of us.” Then, to his surprise, she added, “She wanted me to come back to London.”
“Did she?” he said, seeing an opportunity to perhaps dislodge Evelyn from his house without all the rigmarole of matchmaking. Although, to be honest, part of him would be sad when she left. She injected a certain liveliness into the old place.
“Yes, but she holds my father in higher regard than my sisters and I do. She’s perpetually under the impression that he is still the kind, sweet boy she used to know when they were growing up.”
“As opposed to?” he asked, pulling one hand from his pocket and turning his palm up.
“As opposed to a man who does not put the needs of his family first. A man who thinks he’s doing his best, but really, barely. A man who believes he has wealth in his pockets when he hasn’t even a sixpence to scratch together. The sort of man who reverted to being a child upon the death of his wife.” Her voice rose, and she spoke faster and faster. It was clear how much anger she felt toward her father.
Her feelings mirrored those Nathaniel had for his uncle—but he didn’t say so.
“I see,” he said instead. “Well, it is good, then, that you can see him for who he is.”
“Is it?” she asked. “Sometimes I wonder if it would be better if I were blind. If I loved him with the same willful naivete that my sister Charlotte displays when she talks of him.”
“Perhaps she wishes to see the best,” he suggested.
“Perhaps it hurts her too much to see the reality, so she refuses to open her eyes fully. In any case, my sisters never had to see my father for who he was. Because I shielded them—and my aunt, in some ways.”
He wanted to ask what she meant by ‘shielding them,’ though he had an idea. A reckless father was not something anybody should have to endure.
However, they had arrived at the small, cozy-looking cottage. A worn wooden fence stretched around it, and within was a garden as wild as it was beautiful. Flowers grew tall, without any order, but the grass was perfectly mowed. A small duck pond, surrounded by neatly stacked stones, shimmered in the distance. Ducks quacked upon it.
It was quaint. And oddly enough, it struck him as the perfect place for Evelyn.
It was wild and unruly like her, yet held a peculiar, meticulous order—a merge of two worlds.
“Well, I thank you for walking me here,” she said. “But Lady Appleton is expecting only me, and I would not like to overwhelm her with too much company.”
“Very well,” he replied, nodding once. “I shall leave you then.”
He bowed as she dipped her head and disappeared into the wild garden. As he stood there watching her go, a warm wave washed over him.
It had been a strange conversation, but an insightful one. The more he got to know Evelyn, the more he understood her reasoning for not wanting to return home. And the more he understood her, the worse he felt for trying to push her off on the first adequate husband he could find.
No. She deserved better. She deserved someone who understood her. Someone who wanted her for her.
As he turned and walked back toward the manor, Nathaniel resolved that he would cease attempting to find just any husband for her. From now on, he would seek one who was worthy of her.
At the very least, she deserved that.
CHAPTER 10
“He is the most peculiar man, a walking contradiction,” Evelyn said the following Tuesday as she had tea with her sister, Charlotte. “He is still determined to find me a husband, but he has become more selective. He presented one fellow just yesterday who was… almost bearable.”
“Coming from you, that is high praise,” Charlotte said with a chuckle. “Pray, what was he like—this almost bearable man?”
She shrugged. “Floyd Westcombe. A friend of the duke’s—or so he told me. Quite tolerable. I shall see him again.”
“Indeed,” Charlotte said.
“Yes. Make no mistake, I have no desire to make a match out of him. But I wish to appease Nathaniel. He has recently tried to get to know my wants and needs more and consider them when selecting a husband.”
“Oh,” Charlotte said, dipping her head thoughtfully.
