“Goodness,” Eugenia said, and collected them as though they were precious pieces of gold.
“Lord Halston,” she said, recognizing the man from Almack’s. “How long has it been?” It felt like years, but it could be no more than a few weeks.
“A pleasure to see you again, Your Grace,” he said, and bowed, then extended his hand to kiss hers. “You have been keeping well?”
“Reasonably,” she said, then turned to her aunt. “May I introduce my aunt? Lady Eugenia Harcourt.”
“Ah, yes, Sir Frederick’s wife. I remember your husband. A wonderful chap. A shame we lost him.”
“Indeed,” her aunt said, her hand clenching around the bag of sweets, the paper crinkling. “I should leave the two of you to talk,” she said and walked toward the next bench where she sat with her back to them, but angled just enough to still count as a proper chaperone.
“Where have you been?” she asked. “I have not seen you at any function in a while.”
“My trip took longer than I had anticipated, but I am back now. And you? I could not help but overhear that you were still rejecting suitors left, right, and center.”
Her cheeks warmed, but she had not anticipated being overheard.
“Not exactly rejecting. But I continue my search. And I simply know what I like.”
“And I commend that. Any young lady ought to know what she desires. Pray, if I may be so bold, would you like to take a turn with me? The weather is lovely and we are both here, save for your aunt.”
She bit her bottom lip and considered his offer. Lord Halston was handsome. He was charming, and he understood her requirements for a husband. This was good. She had not envisioned him as a potential husband, but with Nathaniel all but booting her out of the house, and her father determined to get his hands on both her jointure so he could marry her off to somebody else, she knew she could not be as picky.
She had hoped against hope that Nathaniel would turn out to find her as alluring as she found him, but that appeared not to be the case. Lord Halston seemed more than interested. Besides, she didn’t need to plan for their impending wedding right away. All he asked was for her to walk in the park with him, and she could certainly do that.
CHAPTER 21
“You look rather lovely,” Nathaniel said when he spotted Evelyn standing in the drawing-room door. She was clad in a light lavender gown, which skirted dangerously close to the line of what was appropriate for a widow to be wearing. Not that they had observed any of the other mourning customs, but she had been demure in her attire, wearing navy and dark lavender. Today, however, she wore a lighter color, which suited her and brought out the pale complexion of her skin and her sparkling eyes.
“Thank you,” she said. “I am waiting for my suitor.”
He stepped back, straight. “Suitor? I did not think we had arranged anything until the ball.”
“You had not arranged anything,” she corrected. “But since you have been presenting me with a never-ending parade of dullards and barons, I took matters into my own hands and found a suitor. He is coming now to take me on a walk around the estate.”
He blinked. This was new, and he could not say he particularly liked it. He knew that she had been out of sorts because of her father, but that she would take it upon herself to find a suitor rattled him more than he wanted to admit. Who was this man? Was he worthy of her? And why did such an intense jealousy nag at him?
“And who is this gentleman?” he asked, doing his best to appear casual.
“I do not think you would know him. I met him at the ball you took me to some weeks ago, and ran into him by chance at Hyde Park two days ago. He is tolerably interesting, has a fortune of his own—he will not need mine—and he’s reasonably handsome.”
“Reasonably handsome?” Nathaniel’s stomach clenched. “What does that mean? And you still have not told me his name.”
“Lawrence,” she said.
“Lawrence. That was it?”
“What do you mean?”
“Is he a monarch, since he doesn’t seem to require a last name? Or is he a pope?”
She chuckled. “I dare say there’s never been a Pope Lawrence before. But no, if you must know, he’s the Earl of Halston.”
It was like a punch directly into his gut, and he had to stop to keep from toppling backward. Halston.
“I thought he was on the continent,” he managed to say. Her eyes widened.
“Oh, so youdoknow him. I didn’t know where he was—he never mentioned it.”
