Luz’s stomach churned with dread. Whatever it was she would not like it. Clarita broke the tension with one of her favorite questions.
“Did she die?”
“Clarise Luz,” Luz tried to rebuke her sister, but Evan spoke.
“Charlotte and I were to be married.” His voice was so carefully moderated, so intentionally calm, it made the hair on the back of Luz’s neck stand on end. “She broke the engagement and married my father instead. Six months after my mother died.”
“Oh.” Clarita sounded as confused as Luz felt.
Was this the reason for their arrangement? A way for Evan to get back at his father because he’d stolen his betrothed? Was that why he hadn’t mentioned the ball? He likely didn’t want to give the woman the impression that Luz had any significance in his life.
And what if it was? It shouldn’t matter. She should not care what his reasons were.
She hated that she felt as though her chest was caving in, air refusing to enter her lungs. She’d lied to herself. Every time she’d told herself she was in control of what was happening. That she understood the consequences of what she’d agreed to. She ran a hand over her face, and the ring he’d just given her brushed her mouth. Her stomach turned, misery pooling in her gut like lead.
Had he given it to her first? Was this Charlotte’s discarded ring?
She stood up too quickly, head swimming as if she’d popped out of the water after staying under too long. Disoriented, slightly sick and unsteady. She didn’t want to look at him.
“Luz,” Evan said, standing up, but she ignored him. She felt so ridiculous. Foolish.
“If you’ll excuse me,” she said as calmly as she could. “I’ve—” She couldn’t finish, just clamped her mouth shut and made her way to the door.
“Luz, amor,” Amaranta called, placing the book on the table as if about to rise. Luz put a hand out, shaking her head.
“No, te preocupes, stay with Clarita. It’s just a bit of motion sickness,” she lied. “I just need a rest.”
Evan followed her to the door while the others painstakingly avoided looking in their direction.
“I’d like to be alone,” she said as she fought for control.
“I didn’t tell you because—” He was right behind her, just inches from her back. That solid presence which only an hour ago had felt like the harbor she yearned for now seemed hazardous.
She’d been an imbecile, establishing boundaries as if he cared for her, when all along he’d been trying to attract another’s attention.
“I don’t require an explanation, Mr. Sinclair. Your affairs are yours, and mine are my own.” He flinched, and she dearly wished it offered even a modicum of satisfaction. She wished she could take everything back because this hurt too much.
“I want to marry when we cross the border, and I don’t want family with us.” He stiffened as soon as the words were out of her mouth. In his eyes she could see the questions, but he didn’t ask them. “This is already complicated enough. We should just get it over with so that when we arrive in Edinburgh we can get this business sorted.” She shook her head as her throat clogged. With her stomach in knots she slid the ring he’d given her off her hand. He flinched when she tried to give it to him. He was too close, and she needed air.
“Luz Alana, please don’t. The ring is yours—”
She shook her head, hard, and pressed it into his open hand.
“This isn’t mine. I don’t need this to hold up my end of our bargain. If you’ll excuse me,” she whispered before pushing open the door.
The last thing she heard as she walked out of the room was Adalyn’s soft but resounding rebuke.
“Evan, why didn’t you tell her?”
Sixteen
“May I speak with Luz?” Evan asked Amaranta, who didn’t look particularly happy with him, although she hid it better than his fiancée—who had not so much as looked his way at dinner. Having endured life with his father’s perennial displeasure with his children, Evan thought himself immune to disapproving looks or icy silences. Four hours of Luz Alana looking through him as if he was invisible had soundly shattered that notion. After the third time he asked her a question and she replied with a terse one-word answer, he had been ready to tear his hair out.
That and dealing with a weepy, remorseful Adalyn had him at the very limit of his patience. He had no idea what Luz Alana was thinking, other than she clearly didn’t want to see or talk to him. And that she didn’t want family present when they married. The request should not have bothered him as much as it did. It was merely a formality.
Nothing related to Luz Alana is a formality.
And damn it, Evan didn’t mention the ball because, frankly, he didn’t want her anywhere near his father. Didn’t want the Duke of Annan making her a scapegoat for his anger just because she happened to be standing next to Evan when he and Apollo brought his world crashing down. But he should’ve known she’d be hurt to hear he was planning to attend without her. That at the very least she’d feel slighted. He couldn’t blame her for being cross about hearing about Charlotte the way she had. All of it was his doing.
