“I promise.” He wished he’d insisted on leaving her at home. This was a bad idea, but it was as if he had lost the ability to use the wordnowhen it came to this woman.
“Youwill look for Murdoch and board the carriage he will have ready for you, the Leonas and my sisters.”
“I like it when you call us Leonas,” she said with a satisfied little smile that made a riot of bats—it could not be butterflies—swerve in his chest. “But if anything goes awry as we make our escape, I am prepared.” She hiked up the copious layers of fabric in her skirt to reveal a luscious expanse of golden-brown skin covered in a shimmery silk stocking, where she’d strapped that beloved little pistol of hers. His mouth went dry, and his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth at the sight. His Amazon, ready for battle, ready for anything life threw at her.
He brought her onto his lap, and she immediately wrapped her arm around his neck. His pulse thrummed at the easiness between them.
“You are bloody magnificent, did you know that?” he asked, sliding a hand over that warm skin.
“I am aware, yes.” She preened and leaned back on the seat, letting him admire her, like the bloody queen she was.
“If I make very quick work of it, I could have a taste before we arrive,” he only half teased as he pressed a hand suggestively to her core. There was enough space for him to kneel...
She shook her head with a groan, even as she pressed into him.
“We’ll never get my dress back in order in time,” she said regretfully.
“You’re right. We’d best leave it for after. I’ll want to take pains with you.” She moaned and writhed over him in response to his heated promise. He’d finish all this once and for all, and then he’d go home and worship his woman like she deserved.
He’d give anything to be able to keep this. He prayed that he could.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll abide to the plan,” she assured him, right before brushing their lips together. “When is Apollo arriving?” she pressed, and he felt a smile forming against her lips.
His wife did not like surprises. “I’ve arranged for a particular song to be played after we arrive. Apollo will be outside in his carriage. Once the piece ends, that will be his signal to come inside.”
The carriage pulled to a stop then. Evan’s head swam, blood pounding between his temples as they disentangled themselves and stepped down. He tried to breathe through it to no avail, and then a small warm hand slid into his, and he held on to it like it was an anchor in a tempestuous sea.
“Do you need a dram?” she asked, her steady voice an unexpected reassurance.
“No, I am all right.”
The line of guests awaiting to enter the ball was a long one. The Duke of Annan’s annual birthday ball was a highlight of the year, and everyone came out for the occasion. It was the one event when Scottish high society gathered in Edinburgh. Otherwise, most of the social engagements of the season were hosted in London. And the duke and duchess had lavishly spent Evan’s money for the occasion. The entrance to the ballroom was a tunnel made of what seemed to be thousands of white roses.
“Is that her?” Luz Alana asked in a chilly voice as they crossed the threshold into the foyer of the house. From where they stood, there was a clear view to the bottom of the marbled staircase where his father and Charlotte greeted their guests as they arrived.
“Yes, that’s the duchess.” He tightened his hold on his wife and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “This is the perfect moment to let you know you are the most beautiful woman here.”
“You only say that because you’d like to finish what you started earlier.” Her smile was that bright, guileless one that made him feel he was in the presence of something too pure for human eyes. But there was a glimmer of doubt in there too. She didn’t know where she stood with him.
Impulsively he pulled her out of the line of guests, needing a moment to say the words that were brimming inside him.
“I said it because even after the secrets I kept from you, the pain I caused you with my silence, you are here ready to walk into this nest of vipers with me.” Her eyes widened at whatever she saw in his face, but he was done hiding from her. From himself and what he felt for Luz Alana. “Because at every step of the way you’ve shown me that I had no idea, not an inkling, of what it is to be loyal and faithful and strong. Becauseyouhave, with your smile—” he traced her lips with his thumb as he breathed through a firestorm of emotions “—and your unrelenting, unshakable spirit have taught me how to hope again.” His chest heaved with big, heavy breaths as he poured his heart out to her, before going in to do his duty to his brother. “Once this is done and I’ve wiped myself clean of the mire of this miserable mess, I will earn the chance to take my place by your side.”
“Evan,” she gasped, eyes glistening with unshed tears. The words were on the tip of his tongue, needing to come out.
“The Earl of Darnick and Lady Darnick,” one of his father’s footmen announced, forcing them to cut the moment short. Unhurriedly—his father could wait—he leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on her lips. Then he took her hand and the stairs, and for the first time since all of this started he allowed himself to consider what it would be like to be rid of his title, of the implications of it. The one thing that he felt coursing through his veins was an urgency to be on the other side of this, so he would finally be free to tell Luz Alana exactly what he wanted for their future.
“Ah, the new Lady Darnick.” His father’s caustic voice pulled Evan out of his thoughts, and he had to fight the urge to place himself like a human shield between the man and Luz Alana.
“Your Grace.” Luz Alana curtsied expertly. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
“I was beginning to wonder if the news of my son’s marriage was just parlor-room fodder.” The man pursed his mouth into something he likely thought was a smile but looked more like an ugly sneer. “After years of applying pressure to my son in every way I could—” like threatening to disown him, sell the distillery and squander Adalyn’s dowry, all of which he’d done anyway, Evan thought bitterly “—he goes to Paris on business...” he paused on the wordbusiness, which he’d uttered with the same tone one would expect to hearvermin“...and returns with a wife.”
“Father,” Evan warned, but the older man continued to direct his fictitious graces in Luz Alana’s direction. If she was nervous or out of sorts, she hid it perfectly. Her back was ramrod straight. Ready for the arrows she expected to be aimed at her.
“It’s all right, darling,” she told Evan. “My apologies for not giving you prior warning of my existence before it became an unescapable reality, Your Grace.”
“Do you know what the word forwifeis in the Spanish colonies?” his father asked, surprising him.
