She knew Evan, she knew he would attack and bite if he felt threatened, but she also knew he regretted the action almost instantly. They were the best of friends once, and she was sure that they could come to some sort of understanding if only he would talk to her.
She didn't know if he would ever forgive her for that night at his parents' home, and she didn't know if they could have romantic love, but she knew they could be friends and care for one another, and she vowed to start there.
***
Evan sat in his carriage the next morning wondering how he would explain the latest developments to Nathan. It was early still, much too early for a social call, but he needed his best man and witness. It was his wedding day after all.
The night before, he decided he would ask Nathan to stand up with him as asking his brother under these circumstances would be awkward at best. After he spoke to Fleur's father, he went with Edward, Felix, and Dom to procure a special license, not an easy feat, but he was able to do so using Edward's name and influence. Just one more thing that indebted him towards his brother.
He had left on better terms than he could have hoped for with the duke. He knew he was brash and quick to anger, but so was her father. It was a wonder they didn't come to blows, and it was not lost on him that perhaps they were more alike than he had ever realized.
From tomorrow onward they were to be family, and he didn't want to hurt Fleur through spurning her father. After the way he treated her at the ball, he had wanted to make a real effort, and that was just when he thought she was to be his sister-in-law. Now she was to be his wife.
His wife.
If he wasn't already sitting down, he may have swooned from the shock of it. The would live together, breakfast together, spend their nights together. Beget children together.
Evan rubbed his cheeks as he felt his face heat and he shook his head at his own foolishness. There was no reason to get ahead of himself, but he couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe they could be happy together. Maybe he could keep his temper in check and offer her a real home of her own. Someplace she could be truly comfortable, the life she wished for and talked about when they were children.
Their families were close, which was ideal, and they would be able to holiday together. When they removed to his country estate, she wouldn't be far from his mother. That would make settling in easy for her.
She would not hold a title, though as a duke's daughter she would always be a lady by name, she would be Mrs. Woolf now. Evan schooled his features and coughed when he found himself smiling like an idiot. How absurd he was behaving, almost if he was - dare he think it - happy?
By God, but he was. He was a simpering, bubbling lovesick fool, and he was happy. He sat up straighter in the carriage and cleared his throat when a thought crossed his mind.
What if Fleur didn't truly want this?
He pushed the thought away. He could not know, not until he spoke to her.
Evan covered his mouth, rubbing his face and chin as the carriage stopped at his Nathan's townhouse. He gathered his wits about him and opened the door before jumping down and nearly knocking the waiting footmen over.
"I beg your pardon, sir," the footman said as he bowed and made way.
Evan nodded at the young man and ascended the steps with quick jaunty leaps before landing three bellowing knocks on the front door. As he waited, Evan wondered what Nathan would say. He would probably call him mad. Indeed, the whole thing was mad.
As the door opened to reveal Nathan's butler, Evan started to feel nervous.
"Ah, Mr. Woolf. I'm sorry but Mr. Carter is–"
"I know it's shamefully early, Hobbs, but I really must speak to Mr. Carter, it's of great importance."
Hobbs looked him over and nodded before leaving, and Evan couldn't remember a time he'd met such an unfussy but reliable servant. Always to the point, was Hobbs. If only he could find help of his own like that, maybe he wouldn't mind the invasion of his privacy.
Evan was broken from his thoughts when Hobbs returned and led him into the library where he knew Nathan preferred to take his meals since he lived alone. When he arrived he saw his friend sitting at a small table, devouring a sausage.
Evan sat down across from him and spoke. "We've to be somewhere within the hour so finish your breakfast."
Nathan swallowed a mouthful of hot coffee and looked quizzically over to him. "Be somewhere? We're to away to Kent within the hour, where could we possibly need to be?"
"Slight change in plans," Evan said as he swiped a sausage from Nathan's plate, wondering why his friend was not asking him about Fleur.
Nathan didn't even bat an eye, so used was he to his friend's bad manners. "What's going on? Are we to delay? Did something else happen with your brother and Lady Fleur?"
Evan sat back in his chair. Could it be that Nathan didn't know? "So you've not heard? Where have you been since yesterday, in a cave? It's the talk of the whole town."
"Heard what? You were able to settle the gossip, weren't you?" Nathan lowered his fork and stared at Evan in worry. "I didn't go out yesterday at all but spent all day writing letters to my solicitor and giving instructions to the staff. What's happened?"
"A lot has happened. Lady Fleur will no longer be marrying Edward."
Nathan choked on his coffee and Evan took pity on him when tears started to appear in his friend's eyes. He leaned forward to give him a firm slap on the back.
"T-thank you," said Nathan, clearing his throat. "But what do you mean? They know the consequences if they do not."
"Precisely. I never said she wouldn't marry, I just said she wouldn't be marrying Edward."
"But that makes absolutely no sense. She was certainly compromised from the situation, the only other person for her to marry would, well, it would be you." Nathan snorted with laughter then took another bite of sausage. He chewed greedily, his eyes locked with Evan's serious ones. His jaw stopped working and then dropped as bits of food fell from his mouth onto his plate.
Nathan swore. "How on earth did this happen?" he asked as he stood, wiping food from his mouth, and Evan, feeling at a disadvantage, stood as well.
"Felix happened. He led the everyone to believe that Lady Fleur and I were betrothed when it became apparent that gossip was more vicious than we first realized. If Edward's name had been brought into it, things would have just deteriorated. So it was decided I will marry the lady this morning, and then we shall leave for Kent."
Nathan stood staring at Evan like he'd lost his head. "Come again?"
"I'm not repeating all that again, Nathan, it's becoming monotonous."
"It's just ... how do you expect me to react? I'm stunned!"
"Yes, I can sympathize," Evan said dryly. "But the fact remains that we must be at the Duke of Norfield's home in about an hour, so we best make haste. I'd rather arrive too early than be late seeing as how I've just struck a civil temper with her father. Imagine if he thought I was going to leave her at the altar?"
Nathan grimaced. "I don't envy you there, he can be quite frightening. But Evan, does her cousin know?"
Evan's eye twitched and he would never admit to it, but he may have paled just slightly. "How would he know? He's on his ship only God knows where."
"Well, don't worry, if he calls you out I am sure we can find someone to be your second." Nathan said while laughing.
"Why would he call me out? I'm marrying her, not crying off."
"Hmm, I don't think it will matter to Osborne, as he's always been fiendishly protective of Lady Fleur and Lady Julia. I'd wager they are the only people he cares for in all of England. It is well known he even hates the duke, which is odd, seeing as he is the heir to the dukedom."
"Well he has no reason to have it out with me. I'm doing my duty. Besides, I'm counting on him being away for quite some time. By the time he returns we will have been married several months."
"Aha! So you are afraid of him."
Evan stomped towards the door. "I'm no
t afraid."
"You ... are ... sooooo," Nathan sing-songed as he threw his napkins on the table and followed Evan out.
"Nathan, I will not have this childish discussion with you. Now, are you coming to stand up with me or not?"
"Yes, yes, good grief. Let us go, we would not want to keep the lucky lady waiting, would we? Let me just instruct my driver to meet me at your home and I can travel straight from there."
Evan rolled his eyes upwards but followed his friend with a smirk. Even the mention of Fleur's devil cousin hadn't soured his good mood.
DEARLY BELOVED
Fleur sat in the music room, her back ramrod straight, slight pain blooming behind her eyes as her attention swayed back and forth between a frantic maid and her sister.
"And the flowers, my lady, are they to your liking?" asked the maid.
"Yes, Mary, they are beautiful, thank you –"
"I can't believe you're going to go through with this ... this farce of a marriage to that ... that ...," muttered Julia, quickly walking across the room.
"Are you certain, Miss? I had to take the flowers from the morning room, they are a bit sad and wilted, but it is all I could do on such short notice."
Fleur tried to smile. "You have done a miracle with this room on such short notice, everything will be perfect —"
"He is deceitful, that is what he is. He planned this, I just know he did. I will strangle him ..." said Julia, quickly making her way back across the room.
"And the chairs, should we move them back a bit more, or closer, should they be closer —"
"I'm sure the chairs are fine, Mary –"
"I cannot stand the thought that you will be living all alone with him only God knows where and we won't ever see you. He is sure to keep us from you."
Fleur rubbed her temples and closed her eyes. "Mary, on second thought, I think the mantle could use a few more flowers after all. There are several in the upstairs bedrooms, would you fetch some?"
"Yes, Miss, I'll try to find blue ones to match your dress. Oh, you look so beautiful, if you do not mind me saying so. Your betrothed will faint dead away when he sees you."
"We can only hope ..." Julia muttered.
Fleur looked long at her sister while Mary left. Julia looked lightly cowed, but Fleur knew it would not last long.
"Really, Julia, will you stop being so dramatic and sit down? My nerves are simply shattered between the pair of you."
Julia sat down beside Fleur, looking her straight in the eye. "Because you know this is madness. Fleur, please, for the last time, do not do this."
Fleur sighed, gripping Julia's hands. "You are the best sister, did you know? You are absolutely lovely and I love you, Julia, but you are going to have to let me go. I want to be married and have children. I want the country estate with the dogs and barn cats. Everything, I want it all. I want this. What are you so frightened of? You knew one day I would marry."
"Yes, but this is all so sudden, and he is so disagreeable. I cannot like him after his behavior towards you."
"Cannot or will not?" Fleur asked, reaching to push a stray piece of ebony hair behind Julia's ear.
"Both. He is a —"
"He is a perfectly respectable man, even with his ... shall we say ... quirks?" Fleur smiled.
"Quirks? He's a menace. I wish it were Edward. Your life with him would have been so much easier."
"Yes, it would have been," said Fleur, thinking how life with Edward would have been perfectly polite and ordered, though never passionate and never challenging. "I know this is going to sound strange to you, Julia, but when I agreed to marry Edward something in me realized that while I do want a home and family, I don't wish to settle. I don't want a lukewarm marriage with someone I cannot speak to above the day's comings and goings and the weather. I think ... I think I shall be happier with Evan. I know I will."
Julia threw her hands in the air. "Now I know you're raving."
Fleur shook her head. "No," she laughed. "Listen to me, please. With Evan I can be myself. I'll be able to run the house the way I want. I'll be able to raise and perhaps even school my own children before they need tutors or go off to school. There will be fewer appearances to keep up and fewer social calls to make. As the wife of a viscount and future earl I'd have all sorts of obligations, but as Mrs. Woolf I'm so much more ... free. Free to have a loud and boisterous home in the country and not have to be watched at every move. Evan hates society as much as I do."
"Oh," said Julia.
"And Julia, it's Evan, my Evan. I know he can be horrible, but, he's just ... Evan. The boy that once carried me home because I fell and scraped my knee. The young man that once went shop to shop in the freezing rain all to acquire a book in town that he knew I wanted. I do not know why you have never acknowledged him, Julia, or how can I convince you of it? He can be very giving too."
"No, I think you have been quite convincing." Julia said, a bit put out. "My, my, Fleur, careful, or you will find yourself in love with your husband, which isn't the thing at all."
Fleur grabbed a cushion from the settee and pitched it at Julia, who stared, wide-eyed and shocked.
"See, he is a bad influence already."
They laughed as they waited for the others to arrive. Fleur was nervous but also excited. She did not know what life would be like as Mrs. Woolf, but the though still excited her.
***
Evan and Nathan arrived at Lord Norfield's home and were ushered inside to the drawing room. Evan paced the floor, his nerves on edge. "What is taking so long?"
"In a hurry to be leg-shackled?" Nathan teased.
Even stopped in his tracks and leveled Nathan with a glare. "It is just strange, is all. Why was not one person here to greet us? Why are we being shuffled away in here?"
"Who knows? We are earlier than the others, which is only natural seeing as you are the groom. I'm sure your family will be here soon."
"I do not like waiting," Evan groused.
Nathan rubbed his temples. "You do not like anything."
Evan threw his hand in the air, his other already in his hair as he made his way to the door.
Alarmed, Nathan followed him. "Where are you going?"
"To see what is happening out there," Evan said slowly, as if talking to a child. He opened the double doors and walked outside, Nathan close behind.
"Evan," he tried to whisper, but was ignored. "Evan, we should not be —"
"Do you hear voices coming from that room over there?" he asked, walking on.
"Perhaps," Nathan said, saying nothing else, not wanting to further encourage his friend.
"Who do you think is in there?" Evan eyed the room like he wanted to storm it.
"Probably just the servants, setting up for the guests, you know. Evan?" Nathan jolted when Evan started walking towards the room. "Get back here!" He tried to shout, but it came out in a strangled whisper.
Evan stopped short of the door a few yards and whipped around, annoyed. "What is the matter with you?"
Nathan looked at Evan. His friend really was unbelievable. "What is the matter with me is that I am not accustomed to sneaking around other people's homes."
"Sneaking? We're not sneaking, just trying to find out where everyone is, and lower your voice."
He started walking again only to be nearly knocked over by a maid exiting the room hastily.
"Oh! I'm sorry, sir,"
"That is quite all right," Nathan said, trying to put the nervous girl at ease. "We were standing in the doorway, precarious place to be, is it not?"
She laughed and nodded. "May I help you, sirs?"
"No," Nathan said.
"Yes," Evan corrected.
The maid looked from Nathan to Evan, her mouth opening and then closing. "We heard voices," Evan supplied. "From this room, we wondered if the other guests had arrived?"
"Oh, I see. That would only be Lady Fleur and Lady Julia, sir. As far as I know you are the only guests to arrive. Begging your pardon,
sirs, if I seem too bold, but are you guests of the groom?"
"Yes, we are, ah ... cousins of his," Evan said. "We will just go back to the library and wait for the rest of the party to arrive."
The maid curtsied and bustled off upstairs. Nathan stared at Evan until he started to shuffle uncomfortably under his gaze. "Why did you lie to the girl?"
Evan made an impatient noise. "Because if she knew I was the groom she would have insisted on either announcing me to Lady Fleur or would have continued on with her questions. She looked like a prattler, that one."
"Hmm," was all Nathan said while Evan walked slowly, edging closer to the room.
"Do I even want to know what we are doing now?" Nathan asked wearily.
"Shush," he said, waving his hand at Nathan and moving his head closer to the door.
"Oh no, I will not stand here while you eavesdrop on their conversation. It is completely —"
"Nathan, be quiet," Evan whispered.
"This is completely immoral, not to mention ungentlemanly and —"
Evan clapped a hand over Nathan's mouth. The two struggled, one to keep his hold, the other to shrug him off. Nathan won when Evan whipped his wet hand away, wiping it on his pants hastily.
"You disgust me, Carter," Evan whispered angrily.
Nathan waggled his eyebrows. Both stiffened when they heard voices inside.
"Yes, but, this is all so sudden. And he is so disagreeable. I cannot like him ..."
Evan blanched. "Is that —"
"That was Julia, Evan, I would know that bite anywhere."
Evan nodded. "Perhaps we should go," he whispered.
"Yes," Nathan agreed.
Neither of them moved.
"I wish it were Edward, your life with him would have been so much easier."
"Yes, it would have been ..."
Evan slowly moved his head from the doorway.
"Evan, you ..." Nathan faltered, unsure of what he wanted to say.
"Don't try to comfort me, Nathan, besides, I am sure I am quite difficult to live with," he laughed, trying to hide his hurt. "My mother has said so for many years."
Marriage to a Mister (A Daughters of Regency #1) Page 11
