by Sara Bennett
Chapter 24
HARRY
The early morning air was crisp. No mist today, everything bright and clear, and Harry’s head was just as clear. He hadn’t drunk as much brandy as he’d intended to before Adam’s intervention, but he had done a lot of thinking.
His brother was right, it was time he cleared up his own mess, and he could only see one way to do it without destroying Evelyn’s reputation.
During the dark hours of the night, Harry had come up with a desperate plan.
He had placed an engagement ring on Evelyn’s finger and contracts had been signed. The preparations for their November marriage were underway. It was late in the day to be having doubts but things had changed now he knew he wasn’t the only one having them. If only he could get Evelyn to admit he wasn’t the man she wanted to be engaged to. Marriage between two people like them was never about love, Harry knew that, but he also knew that without love he was doomed to live a life of misery and sooner or later repeat his father’s mistakes.
This morning Harry planned to take his future wife further afield than usual for their ride, and then leave their mounts and have a stroll. At first, even after they were engaged, Evelyn’s maid had accompanied them as a chaperone for propriety’s sake. He used to think it was Lady Helen who demanded the precaution, but Evelyn later told him it was Oscar.
Oscar. Her brother protected her, caged her, smothered her, and after last night Harry was wondering if marriage was her form of escape. A woman of Evelyn’s social status had few options when it came to living an independent life. At least once she was married she would no longer be under her brother’s thumb.
The ride did them both good, and by the time they dismounted, Evelyn was smiling and he reached for her hand, lifting her fingers to his lips. A breeze tossed the lemon coloured ribbons trailing from her riding hat, and he found a sheltered spot for them to sit, watching as she arranged her plum coloured skirts.
If it had been Sophy beside him he would be kissing her by now. He would be stroking the soft skin of her cheek and nuzzling against her throat, breathing her in, and barely able to contain himself. Although he had kissed Evelyn he had been able to exercise restraint with her for the simple reason that it hadn’t been difficult to control himself. They were friends, and he liked and admired her, but that was as deep as their feelings went.
Evelyn chatted about the guests her mother wanted to invite to the wedding, and apologised that the list kept getting longer. “After our honeymoon, we can return to Pendleton for a time,” she added. Harry was aware she only said it because she was trying to make amends for the other night. Evelyn would always prefer London over the country.
Harry tried to picture them both at Pendleton, sitting down to dinner and him discussing his day with her. Would she want to hear about his tenants and the crops they’d planted, or the price he had managed to extract from the grain buyers in town? Would she sit with him afterwards, smiling secret smiles with him, and when he took a fancy to, would she let him lift her up onto his horse and ride to the heart of Pendleton and make love to her?
No matter how hard he tried to imagine it, he couldn’t. The face in his musings was always Sophy’s.
“Harry?”
He realised he had been lost in his own thoughts again.
She was watching him curiously. “You don’t want to hear about our wedding, do you?” she asked him quietly, eyes searching his.
He could say he did, ask questions, tease a smile from her. That’s what he had done in the past, but now he had moved beyond that. She deserved his honesty, and he thought he deserved hers.
He took her hands in his. “Evelyn.”
“What is it, Harry?” she asked anxiously. “I know there is something …” There were shadows under her eyes, as if she had slept as little as he had. “Last night,” he began, but she didn’t even let him finish.
“You overheard Oscar,” she said and shook her head. “Sometimes he gets so angry he forgets himself. He only wants to see me safe and happy.”
“I heard him suggest you marry me and produce an heir and then find love elsewhere.” His voice was low and even, but his gaze was watchful. “Is that how he expects you to be safe and happy?”
She stared wide eyed, and then she shook her head a little wildly. “I’m sure he didn’t say that exactly. Besides, I would never do that to you.”
“It would make sense if you did,” he went on. “We signed a contract but we don’t have to abide with it once you give me a son. We are two very different people, aren’t we? And … you don’t love me, Evelyn.”
“Harry!” she gasped. Almost immediately he could see her mask slipping into place. Her smile was warm and once he would have been fooled by it. “Of course I love you! I am so looking forward to making my life with you at-at Pendleton.”
“And yet my brother tells me you and James Abbott exchanged glances last night as if you were star-crossed lovers.”
Her eyes widened. “James? You know he asked me to marry him and then I was forced to break off with him! I told you that. I was honest with you.” Her smile had become rigid. “That’s all in the past. I don’t know what your brother saw but it wasn’t what he thought.”
“Evelyn—”
“I want to marry you, Harry.”
Frustration tore at the edges of his patience. She was holding firm but he had to try to break down her defences. It was his only hope. Their only hope.
“I will probably take a mistress.”
She covered her mouth with her hand as if holding in a sob. “Will you?”
He shook his head. “No,” he admitted reluctantly. “The woman I love will not be my mistress. She refused. Not that I blame her,” he muttered.
She stared a moment longer, a mess of emotion crossing her lovely face. “I’m not sure I want to hear this, Harry. These are not the sort of confidences an engaged woman should be privy to.”
He leaned closer. “You said you were honest with me, well I’m being honest with you, Evelyn. I’m not perfect, far from it, and neither are you. We are planning to marry and mesh our lives together. Till death do us part. Do you really want that life with me? If we live our four score and ten years, most of them will be spent married to each other. I know we are friends, and I hope you are as fond of me as I am of you. I see us continuing to be friends once we tie the knot, but where is the spark? The passion? Without it, will either of us ever be truly happy? Or are we looking at a lifetime of regrets?”
His voice was low and impassioned, and he could see she was torn between doing as he asked and continuing with her pretence. “Oscar will be so angry with me,” she said, as if that was an answer but he didn’t know the question. “After James … He said next time he would decide who I must marry. It was he who chose you, Harry.” Her eyes darted to his.
“So I was a poor second,” Harry said.
“No! Even though Oscar chose you, I was happy because you are handsome and good and kind. I knew you would …you would …” She swallowed. “My brother has a strong personality. My mother does whatever he tells her to and he treats me the same. I have no power over my own life and he will not relinquish control until I am married.”
Harry had been right. Evelyn was marrying him to escape from Oscar. There was genuine fear in her eyes now. Her calm exterior had a crack in it, and Harry pushed harder, wanting to see her break wide open.
“Tell me about James Abbott,” he said.
“I have.”
“Tell me everything,” he said. His hands held hers and squeezed, hoping to give her the courage they both needed.
She heaved a sigh and stared into the distance, as if reliving a moment of great pain. “We were going to marry, and we were in love. At least, I was. I was so happy and looking forward to our lives together, then my brother discovered James had a mistress.” She looked at him quickly. “And yes, I know that is not uncommon. I am not so naïve that I would expect any gentleman of means to forgo his priv
ate pleasures. Even a married gentleman. Except that James said he loved me and he had promised me he would not keep another woman, not so long as he was bound to me, so I was hurt in a way that made me want to hurt him. I broke off with him.”
“With your brother’s consent?”
“Oscar can be very protective of me. He believed I loved James too much and that I should have been more pragmatic.”
“He wanted you to turn a blind eye,” Harry guessed.
“I’m not sure he did. It was Oscar who brought me the proof of James’s infidelity. He wanted my husband to be someone whom he could control, just as he does my mother and myself, and James was not that man.” She bit her lip harder and he saw the red marks of her teeth on the plump flesh.
“Does he think he can control me?” Harry asked. “I assure you he cannot.”
“You do not enjoy London, Harry. You will be in the country most of the time and I will be in London. He thinks essentially nothing much will change. That is how he will control you.”
Harry felt a chill but before he could speak she went on. Her voice was soft now, and desperate, and she wasn’t smiling any more.
“When you asked for my hand I thought I could love you as I did James. I was certain I could. Everything about you made me believe love was just a breath away.” She stared at him as if begging him to believe her. “You are a good man, Harry. I can see that. You have a good heart, and I promise you I will try to make our marriage a happy one.”
“Evelyn,” he said gently. “I know you will try. I know I will try. I’ve been telling myself that ever since we became engaged. But last night I finally understood that that isn’t what we both want or need. I think you are still in love with James.”
“And you are in love with someone else as well.” Evelyn sighed. “That girl at the ball,” she said. “The one you ran after at our announcement. The one last night at Monkstead’s house. I see her everywhere, Harry. My mother thinks she is pursuing you!”
“Quite the opposite. She is avoiding me because I hurt her badly in the past. Her name is Sophy and I have tried to forget her, and for a time I thought that I had, but now I know I never will. In truth, I don’t know if I can win her back, but I have to try. I think any chance of true happiness I have for my future will be through her.”
Evelyn had sat listening to him in silence, taking in his words. She looked broken, but perhaps she had been broken for some time. Underneath the smiles and the composure, Evelyn had been struggling.
“Evelyn?” he prompted her. “Should the two of us be miserable when the remedy seems clear? We must break off our engagement and cancel the wedding.”
She gasped and made as if to protest.
Harry carried on before she could speak. “I know it cannot be done lightly, and I know that it will not be without pain. I know your brother will be angry for a time and you must bear that, but I promise you … I promise you, Evelyn, that I will take all the blame. And afterwards I will do my utmost to reunite you and James, despite Oscar’s objections. I understand the two of you have much to work out, but if you think he is the man for you, and you believe he is the only one Oscar cannot control, then I think you must give him another chance. Now I must know if you are willing to make this step with me.”
He waited, watching her. She stared at her gloved fingers, twisting them around her riding crop, and he could only imagine the thoughts flitting through her head, the fears and the doubts, the disappointments. Would she find the courage she needed to set them both free? Or would she subject them to a marriage neither of them truly wanted?
Finally she seemed to rally. “I know you’re right. It isn’t fair we should both be unhappy when there is hope ... But, Harry, you must understand that Oscar will refuse to release you from your promise. No matter what you say. And he will see it as another failure on my part and he will punish me. If you go then I will be his prisoner until he finds someone else, and I fear that someone may not be such a gentleman as yourself.”
“And what of James—?” Harry began tentatively.
She sighed. “Although he betrayed me and I rejected him, I have often wondered if it was as simple as it seemed. I know James wanted to see me for days afterwards but Oscar refused to allow it.”
“Then at the very least you need to talk to him privately, without your brother being present. Evelyn, believe me, I can’t be happy if you are not. If your brother tries to marry you to some old titled gentleman who has already outlived several other wives, then I will challenge him to a duel.”
She gave a shaky laugh. “A duel? Oh Harry …”
“I mean it. I have wronged both you and Sophy. I plan to do all in my power to see that you have no more recriminations to throw at my head.”
“How very noble of you,” she teased but her gaze said she found his promises every bit as gallant as he’d hoped.
She stared back at him a moment, her thoughts her own, and then she said, “What are you intending to do, Harry?”
“I will behave in such an appalling manner that your family and friends will take your part,” he said quietly. “No one will expect you to swallow the insult and still marry me.”
Her dark eyes went wide. “A scandal, you mean?” she whispered. “Oh Harry, I don’t know if I can—”
“Your reputation won’t be sullied, Evelyn. If we play our cards right, you will be the object of sympathy, even admiration. Not a single thread of blame will attach to you. I will be the one to be sullied.”
“But your reputation in London will be ruined.”
“Well, as you know, I don’t care much for London, do I?”
“Sir Arbuthnot,” she added, her gaze searching his. “He will be furious, Harry.”
Harry pictured his father at home, chained to his bed by the sudden apoplexy that had caused him to lose the use of his legs and one side of his body. Not his brain, though, or his voice, or his determination to rule Pendleton despite his infirmities. Harry may be the one to ride the acres and deal with the minutia of their estate, but Sir Arbuthnot still considered himself to be in charge.
“I will deal with my father,” he assured her.
For a heartbeat Evelyn looked as if she wanted to argue, and then she seemed to deflate. “Very well then,” she said. “We have a bargain, Harry. If you are sure …?”
Was that hope he heard in her voice? Harry wondered if it was because she still wanted to continue with their hollow engagement. He thought it more likely that she was thinking about cutting herself free and giving James another chance. And if Oscar wanted to try to stop that happening, well Harry had dealt with bullies before.
“I’m sure,” he said firmly.
Adam was there when he arrived home. His brother looked as if he had just got in from another late night, and gave a yawn as he reached for the coffee pot. He had already made inroads into the breakfast platters.
“I need to speak to you,” Harry said.
Adam yawned again. “I have to be on parade in an hour.” His hair was standing on end, as if he had been running his hands through it, and the smell of brandy clung to him.
“I thought you turned away the whore from last night,” Harry said, eyes narrowed. “You really need a night off, Adam.”
“And who would please all the lovelies in London if I had a night off?” Adam retorted. Then, with a frown added, “What do you want to speak to me about?”
“I need your help.”
Adam had the cup halfway to his lips only to stop and set it back down again. “My help? Is that what you said? I just want to clarify.”
“Yes, I need your help.”
“Do you mean you are admitting that you are not flawless after all?”
“I’ve never said I was flawless,” Harry retorted.
Adam gave a grunt and waited.
“I’ve made a mistake,” Harry admitted.
Adam’s eyes lit up. “Oh-ho! What mistake would that be?”
“My engagement to Evelyn.�
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Adam leaned back and smiled. “I could have told you that, brother. In fact, I did. I’m sorry to bring it to your attention, but breaking an engagement is not a simple matter. It is usually the woman who does the breaking.”
“Evelyn has agreed so long as her reputation suffers no permanent hurt from it.” He waved a hand when his brother opened his mouth to ask questions, not wanting to betray Evelyn’s confidence. “I will need to do something scandalous that will set the whole thing in motion.”
Adam watched him carefully. “You do know,” he said at last, “that Oscar will beat the living hell out of you.”
Harry huffed a laugh. “I expect so. It’ll be worth it.”
“And then what?” Adam asked. “Go home to Pendleton? You’ll have to face Father and he may not be up to thrashing you like he used to in the old days, but he’ll still make your life miserable.”
“I’m going home, yes. I’m going home with Sophy.”
Adam smiled. “Finally, he sees the light!” he said, then shook his head. “But will Sophy want you? I thought her and James Abbott were looking like a sure thing. They’re even taking wagers in the clubs. I was considering one myself.”
They were taking wagers on James and Sophy? Had he left it too late after all? Harry pushed the doubts aside. He had to focus on his plan and cut himself free, and then do his utmost to persuade Sophy to take him back.
“I wouldn’t advise it,” he said sharply, “Not unless you’re wagering against.”
Adam took a gulp of his cooling coffee. “So what is this master plan to extract yourself from the clutches of loveless matrimony and win back Sophy?”
“I was hoping you might have some suggestions. You seem to be good at upsetting people.”
Adam gave a slow smile. “I can think of a few.” He stood up and went to his brother, resting a hand on Harry’s shoulder. His hazel eyes were bleary with drink but there was affection in them, perhaps even pride.
“We’ll sort it out,” Adam said, his voice reassuring. “You know that you and Sophy were always destined to be together.”
