by Gill, Tamara
“You already loved Mr. Brown before the duke offered, you only had to be honest, Lucy.”
Lucy gestured toward the duke, who unnervingly remained quiet. “He’s the Duke of Carlisle. Who says no to such a man?”
“You should have.” Evie digested all this information as the carriage rumbled through Mayfair.
“I must say you’re acting very high-handed yourself in all of this, Evie. You knew that I did not want to marry the duke. You agreed to try and dissuade him from me just as I asked.”
“You knew that Miss Lucy did not want to be my wife?” The duke stared at her as if he were seeing her for the first time, a stranger he hardly knew instead of a woman who had shared his bed, been a companion. The disappointment in his blue orbs left a hollow feeling inside and she winced. “Why did you not tell me?” he asked.
Evie glared at her sister. How could Lucy involve her in her falsehearted scheme? “I told her to tell you the truth, but before I could make her do so, she’d run off. I agreed to help her, but I was never going to go through with it, I just let her think I would.”
“I would not have traveled after your sister had I known that Mr. Brown was indeed who she wanted. I would’ve let her face the repercussions of her own choice.”
“I never asked you to chase after me. I thought that when I ran away, that would’ve been enough for you to break the understanding.”
“Unlike your Mr. Brown, I’m a gentleman,” Finn rebuked. “A duke. We do not act in such an ungentlemanly way. We had signed marriage contracts, and unfortunately, I needed a bride and within a short time constraint. You were my only option, and so I had to see if you were sure Mr. Brown was who you wanted before looking elsewhere.”
“Well, it certainly seems like you found a replacement with my sister. Have you offered for Evie yet, Your Grace? Or is what Mr. Smithers said about the Milton girls true?”
“What did he say?” Evie demanded, leaning forward. She hated the thought that people were talking about her family, or that others like Mr. Brown could overhear those very conversations.
“That because I was the younger of the Milton sisters, I would suit better since I am of child birthing age. You, a spinster at almost eight and twenty, were past your fertile years. Or so the duke thought.”
Evie gasped, her stomach roiling and not only because of her sister’s truth but because of the very child she carried that she supposably was too old to bear. How dare the duke be so cruel? So dismissive of a woman who, by the way, was the same age as he.
“No more, Lucy.” Evie met her sister’s eye and was glad her sibling shut her mouth and lay back, seemingly understanding that she had heard enough. “Your marriage with Mr. Brown will take place next week instead of marrying the duke. A small affair is better, I think, and then you shall retire to Wiltshire and Mr. Brown’s farm. Away from Society and any ramifications that you may face due to your actions.”
“Why should we hide?” Lucy whined, glaring at the duke. “The duke was more at fault than I was.”
“I would have to disagree with that notion.” The duke’s low, steely tone broke into their conversation, and Evie didn’t miss the warning in his words. “I traveled far too many miles these past weeks trying to ensure that your reputation was saved. I did not have to do this. I could have let you throw yourself away, your reputation, and your life. I did not.”
“Only because you needed a bride due to financial implications. Not because you cared for my family or me. Your honor and motives are not pure, Your Grace.”
“Enough,” Evie said, looking between her sister and the duke. The carriage rolled to a halt before her townhouse, and she opened the door, stepping out onto the cobbled footpath. Her sister followed, marching into her home. Mr. Brown went to pursue, and Evie stepped in front of the carriage door, stopping him. “You may call on my sister tomorrow afternoon. Good night, Mr. Brown,” she said, ignoring her sister’s protests before she disappeared inside, grumbling about the unfairness of life and older, interfering siblings.
The duke alighted from the carriage, shutting the door with a decided snap. “I need to speak to you, Miss Milton.”
“Tomorrow will do very well for you as well, Your Grace.”
The carriage rolled off down the street, and Evie turned, needing to go inside and digest all that she’d learned about the duke, and her sister, whom she decided she did not like very much at the moment. The young woman upstairs did not represent how they had grown up or the morals she thought they both had.
“Please, Evie. Let me come inside.”
Evie halted on the step at the duke’s plea. Damn her for being weak when it came to him. To want to hear him explain his actions away. She glanced up and down the street, and not seeing anyone and hoping no one was watching from their darkened windows, relented. “Very well, but not for long. I’m fatigued, and in need of solitude after the night we’ve just endured.”
The duke followed her into the house, not saying another word as they reached the front drawing room. Evie closed the door, glad to see that the fire still burned in the room. Molly must have not long retired for the night. She sat before the hearth, clasping her hands in her lap and readying herself to hear the duke out.
He paced before the fire before coming to sit beside her, but still, he said nothing.
Evie had no issue in breaking the silence. “Did you ask for my sister’s hand simply to secure your fortune?”
“I did,” he said after a moment, shame seeping into his blue orbs before annoyance replaced that emotion. “And did you agree to try and persuade me to end my betrothal with Lucy? Neither of us is innocent in this.”
“I know that,” Evie said, hating the fact that she ever agreed to help Lucy. Not that she ever planned to follow through on her scheme, she had planned on making Lucy tell the truth. Not that the duke would believe that. Not now, after the fact. “But I did intend on making Lucy break the engagement that she did not want. She left before I had a chance to make her do so. That is the truth.”
The duke rubbed the back of his neck, watching her. “This is madness, Evie. I do not want to quarrel with you.”
“Nor I you, but you offered for my sister out of necessity, not because you had any emotional response to her. Was your offer to me the same? How much time do you have left before your father’s clause comes into effect?”
“I have only a few weeks before I lose what I need to keep my estates running. I will be left with land and property, but no money.”
“So I shall do well enough since my sister is no longer willing or perhaps not, since I’m in my dotage and unable to bear children.”
“Forgive me for thinking such a thing. I do not believe that to be true, and I do not see you as a spinster or a woman in her dotage. The assumption was made irresponsibly. My father married in his thirties to a woman ten years his junior. I was only of that opinion because it is what is done, but it is not what I wish to do.”
She raised her brow, looking down her nose at him. Not the easiest feat when he sat beside her and even in this position dominated her with his height. “Do you care for me at all, Finn? Or is what I feel for you one-sided?”
“No, of course it is not only on your side.” He paused, running a hand through his hair and leaving it on end. “I still require a bride, desperately so, and my father decreed that it must be a woman of good family and from my home county of Wiltshire. I have no doubt the stipulations were so very concise because he wished for me to fail at the quest. He never cared for his son, probably why he stopped coming to my mother’s bed once I had been born. He cared only for himself and his whores. He was an infamous rogue that London loved to hate.”
The duke reached out and picked up her hands, holding them firm. “What I feel for you, Evie, is nothing like what I felt for your sister. While I liked her, it is you that I long to see, to hear, and spend time with. It’s you that captured my heart.”
She wanted to believe him. The time that they
had spent together, she had lost her heart to the duke. In fact, she feared on their first night at the Bear Inn, where he’d held her close during the night, allowing her to keep warm was when she’d first suspected her heart had been touched.
Even so, it did not change the fact that he’d chased down her sister simply to marry her to satisfy some will. Of course, a duke needed funds to run his estates, but to make a woman believe she was desired, wanted when not, was not the act of a gentleman. How could she trust him to be telling the truth now? That she was different. That she was desired and loved.
“You lied to me. To my family.”
“I was not alone in my untruth,” he shot back, silencing her. “Did you and your sister plan how to end the understanding? Did you think to seduce me? Were your actions in my bed all feigned?”
Evie gasped. How dare he ask her that. “I would never do such a thing, and if you knew me at all, you would know that for the lie it is.”
“Evie,” he sighed, squeezing her hands a little. “Why did you not tell me that Lucy was in love with someone else? All the time we were together I felt as if I were being torn in two. Between honor and what I desire, what I want. I repeatedly chastised myself for the choice I made, for it was the wrong one. If I knew that my concern was not warranted, that I could act on my desires, my wishes, without feeling like I was replicating my father, a scoundrel who enjoyed scandal and acting without honor, our time together could have been so much better.”
“You were set on bringing her home. Your reminding my father of the money you paid him along with the marriage contracts was always in the back of my mind. How could I tell you? I figured that once you did see Lucy, married and happy, that it wouldn’t matter what she asked me to do for her actions made her plan moot in the end.”
“I have long forgiven that debt. I will not be making your father repay me if that is your concern.”
“I did not think you would,” Evie admitted, wanting to tell him that there was more to say between them. That she was carrying his child, but she wanted him to choose her for herself, not because he needed a wife. “What do we do now?” she asked, hating the trepidation in her tone. For all that had occurred, she did not want to lose the duke, but nor would she marry him simply to ensure his riches.
“What indeed,” the duke drawled, meeting her gaze.
Finn wanted to pull Evie into his arms and kiss away her fear, her doubts. He needed her to know that he adored her and only her and bedamned his father’s will and clause overshadowing his life, turning it upside down.
“Evie,” he said, kneeling before her. “Know that what I’m about to ask you is done so because to my very core, it is what I want. Know that what I’m about to ask you is asked because I love you, more than any inheritance, or honor a man can have. I ask you this because I want you and no one else, and had I realized that sooner I could have saved everyone a lot of trouble and strife.”
She shifted on her chair. Her beautiful dark eyes focused on his every word. “What did you wish to ask me?”
So many things, more than he could count. “My first question would be, Evie, from this day forward, will you do me the extreme honor of becoming my wife? Marry me and be my duchess just as you should always have been.”
His heart beat fast in his chest, beating a crescendo that he was sure she could hear. The clock on the mantle clicked the seconds away, and still, she did not speak. The fire crackled in the grate, and he fought for patience, needing to know what she was thinking. “Evie? Will you marry me?”
She threw him a small smile, and a little part of him rejoiced. Hopeful that she would give him a second chance. Everyone deserved one, surely. “Are you certain that I’m not too old to be your bride? What if I’m unable to have children?”
“I do not care, so long as I have you. You mean more to me than anything I do not have, already have, or may never have. Did you hear what I said, my love?” he asked when she remained quiet. “I love you. I want you. From this day forward and forever. Tell me you feel the same and pull me from this torture that I have been living with these past three weeks.”
She smiled, her eyes warming upon him. “I’m so glad that you said what you just did, for I too feel the same way.”
Finn leaned forward on his knees, coming eye level with her. “Marry me. Marry me as soon as I can gain a special license. I do not want to spend another night away from you.”
She slipped her arms over his shoulders, and heat licked down his spine. He’d missed her. So very much that at times he thought he would go mad with want of her. A life with Evie would forever be an adventure, just as their travels had, and he could not wait to start the journey.
“I will marry you,” she said, at last, closing the space between them and kissing him gently on the lips. The embrace was short and chaste and nowhere near what he needed, wanted from his future bride. “I love you too,” she admitted.
Finn pulled her into his arms, never wanting to let her go. He took her mouth in a searing kiss, one that had been building for the past weeks back in town. Her tongue melded with his, and his body shot to life for the first time since she walked out of his life.
“I want you,” he said, kissing his way across her cheek to nibble on her ear. She had the prettiest ears he’d ever seen, and tonight with the little diamond pendant hanging from them, they made her look even more beautiful if that were possible. “Under me and in your bed tonight. I do not want to leave,” he whispered into her ear, feeling a slight shiver rake through her body.
“I want that too.” She gasped as his hand cupped one breast, his thumb and finger finding her nipple and rolling it between the two pads. “This is wicked, you understand. Are you certain you do not want to wait until we’re married?”
“I could not keep my hands from you these past weeks. I’m not about to start doing so now. You will be my wife in a day or so. I see no harm in us coming together.”
“Hmm,” she said, standing and pulling him up to stand before her. He towered over her, and he could not help but run his hands over the soft, delectable flesh of her face. Hell, she was beautiful, sweet, and his.
All his.
He scooped her up into his arms, ignoring her protests that they would be seen and strode from the room. “Where is your bedroom?” he asked when they made the top of the stairs, Evie turning a deep shade of red when they passed a startled footman.
“Second door on your left,” she said, playing with the hair on his nape.
Her touch drove him insane, and he breathed deep, calming himself. They would be alone soon, and then they could take all the time they wanted. And before this week ended, she would be the new Duchess of Carlisle. Just as she always should have been.
Her bedroom door was ajar, and he pushed it open, kicking it shut with his foot. Relief poured through him that he was hers, and she was his, and soon no one and nothing could rip her from him again. Not family, scandal, or steadfast honor.
Nothing.
Chapter 18
Evie stood beside the Duke of Carlisle in the beautiful St George’s Parish church in Hanover square and exchanged vows with His Grace. As promised, he’d secured a special license, and two days after asking for her hand, she was marrying him. Her friends stood in the pews behind them, each of them unable to hide their pleasure, just as Evie was unable to stop the smile on her lips.
The duke turned and repeated the vows the priest spoke, and warmth flowed through her veins. He stood beside her, dressed in a superfine coat of dark blue. His cravat highlighted his sweet face, and it took all of her concentration not to throw herself into his arms, just as they had been doing the past two days. He’d insisted she traveled with him to Doctor’s Commons in London to get the special license from the Archbishop of Canterbury. Being back in the carriage with His Grace alone for some time ended up being quite an enjoyable ride.
The priest announced them husband and wife, and he took her arm, turning to smile at their friends.
/> Married at last.
Later that morning, they stood in the gardens of the duke’s London home, celebrating their wedding ceremony. Tomorrow they were returning to Wiltshire to inform her parents of their marriage and to see her sister wed. Lucy had returned home the previous day, having stated that she wanted to marry Mr. Brown in their family church in Marlborough. Her mother and father had traveled with Lucy and her betrothed, wanting to ensure that Lucy did, in fact, return home to be married.
Evie had not told her parents of the duke’s offer. They would find out soon enough, and she did not need them at her wedding. When she returned home, there would be time for a celebration.
“What a handsome husband you have,” Molly said, passing Evie a glass of champagne and smiling over to the duke, who spoke with Whitstone, Lord Duncannon, and Marquess Ryley.
“Isn’t he?” Evie agreed, hoping their wedding breakfast would be over soon so she could be alone with him. She had not told him of the child, but she would today. He’d married her without knowing that she was pregnant. She didn’t want to state her vows with any doubt that he was making her his wife because he loved her, not because she was carrying his child. “I’m so happy, Molly, and sad too. We will no longer be living together.”
Molly waved her concerns away, sipping her drink. “Never mind that. You know that I’m more than happy to visit my family in Hertfordshire. Then, as planned, I shall be traveling abroad to France. I wish to see Paris again, and then when I am home, perhaps you shall allow me to follow you all about during the London seasons, so I shall have something to occupy my time. I may be unmarried and have two or three strands of gray hair on my head, but there is still plenty of fun to be had, and I’m determined to have it.”
