Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

Imust be dreaming—no, this is a nightmare!

Evie shook as she grappled with the words that had burst out of Daniel’s mouth.

Surely, he must be jesting…

There was absolutely no way he would even contemplate that, let alone declare it so loudly in a public place like Hyde Park.

However, seeing the stunned looks on her friends’ faces, as well as the confusion on Lord Sidmouth’s face, confirmed what she had thought must have been a hallucination of the very worst sort.

“Y-you…” Lord Sidmouth trembled with what appeared to be barely restrained fury.

For a moment, Evie feared that he would drop all pretense at civility as he glared at Daniel with the fury of a thousand suns, and who could blame him? His adversary was smiling rather antagonistically at him, as if he derived some sort of pleasure watching his frustration.

Fortunately, the Earl of Sidmouth managed to gather himself, and with a gentlemanly and apologetic smile at Evie, muttered, “Well then, I must apologize for my approach, My Lady. I suppose congratulations are in order, unless His Grace wishes to keep this private?”

When Daniel smirked in response, Evie could not help but wonder why he seemed to be distinctly bent on riling the Earl.

“Of course not,” he replied graciously. “But you might want to count yourself fortunate to be among the first to know.”

Well, this is also the first time I have heard of it, and I do not count myself so lucky to be graced with such news!

Evie wanted to complain.

In fact, she felt a keen desire to hit the smiling devil before her, for all the good her puny attacks would do to his ridiculously muscular frame.

Meanwhile, Daniel stood there, as if he reveled in the chaos he had managed to sow with his one declaration. He truly was a devil—sly and manipulative and heaven only knew what else!

She saw the Earl of Sidmouth clench his hands into fists as he returned the smile with one of his own.

“Well then, congratulations, Your Grace,” he bit out. “I must be going now.”

He turned on his heel and walked away, his pack of dandies following after him. Most of them sported confused expressions, and some of them merely shook their heads.

Lord Sidmouth had some sort of reputation amongst the young fops, who looked up to him and aimed to emulate him. It must have been such a shock to them to find their hero suffering such a crushing setback by no less than the Duke of Ashton.

Evie, however, was not pleased with the day’s turn of events.

“Well, well, well,” she heard Ethan mutter as he shook his head in amusement. “This should be something Colin would be pleased to learn about.”

Evie turned to the Duke of Sinclair. “He will not be hearing of this because His Grace”—she glared pointedly at Daniel—“will be rectifying this mess that he caused right now!”

She hated how her voice rose to a hysterical pitch at the end, but she was truly close to losing her sanity—and the one responsible for it merely looked at her wordlessly.

“I will do no such thing,” he replied implacably.

“Well, you cannot ruin my reputation just because you dislike the Earl of Sidmouth!” she all but shrieked.

Daniel frowned as he crossed his arms over his chest. He raised his eyebrow at her.

“Well, do you like the Earl of Sidmouth?” he countered coldly.

“No, but⁠—”

“Ladies!” Ethan called over their brewing argument. “I declare myself rather parched and in need of refreshment. How about we proceed to the cake house?”

“A rather fine idea!” Scarlett piped up almost instantaneously. She turned towards Evie, who refused to move from her position. With a troubled sigh, she tugged at Phoebe’s sleeve instead. “Let us go with His Grace.”

Phoebe nodded quietly, throwing Evie a worried look before she left with Scarlett and Ethan.

Desperation, however, was clawing frantically at Evie’s insides. If Daniel refused to fix this situation, what was the rest of the ton going to say when he rescinded his proposal?

There was no way that he was going to marry her, and she was hardly prepared to consider the implications of marriage to him, of all people.

There had to be some way out of this. Perhaps they could break off the engagement a little later or⁠—

“Of course, I mean to rectify the situation,” he told her in a voice that sounded very much like that of an adult placating a child throwing a tantrum.

“Good,” she shot back belligerently, crossing her arms over her chest as she glared up at him. “And how do you intend on going about it, Your Grace?”

“I shall marry you, of course.”

She gaped at him. “Have you gone insane?”

He looked affronted by her accusation. “I assure you that I am in perfect control of my mental faculties.”

“Then why would you consider such an outrageous thing!?”

Daniel simply pressed his lips into a grim line and looked at her. “I believe this is a discussion to have in private.”

Evie opened her mouth to argue that no, she would very much like to discuss something that could very well affect her future, when she noted that several of the passersby had begun to look at them in interest.

How could I have forgotten that gossip is the main source of entertainment of the ton?

She almost wanted to slap herself for her silliness, but then she decided that it would be in her best interest to follow what he said.

For now.

“Oh, good. They have not murdered each other yet!”

Evie glowered at Ethan, who sounded much too cheerful as he strode back to them with Phoebe and Scarlett on either side of him. Indeed, he portrayed the charming rascal with very little effort, while the two young ladies looked at her with concern.

“Any acts of physical violence should be considered in private,” Daniel replied with a smirk.

“Indeed, any physical act should,” his friend averred with an impenitent grin.

This statement, however, had the opposite effect, as Daniel simply strode off wordlessly towards the carriage.

Evie turned to her friends with a long-suffering look in her eyes and was about to walk with them to where Scarlett’s carriage awaited them when she heard a cold voice call out, “Well, what is taking you so long?”

She turned to find Daniel standing by the open door of the carriage with an impatient look on his face.

“Are you sure you will be all right with him?” Phoebe asked her anxiously.

Evie managed a weak smile to reassure her best friend. “Do not worry about me, dearest. His Grace might be many things, but I truly believe he is not capable of violence towards women. Besides,” she added with an attempt at levity, “if he does try anything, I shall make sure that he sorely regrets it!”

Scarlett laughed softly. “That’s the spirit. You know, Alice often said the exact same thing about the Duke of Blackthorn, and look at them now…” she trailed off when she saw the murderous look in Evie’s eyes.

“I shall go with Evie,” Phoebe told them quickly.

Ethan smiled at her. “And I shall accompany you. The more, the merrier, eh?”

Somehow, Evie had the distinct feeling that they were simply volunteering to prevent any unnecessary bloodshed on the ride back to Ashton Hall. It simply would not do for news of murder to break out immediately after the Duke of Ashton declared his betrothal to Lady Evelyn Fitzroy. After all, he could still be considered one of the most eligible bachelors in England, and she was the most sought-after debutante of the Season.

It was already a foregone conclusion that the rest of the ton was waiting on tenterhooks to see just who would manage to marry into two of the most prominent families in the kingdom.

I suppose no Society mama has ever considered this could happen.

After all, Daniel had never expressed the desire to marry. On the contrary, he seemed to be expressly avoiding any reference to matrimony.

Who would have thought that she would be the unfortunate young lady to receive his attention?

Somehow, that does not sound like a good thing. Not even remotely.

And her grandmama? What was she going to tell her?

Howwas she going to tell her?

Daniel certainly had a lot of explaining to do, and she could scarcely wait for them to get back to Ashton Hall so he could begin doing so.

The rest of the carriage ride was fraught with silence, interrupted only by Ethan’s futile attempts at lightening up the mood. In fact, it gave the very impression of that particularly eerie calm before a storm.

Daniel, for his part, refused to explain himself while his friend and Phoebe were still within earshot.

Evie, on the other hand, alternated between glaring at him and staring out the window stonily.

It was easily the most uncomfortable carriage ride in his entire existence.

When they arrived at Ashton Hall, he alighted first and held out his hand to help Evie, but the fiercely stubborn lady expressly ignored him and exited the carriage on her own without even sparing him a glance.

“I shall, ah, escort Lady Phoebe back to her residence,” Ethan informed them with an uneasy smile.

Daniel simply nodded at him. When he turned back to Evie, she had already started walking to the front door.

Ethan shot him a look that clearly said, Good luck, and please do not die.

Daniel simply smiled grimly at that. Of course, he had no plans of expiring so soon.

How could he bear to disappoint Evie when they had not even publicly announced their engagement yet?

But he agreed that the matter of their supposed engagement also needed to be addressed. If it was done so shoddily, he was sure that the Dowager Duchess would never forgive him, and the poor woman had already been through so much in her life. She certainly did not need the added disappointment of Daniel making a mess of his engagement—an event that she had looked forward to with much anticipation.

What is it with dowagers and their need to see the younger generation married off?

Daniel scoffed to himself as he followed Evie into the manor.

Suddenly, Evie came to a complete stop. She whirled around and glared at him. “Well?”

He raised an eyebrow in response. “Well what, my dear?”

“Well, we are now back in the privacy of your beloved Ashton Hall,” she shot back sarcastically. “Or are you going to pretend that nothing happened, like you always do?”

Daniel frowned at that. He disliked having his words flung back at him because it rarely ever happened. Now, a young slip of a girl who was barely two-thirds his height and half his weight was slinging them right back at him like a damned trebuchet.

“Let us head off to my study, then,” he told her tersely.

“You better not skirt your way around this, Your Grace,” she warned him.

“Certainly not, sweetheart.” He smiled coldly at her, openly admiring the angry flush that rose to her cheeks. “I intend to make everything particularly clear.”

She looked up at him suspiciously.

Trust, it would seem, would not come easily in this union.

Daniel did not say anything more as he led the way to his study.

He had a feeling that Evie would have a great deal more to say, in any case, especially when she heard what he was about to say.