Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

Among the many rules that he established for those he had previously had a liaison with, these two were of paramount importance to Daniel—they were never to seek him out in his place of residence, especially in broad daylight, and he was never to seek them.

Standing outside Cobham House, he had already broken one of them.

I have broken far more for Evie. What is another one, really?

“Y-Your Grace!” the butler stammered when he opened the door and found Daniel standing before him with the coldest expression known to mankind.

“Inform the lady of the house that the Duke of Ashton is here to see her!” he snapped at the poor man.

“B-but your card⁠—”

Daniel leveled his frigid gaze on the man, and the butler turned as white as a sheet hung out to dry. He was also fluttering in such a manner that a soft breeze might even knock him out.

“There is no need for a card, Wesley,” a husky voice called out from the back. “His Grace is an old acquaintance of mine.”

The Marchioness of Cobham stood before him in a burgundy gown with a decolletage that was much too low and a bodice much too tight to actually be considered proper. A small smile played on her lips, her dark eyes shining as she regarded him.

“Do not stand there at the door, Your Grace.” She laughed lightly. “Do come in. Otherwise, the gossips will label me as a most ungracious hostess, in addition to my other less-than-savory epithets.”

Daniel did not even give the butler a passing glance as he strode through the door and followed the Marchioness into the sunny parlor. When she saw the slight frown that marred his brow, she let out a low laugh.

“You disapprove of my choice of decor?” she asked him with an arched eyebrow.

He turned to glare at her. “I did not come here to discuss your decor. You may damn well do whatever you want.”

“Oh?” She smiled. “Then, pray tell, what are you here for?”

“I need to know who you have been talking to,” he snapped. “Specifically, who you have been talking to about me.”

Lady Cobham stiffened, her eyes narrowing on him. “I do not know what you are insinuating, Your Grace. You, of all people, should know that there is hardly anyone who would talk to someone like me.”

There were those self-righteous idiots who would give a woman like the Marchioness a wide berth, if only because she made no pretenses. She was audacious and brutally honest to a fault, and while some might find such a woman to be abrasive, she was a titled noblewoman, and so she was still afforded the deference that was her due.

“I meant if you have been talking to anyone about my… parentage.”

The word left a bitter taste in his mouth. Ever since he had been old enough to recognize that he was mostly alone in this world, he had not given any importance to his origins. It was only for the sake of Caroline—and then, Evie—that he upheld appearances as the distant cousin who was fortunate enough to inherit the titles and supposed wealth of the late Duke of Ashton.

In truth, there was hardly any wealth when Daniel finally assumed the title. The coffers were empty, and Caroline was already struggling to maintain the glorious reputation of one of the oldest families in England.

“And why would I do that?” Lady Cobham looked properly offended. “I am no gossip. You know how I despise such dealings.”

He looked pointedly at her. “So, you did not talk about our… time together? You have not been talking to Lady Spalding, have you?”

She laughed airily. “Good heavens, no! Your Grace, did you truly think me to be so nostalgic as to reminisce about what we have rightfully left in the past? And with such a vulgar scandal writer, at that. You offend me, Your Grace.”

“Just answer the question, Georgiana.”

“Of course not.” She bristled. “I am happy with the life I have now. I have a husband whom I have grown to adore more than life itself. We might not be compatible in everything, but…Why would I risk all of that?”

Her eyes softened visibly when she spoke about the Marquess. It was clear to him that she spoke sincerely about her affection for the man.

“I am well aware that you have found your happiness with your bride,” she continued, pouring each of them a cup of tea. “I saw no reason to disrupt all that. Why should I risk my reputation and make a cuckold of my husband before the eyes of the ton?” She paused and then added, “Perhaps someone saw me in the wedding breakfast and thought⁠—”

“Of course, someone thought something,” he gritted out. “That was precisely the reason why you were not invited to the wedding, Georgiana!”

The Marchioness paled and pressed a trembling hand to her lips. “Dear God in heaven!” she gasped, her eyes wide. She shook her head as if to clear her thoughts. “I apologize for my carelessness, Your Grace. I truly do.”

Daniel ran his hand through his hair in frustration. Taking his anger out on the poor woman would do him no good.

“You are forgiven. It is no fault of yours that there are simply those who would think the worst of everyone,” he grunted.

She nodded, although she appeared to have lost most of her usual sensual confidence. “I hope you find whoever is behind this Lady Spalding nonsense.”

Oh, believe me, I already know where to call in these debts.

He stood up. “Thank you, My Lady. Worry not, I know how to take care of these things.”

“I am quite certain you do,” she murmured into her cup.

He nodded subtly at her. “I shall be on my way, then. You do not need to see me out the door.”

She gave him another smile—more friendly than sultry as she waved him away. “My door is always open to my friends—my true friends.”

As Daniel walked back to the carriage, he looked up at the bleak sky. Overhead, the clouds had begun to gather. In the distance, thunder rumbled, a portent of a downpour.

Rain would not be the only thing coming down upon London in the coming days.

There were those who had apparently been enjoying too many carefree days that they had forgotten just what he was capable of.

It was about time he paid them a visit to remind them just who they had dared to offend.

How quaint—even the weather seems to mirror what I am feeling right now.

Evie stared out the window at the gathering clouds overhead. Just a few days ago, it had been exceptionally sunny. She could still recall the warm sunlight that danced on her skin on her wedding day. Now, the clouds were rolling in, and there was even the faint rumbling of thunder in the distance.

“Evie?”

She looked up from her position on the window seat to Alice, who was standing before her with a cup of hot tea.

“Here.” Her new sister-in-law handed her a cup with a sympathetic smile. “You need to at least drink something. You have not eaten since you arrived.”

Nothing, not even her favorite dishes, could entice her to eat. Colin had even tried bringing her her favorite sweets from the new confectionery shop down Oxford Street, but she would not even talk to him.

All she wanted was Daniel, but he did not want her—at least not as much as she wanted him—and it hurt.

“Thank you, Alice.” She smiled at the brunette, accepting the cup. She looked down at the dark liquid swirling in it, allowing the freshly brewed tea to warm her cold hands.

Everything seemed so cold now, so bleak. It was like all the world was leached of color in the span of a few hours.

“Your Grace.”

Both of them looked up at the butler, and Evie realized that he was referring to Alice, not her. She looked back down at her cup with much bitterness in her heart.

“There are guests who wish to see you.”

Alice looked at the butler in confusion. “But I was not expecting company⁠—”

“We are not guests, we are family,” a bold voice announced.

A flash of red and Scarlett sailed into the parlor as if she owned the entirety of Blackthorn Estate, with Phoebe trailing quietly after her. Both of them sported looks of surprise when they saw Evie on the window seat with Alice.

“Evie?” Phoebe called out with a soft smile. “You must forgive us for rudely staring, but we did not expect to see you here…”

At the sound of her best friend’s gentle voice, Evie felt her lower lip tremble, and then the floodgates burst open as her friends looked at her with shock and helplessness.

“He has ruined everything!” she sobbed. “Everything was wonderful, and he ruined it all!”

“That… that fiend!” Scarlett burst out furiously, rushing over to her. “What did that useless Duke of Ash do to you, dear? Why, you must allow me to teach him a lesson! He should know how to treat his wife better—it has not even been a week since you were married!”

“N-no, it was not Daniel.” Evie hiccupped.

“I am afraid she is referring to my husband,” Alice sighed in disappointment. “I mean to have a word with him after all of this, I assure you.”

She looked so fierce that for a moment, Evie felt some sympathy for her brother, but it all vanished in an instant. Just earlier, she had heard her grandmama giving Colin the dressing down he sorely needed, but he still refused to admit he did anything wrong.

As if he was well within his rights to storm into his sister and her husband’s home out of some misguided brotherly overprotectiveness! Perhaps he had already forgotten that it was he who had entrusted Evie to Daniel in the first place!

“Why? What did your fool of a brother do?” Scarlett demanded with her hands on her hips.

Tears streamed hot and fast down Evie’s cheeks as her friends all gathered to comfort her, bringing her tea and biscuits and even a daintily embroidered lace handkerchief to wipe her tears and snot.

“E-everything was going so well,” she spoke haltingly. “D-Daniel a-and I w-were just beginning to f-find happiness, and t-then he c-came and ruined it all!”

Alice rubbed soothing circles on her back as Evie fought to steady her breathing through her sobbing. She knew that she looked a rather disgraceful sight right now, but her friends only regarded her with kindness, sympathy, and a bit of rage on Scarlett’s part.

“Brothers,” the redhead scoffed with unbridled disdain. “They think they can order us about, when goodness knows what kind of tomfoolery they have been up to!”

At her words, Alice bit down her smile as a telltale blush spread across her cheeks.

“Dearest, can you not talk this out with your husband?” Phoebe encouraged her softly. “Surely the Duke of Ashton will listen to you. We have seen the way he looks at you, and I think Scarlett will agree with me when I say that he will listen to whatever you say.”

“Truer words have never been spoken.” Scarlett nodded in affirmation. “Evie has the man wrapped tightly around her little finger. He would burn the world for her if it dared to even look at her the wrong way.”

Phoebe smiled at their outspoken friend. “I thought you did not like him that much.”

“I did not at first,” Scarlett admitted. “But then I saw how he and Evie looked at each other, and I knew that it was a foregone conclusion. That man would leap off a cliff if Evie told him to.”

“Well now, he does not even want to talk to me,” Evie told them despondently. “He even says that he will have our marriage annulled. I am not even sure this is possible since we…well…it was consummated. But then again, he can blackmail anyone to do anything so…”

“There are only a handful of marriages that have ever been annulled,” Alice assured her. “I am sure that even if he were to try it, he would be met with very little success.”

“You must not have heard the things he is capable of,” her younger sister sighed. “To marry Evie, he obtained a special license so they could be wed within a week at Ashton Hall.”

Scarlett crossed her arms over her chest and smirked. “Jumping into marriage and then demanding an annulment right after? Is he not afraid that the Archbishop of Canterbury would regard him as a fool?”

Phoebe peered into Evie’s eyes with great compassion. “His Grace has never struck me as an impulsive person. Why would he want an annulment after he had been so set on marrying?”

Evie knew the answer to that, but it was not something she could tell anyone. These were things that only Daniel and the Dowager Duchess of Ashton had the right to disclose.

Because he thinks he does not deserve happiness. Because he thinks he has no right to a future with me, even if there is nothing in this world I want more than him.

“I think I might know the answer to that.”

Scarlett reached into her reticule and pulled out a wrinkled copy of that morning’s publication from Lady Spalding. She threw the paper onto the floor with a look of utter contempt.

“That heifer nearly ruined Evie’s reputation when she wrote that the reason behind their hasty marriage was because the Duke of Ashton had already seduced her.” She snorted. “She is up to her usual tricks again, but this time, she insinuated that he is actually the bastard son of the former Duke, not his distant nephew.”

Alice frowned at the scandal sheet. “Why exactly did the Duke wish to marry so quickly, then?”

“Because he wished to protect me,” Evie told her mournfully. “Because the Earl of Sidmouth wagered that he would be the one to win my hand and acquire my dowry for himself.”

“What an utterly contemptible person!” Phoebe gasped, horrified. “In that case, the Duke is justified in his actions, even if they were a bit extreme.”

“I would have to agree, though.” Alice shook her head. “I know the Earl of Sidmouth, and he is not as nice a person as he pretends to be. If he meant to marry Evie, then he would find a way to do that, even through underhanded means.”

“But what do we do now?” Scarlett groaned.

“I will need to talk to Colin,” Alice said resolutely. She squeezed Evie’s hand in reassurance. “It will all turn out well, my dear—you’ll see.”

“Thank you, Alice, everyone.” Evie smiled weakly at the ladies around her. “But I think I would like to retire to my room now. It has been an exhausting day for me…”

“All right.” Her sister-in-law smiled sadly at her. “I shall have your supper sent to your room later.”

Evie nodded in gratitude to the brunette and muttered her excuses to her dearest friends.

She appreciated their efforts to cheer her up, she truly did. However, it was far more painful to sit there and have them comfort her when she would much rather be alone.

Evie climbed into bed and drew the covers over her head. Just last night, she had fallen asleep in Daniel’s arms to the sound of his heartbeat. Now, she was all alone in her old bed.

She had never felt as cold as she did then.