Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

“Well, have you talked some sense into her?”

Alice let out a choked scream at the sound of her husband’s voice.

She glared pointedly at him. “Well, you are certainly one to talk, my dear, considering that it was your impulse that has led us to this situation right now.”

Colin—sweet, handsome, fiercely overprotective, magnificently stubborn—frowned at her. “What do you mean by that?”

“I meant,” she replied in exasperation, “that if you had not dragged us all the way back to London just so you can knock your friend’s door down and demand that he return your sister or you will drag her out of his residence, we would not be in this situation today.”

“You make it sound like I did something wrong.”

“Well, your heart was in the right place⁠—”

“Then, what is the matter?” he demanded. “Why does Evie insist on barricading herself in her rooms and refusing to talk to me?”

Alice looked up at her frustrated husband and reached out to cup his face in her hand with a smile. “By any chance,” she murmured. “Did you ever think to ask Evie her opinion on this matter before you barged into Ashton Hall this morning?”

“Why would I need to do that?” he asked her, confusion visible on his features. “Evie hated Daniel. She did not even want to be left in his care when we departed for our honeymoon.”

Any other person would have been intolerable in his stubbornness, but she still found him woefully endearing. Alice had to pause and wonder if it was indeed marriage that had given her this newfound forbearance, or if her love for this man had made her more… tolerant of his flaws.

Probably both.

“That is because your sister actually cares for him,” she told him softly. “And right now, to her, you are the one who disrupted their marital bliss.”

“Marital bliss?” he echoed in disbelief. “How can those words be used with Daniel and Evie, my sister?”

She sighed. “I know it beggars belief, my darling, but that is precisely what happened in this case. Do you think the Duke of Ashton would have lain with her if he… did not find her to his liking?”

She felt the warmth rushing up to her cheeks. Should she really be talking about the private affairs of others? And to her husband of all people?

But she knew that it was not for lack of intellect that her husband failed to comprehend the furor he had caused, but because he simply refused to believe it.

Yet.

“You know very well that despite his reputation, your friend is rather… selective of those he chooses to associate with,” she spoke slowly. “And if you, one of his closest friends, had left your sister in his care, then she would be the last person he would ever think to be entangled with!”

“Well, I had certainly hoped so!” Colin burst out in indignation. “As it turns out, I was sorely mistaken on that aspect!”

“Then, knowing what you do know about both their personalities, you should know that marrying each other was not something they would have taken lightly.”

He looked most adorably flummoxed at that, and Alice had to resist the urge to lean in and give him a kiss.

“You mean to say that they truly care for one another?” he choked out. “That Daniel Stanton—the bloody Duke of Ash—cares for Evie?”

Alice crossed her arms over her chest. “Why do you find it so incredibly hard to believe?”

“Because this is Daniel we are talking about!” he argued. “God, Alice—the things he does… how could Evie want the same? You have heard of his reputation, but even that barely scratches the surface!”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Oh, you are one to talk, Duke of Thorns. I remember my own father having those very same misgivings when I wanted to marry you!”

He looked thoroughly abashed, but Colin Fitzroy had always been quick to recover.

“As I recall,” he declared with an arrogant tilt of his head, “your father was ecstatic when I announced my desire to seek your hand in marriage.”

“And then, he was none too pleased after everything that went down at your grandmother’s house party.”

She sighed and placed a gentle hand on his arm. “The point of the matter is that Evie truly cares for the Duke of Ashton,” she told him softly. “Believe what you will of their marriage, but I can see that they genuinely care for each other, and now, in her eyes, you have ruined her happiness.”

Pain flashed across his blue-gray eyes, and Alice felt her heart ache for her husband. He truly was a good man who had his sister’s best interests at heart.

However, even with the best intentions, people can still mess up.

“Do you think she will ever forgive me for this?” he muttered harshly.

Alice smiled up at him and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth. “You are siblings, my love, and you care for each other. As long as you make the proper amends, I do not see why dear Evie could not find it in her heart to forgive you.”

“But I have already given her her favorite pastries, and she refuses to even look at them!”

She gave him a pointed look. “Your sister is no longer a child that she should be so easily persuaded by sweets.”

“Oh yes, she was simply persuaded so easily by Daniel Stanton.”

“Colin Fitzroy!” she chastised him with a reproving look.

“What? It is true! You said it yourself!”

Alice sighed. “Just promise me that whatever happens after this, you will not get in their way.”

He looked at her innocently. “I do not understand what you are saying, dear wife.”

“And by that, I mean that you will revoke your instructions to the butler to throw out his card should he come to call.” She sniffed, looking shrewdly at him. “Do not think I do not know for one second what you have been up to.”

“Dearest wife.” He grinned at her. “I did not tell the butler to throw out his card—I told him to throw the gentleman himself out.”

“Even worse!”

He laughed softly and gathered her indignant form into his arms, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head.

“But Daniel is no gentleman,” he told her with that certain glint in his eyes that never failed to make her weak in the knees. “And you know that neither am I.”

She let out a slight squeak when he easily swept her up into his arms and strode off in the direction of their rooms.

“I think I have had enough of discussing the relationship between my best friend and my sister,” he declared as she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her head on his shoulder with a smile.

As he closed the door and proceeded to steal her breath away, Alice could only hope that things would turn out well for her sister-in-law. After all, she was still a hopeless romantic, and even against all odds, she believed that true love would always find a way.

But that did not mean that it did not take its own sweet time navigating the twists and turns of heartbreak along the way.

It was now up to the Duke of Ashton to make his next move.

The breakfast hall was enveloped with tense silence when Evie sullenly walked in with a sullen expression. She wore a plain gray gown, and Jane had done a great job of pinning her hair into a simple style, allowing a single lock to hang down her shoulder.

With a bit of rouge on her cheeks, she looked refreshed, if not for the fact that her blue-gray eyes were dull.

“Good morning, darling!” her grandmother called out to her cheerfully. “Come, sit beside me. The cook has prepared your favorite honey cakes, and the eggs are done just the way you love them.”

Evie’s gaze flicked to the selection of food on the table, but her favorites still did not inspire her appetite.

“There is also your favorite hot chocolate,” the older woman continued, as if she did not take note of her granddaughter’s gloomy disposition.

Evie simply nodded slightly as she took her place beside her grandmother, watching silently as she placed a slice of honey cake and an egg on her plate. The sight of food frankly made her stomach turn, but since she had resolved to make an appearance today, she was going to play the act to the very end.

The truth of the matter was that she had hardly slept a wink at all. Instead, she had tossed and turned in bed until she saw the first rays of sunlight filtering through the gap in her curtains and heard the sweet birdsong heralding the start of a new day.

But breakfasts in London were always held much later than in the country estate, and by the time she went down to the breakfast room, the rest of her family had just begun to dig into their meal.

She picked at her food as her grandmother and Alice discussed the latest happenings over breakfast. From the corner of her eye, she could see Colin observing her keenly. When his gaze dropped to her plate, she felt a surge of vexation.

Is he going to take issue with my lack of appetite as well?

Fortunately, her brother did not comment on her dispassionate attitude towards the honey cake she barely scraped with her fork, or else she might have violently thrown the utensil at him.

But the truth of the matter was that not only was she dreading any sort of conversation with Colin, but she was also at the edge of her seat, wondering when the butler would bring in the silver tray bearing the correspondences for that day—as well as that morning’s scandal sheet.

Lady Spalding would be more than happy to announce to the rest of the ton that after barely one day of marriage, the new Duke and Duchess of Ashton were now living in separate residences.

She stabbed at her cake as she thought of the Earl of Sidmouth and his hateful sister.

No wonder she has remained a spinster. How could anyone want to associate with a woman who would spill her vitriol at whoever she pleased as if they were the cause of her misery?

But the meal passed by in relative peace, and when the dreaded silver tray was finally brought in, no scandal sheet was on it.

Evie frowned slightly. Had Colin perhaps instructed the staff to remove it from the tray?

Fortunately, it was her grandmother who voiced the same question.

“Oh, no Lady Spalding today?” the Dowager Countess of Wellington remarked with some surprise. “I did not know that woman to miss a single day to make fun of her peers.”

“Make fun of her peers?” She heard Colin snort. “More like she simply wants the rest of us to share in her misery.”

Her brother expressed her exact sentiments, but Evie was not about to give him the satisfaction of thinking that they shared anything.

“You did not think to throw it out, did you?” their grandmother exclaimed.

“As much as it bewilders me why you would continue to read through that filth, I did not,” Colin replied indignantly.

Lady Wellington simply smiled at her grandson. “Why, to know more about the enemy, of course!”

“Well, I doubt you will be able to do any more reconnaissance between those hateful lines of her scribbling,” Colin declared as he set his cup down. “I have it on good authority that a small printing shop has just been shut down early this morning.”

Evie frowned. Somehow, she did not think that a minor inconvenience would deter Lady Spalding from writing. If anything, it should only make her want to retaliate and woe unto anyone who crossed her path.

“I also heard some incredible news this morning,” Alice added as she gazed serenely at Evie over her cup. “Phoebe just informed me that the Earl of Sidmouth has left with his sister before daybreak.”

“Left?” Lady Wellington echoed. “Do you mean they hastened to their country estate?”

Alice shook her head. “Not from what I heard, Grandmother. It appears that they boarded a ship to the Americas.”

Now, that piqued Evie’s interest.

It was so unlikely for a gentleman to just uproot himself and board a ship to an entirely new country—and with his sister at that.

This has Daniel’s fingerprints all over it!He did say that he had warned them. It seems that he has finally had enough of those two.

“That should not be unusual.” Colin snorted. “The Earl of Sidmouth is penniless. It is one of the reasons everyone refuses to marry his sister, after all. She has practically no dowry, in addition to having no talent or at least a good temperament to make up for it.”

“Colin!” Alice gasped, but Evie did not hear much disagreement from her.

“Oh dear.” Her grandmother shook her head in disbelief. “He probably owes a great deal of people a great amount of money for him to be leaving so quickly.”

Evie wanted to laugh at the whole sordid turn of events.

More like he owes somebody more than just money!

For the first time since she left Ashton Hall, Evie felt a small smile hovering at the corner of her lips.

Indeed, Daniel had taken the trash out in a very effective manner this time, and she had no complaints about it.