Chapter 10
Evelyn was enjoying this dinner far more than she should.
It was what she had sought when she requested the privacy — the Asher who was warmer, more thoughtful, caring about what she said and not just what he had to do.
But now she was worried she was liking it a little too much.
For what would happen tomorrow, when he returned to his usual, ducal self?
With that thought in mind, she deliberately shifted the topic to something much more practical and a reminder of who they were and what they were doing here together.
“Tomorrow, I would like to go to the Eastclere Gallery,” she announced during a break in conversation.
His head snapped up, his brows raising.
“Why?”
“I told you that I would like to assist in determining who wants it to seem like we were involved in this. What better way than returning to where it happened to discover the true culprit?”
“Or it could result in us being further suspected. How would we even request such a thing from the Marquess of Eastclere? He prefers to show off his collections, not the spaces where they used to be. I’m sure he is rather embarrassed to have lost such a precious item.”
“He won’t even know we are there,” she said. “He is not in residence this week.”
“How do you know this?” Asher asked, blinking at her.
“Verity is his cousin. She said she can help us gain private access.”
“They are going to allow the people suspected of stealing one item near the rest of his prizes?”
“Lord Eastclere cannot believe we are at fault in any way,” she said, wrinkling her nose at him. “Can he?”
Asher nodded, although begrudgingly. “I am sure you are right,” he said, before his expression shifted to one much more focused, strategic. “It might help us discover any inconsistencies or overlooked details.”
“I was also hoping to speak to some of the servants, if possible,” she added, and Asher nodded thoughtfully, running his thumb and index finger over his chin as he listened to her.
“This means a lot to you,” he noted.
“I do not like being suspected of something I didn’t do,” she said firmly. “I am also still annoyed that someone would think they could control my future.”
“Has it turned out so badly?” he asked, and while his words came off as confident, she saw that flicker in his eyes that needed some reassurance that she didn’t despise being married to him.
She wasn’t sure how to tell him that it rather depended on the moment.
Currently, she was more than happy with it.
They sat together for a few more minutes, discussing their plans for the next day, until the servants cleared away the dessert dishes. They stood simultaneously, Asher quickly rounding the table so that he could pull back her chair.
He was so close that Evelyn could feel the heat of his body behind her.
If she leaned back an inch, her shoulders would brush against his chest. What would it feel like to have him near, to feel his lips on her bare skin?
She was startled out of her reverie by the low rumble of his voice, and she came back to herself, shaking off the sensation that she had been about to arch her neck into him.
Why did he have to be so handsome?
The air was charged between them as Asher stepped to the side and offered his arm.
“Allow me to walk you up?”
She nodded as he led her from the room, until they were climbing the stairs in silence, their bedrooms their destinations. So close to one another, yet still with that barrier between them.
They stopped in the corridor before Evelyn’s door, and she turned toward him. They had taken so much time at dinner, it seemed that nearly everyone else was abed, and it was just the two of them remaining, in their own world.
She tilted her head up, catching him staring at her lips, and wondered if he might kiss her, surprised to find she wanted it more than she ever thought possible.
He stepped closer, and she didn’t move away, her eyes exploring his entire face. That hard ridge between his brows, the deep blue of his eyes, the lips that were far more sensuous than any man had a right to own.
He paused a breath above her as she exhaled, ready, waiting, her head lifted, her lips parted, her eyes beginning to close—
“Goodnight.”
Her eyes flew open at the word, only to find him beginning to back up.
The words of objection were on her lips, nearly leaving her mouth, but luckily, she reigned them in.
“Goodnight,” she said, clearing her throat and crossing her arms in front of her to defend herself, recognizing the space he was putting between them.
She realized then that she had asked the wrong question at dinner.
She shouldn’t have asked him if he was planning to take lovers outside of the marriage bed. She should have asked him if he was planning on taking a lover within the marriage bed.
That would have given her far more clarification on what to expect. He had answered her without hesitation, and while perhaps she was not ready to be intimate with him, she wouldn’t mind a little affection. Some recognition that this was more than a friendship. More than a partnership.
But perhaps he didn’t want that. In fact, she had no idea if he was even attracted to her.
He was likely the most handsome man she had ever seen, and she— well, she knew some thought her beautiful, but everyone had different tastes, did they not?
She had always considered that her hair was too straight, her nose too big, her curves too rounded.
Perhaps Asher felt the same.
She had to remember that this was merely a circumstance of two people learning to live together after being forced toward one another, she told herself as she opened the door behind her, nodded, and escaped into her room.
Even as she knew with every part of her that she was lying to herself.
Asher tried to shake himself awake for this early morning venture to the Eastclere Gallery. He had stayed up far too late, standing out his window, his mind elsewhere, still standing outside Evelyn’s doorway.
He had seen the expression on her face last night after dinner. He had been so close to kissing her, especially when she had looked up at him so invitingly, her eyes expectant.
He had hesitated because he could feel, deep within him, that something was growing between them. Something dangerous. Because of that, he had to keep his head.
For he had far too much on his plate to concern himself with adding another person he cared about to his life.
He had already lost two people he loved. He wasn’t going to allow that possibility to happen again. It was far better to close himself off, to maintain that distance.
She was his wife. She would manage his house, stand at his side when required, and otherwise, he would continue to live his life as he always had.
He could admit to himself, however, that this marriage was becoming more complicated than he had ever meant it to be.
What he did know was that walking away from her last night was one of the hardest things he had ever had to do.
Now here he was, waiting for her in the front foyer after she had taken breakfast in her bedroom.
“Where are you off to?” his mother asked, striding toward him with her usual efficiency.
“I am accompanying Evelyn to visit a friend,” he said, telling her a half-truth, not wanting to pull his mother into their actual reasons for the visit.
“That sounds like more of a task for me. Or Thalia,” she considered. “You have far more important things to concern yourself with than chasing after your wife like a puppy.”
Of course, Evelyn chose that moment to walk up behind his mother, her eyes rounding and the smile dropping from her face. She quickly returned it when she saw they had noticed her, ever the picture of calm.
“Good morning, your grace. Your grace,” she said to each of them in turn.
“Your gown complements your coloring, your grace,” his mother said to his wife, apparently in her attempt to maintain politeness after speaking an insult Evelyn had overheard. It was the closest his mother would ever come to an apology, for she would never truly admit she was wrong.
“Thank you,” Evelyn murmured before turning to Asher. “Shall we go?”
He nodded as they bade his mother farewell then departed for the waiting carriage.
When they settled in the seat, a small smile wavered on her lips before she tempered it and stared him in the eye. “Good boy,” she said as she would a dog, playing off his mother’s words. They both stared at one another, waiting a beat, until they simultaneously broke out into laughter.
“I’m so sorry,” he said once they had collected themselves. “She should never have said that.”
“Her opinion of me has become rather clear, as polite as she might be to my face,” Evelyn said with some chagrin.
“It has naught to do with you,” he said. “She had plans for me that our marriage disrupted. She is… disappointed in me, in the rumors. In how our family life has played out in general, I suppose.”
Before Evelyn could say anything, he held up one palm.
“I had no intentions of following through with her plans, but they remained a possibility while I was unmarried.”
“I see,” Evelyn said softly, her eyes darting away from him. “Hopefully, in time, she can forgive my existence in your life.”
“I do not think you should concern yourself with that,” he said. “My mother has had a difficult time over the past few years. She has always liked things a certain way, and since her entire world was upended, she has attempted to retain tighter control.”
“I understand,” Evelyn murmured, and he supposed she did after the trajectory of her own life had so drastically changed.
They rode in silence for some time, Evelyn looking out the window, until the carriage pulled around to Eastclere Manor, which looked much different in the light of day.
It loomed before them like an ancient, brooding giant, its sun-bleached stone setting the facade in stark relief, with twin rows of windows glinting like watchful eyes.
The neat gravel sweep before the entrance was scarred by fresh ruts from carriage wheels, a reminder of all the traffic that had come through the house not long ago.
“Is Lady Verity meeting us here?” Asher asked as they walked up the stairs to the front door.
“No, but she arranged everything for us,” Evelyn said, likely not even realizing that she pressed closer against his side as they neared the front door.
He rather liked it—not that he would ever say so.
“An attendant is to meet us and tour us through the gallery.”
“We are to be watched, then.”
“I assume so,” she said. “Likely by more than one person.”
“Will they be discreet?”
“Let us hope so.”
They exchanged a look as Asher knocked on the door.
They were back to where this had all begun — where they had begun.
He could only hope this visit would provide them answers, for he had a feeling that until they truly put the past behind them, it would be difficult to take any true steps forward.