Chapter 26
“Asher? You might want to see this.”
Evelyn stepped back, out of the way, and Asher had to take a minute to realize she meant that he should peer into the display niche, and not at her.
It was so hard not to stare at her.
He had thought that marriage would mean becoming bored, itching to find another to speak to besides his wife.
Yet in his case, he found it was the exact opposite — that all he wanted was more of Evelyn, that the more he knew her, the more he wanted her.
As her fresh scent swirled around him, he closed his eyes, telling himself to focus on what she was showing him, not on her scent or on the way her bottom looked as she leaned over, her dress pulled tight around her.
He was struck in that moment by how strongly he wanted to make it clear – to her and anyone else who might wonder – that she was his, that he would do anything to make sure another man didn’t touch her, didn’t even look at her the way he was.
Then she moved out of the way, and he saw what had caught her attention.
A piece of paper. Folded. Yellowed. He reached in and pulled it out, shocked at what he was staring at when he opened it.
Evelyn leaned up to read it along with him, and, unable to take the time to even leave the room to find somewhere better to sit, he folded his legs beneath him and took a seat right there on the wooden floor of the gallery, his ancestors looking on from their places in their portraits among the landscapes and other statues that dotted the room.
His breath caught in his throat at what was before him, his hands beginning to tremble ever so slightly.
For Asher knew that writing nearly better than his own.
He had read it, again and again, as he had pored over documents, ledgers, all of the information he needed to properly run the estate.
“What is it?” Evelyn said. “What’s wrong?”
“My father wrote this,” he said, his voice flat.
“Are you certain?”
“Completely,” he said. “It’s all there. My father discovered that Lord Norwood — or possibly his predecessor, that part is unclear — was involved in seditious dealings with a foreign power.
If this came out, not only would Lord Norwood be tried for treason, but all of our dealings with our allies would be at risk.
To know that this level of discussion was occurring could be catastrophic. ”
Evelyn leaned over his shoulder to get a better look herself.
“It has all of the details,” she murmured, the slight puff of her breath on the back of his neck distracting him. “It even says where to find the correspondence that proves he was selling intelligence to a foreign agent. Look, there’s a list of accomplices.”
“That’s why Norwood wanted the diamond,” Asher said.
“Knowing this, I would have thought that he was the one who had stolen it,” Evelyn said. “But how could that be possible if the note is here, in our house?”
He liked the way she said that.
“Perhaps he knew that someone stole it—”
“—and he is trying to flush them out, to get it back to himself,” Evelyn finished.
“That’s why he blamed you — he wanted to ensure that your word had no merit, if it ever came out that this note was found.
He would try to turn it around on you and your family.
And he has the perfect tool to do so with his wife.
No one would ever suspect her of rumor-mongering, for she is always full of news about others. ”
“What I don’t understand is why he would involve you,” Asher said. “Why forcing us together would benefit him.”
“For distraction,” Evelyn said with a small shrug. “Knowing who I am and what I am interested in, I make an easy person to blame. Just look at how everyone believed that my father was involved at the mere mention of his name, simply because he also enjoys puzzles.”
The fury was building within him, but Asher attempted to maintain control of it — at least for now. Evelyn didn’t deserve any of his annoyance, and he didn’t want her to see him in such a state.
He would save that for Norwood himself.
“Do you think…” Evelyn trailed off, and Asher knew exactly what she was going to say, even if she was uncertain about saying it.
“Do I think that he killed my father? Possibly my brother?”
Evelyn nodded slightly.
“It is most certainly a possibility,” Asher said with a curse. “I need to confront Norwood.”
She watched him, some fear filling her eyes, but she nodded in understanding.
“Promise me you will be careful when you do so?”
He looked down at her, seeing the emotion playing in her eyes, knowing she didn’t want to speak it aloud, even though a huge part of him wished that she would say what she was feeling, so at least he would know.
“I will be careful,” he said gruffly, as he realized that what he was most concerned about was coming home to her.
He had to make sure that nothing happened to her.
“This could completely destroy our reputation, depending on what happens,” he warned her.
She snorted. “Asher,” she said, tilting her head. “Do you think that matters at all to me?”
“Well—”
She moved closer, trailing her fingers up his shirt, until they wrapped around his neck, leaning in so that she could look directly at him.
“What matters to me most is that you come home, do you understand?”
“Where else would I go?”
She fixed him with a glare. “Norwood has resorted to the worst measures before, likely based only on supposition. Once he knows that you have discovered the truth, you will likely be in even greater danger. What will you say to him?”
At the moment, Asher didn’t know — nor did he care. All he could think about was that Norwood had taken away his father, his brother, so much from his family — and finally, after all of these years of pent-up emotion without any outlet, he now had a face upon which he could fix his vengeance.
“Asher…” she said softly. “I know what you’re thinking, but before you do anything rash—”
“Don’t tell me what to do,” he bit out before he could stop himself, his restraint slipping. “You have no idea what I’ve been through, nor what I’ve felt.”
“You’re right,” she said, lifting her hands off him and to her sides. “I don’t. But if it were me—”
“But it is not you,” he cut her off, frowning at her. “It is me. I must deal with this how I best see fit.”
“But—”
“I’m a duke, Evelyn. Let me do what I choose to do. Everyone else seems to understand that.”
Before he could say another word, he rose and brushed by her, attempting to look past her, despite the unmistakable shock in her expression.
He could make her happy again later. He couldn’t worry about that now.
Now he had other things on his mind.
Most specifically, the Earl of Norwood.
Evelyn held her emotions in check as she watched Asher go. He barely stopped for anything, but for his cloak and hat, which the startled butler passed to him when Asher barked out his demand.
The butler had tried to tell him that his mother and sister had gone out for the afternoon, but Asher hadn’t stopped to listen as he had been far too intent on his destination.
Evelyn branched off to the front parlor, where she watched him through the grand window. Asher didn’t wait for a carriage, but instead, the moment his groom brought out his favorite horse, he leapt on his back and took off down the drive without a backward glance behind him.
Which told her all she needed to know.
He had certainly been clear enough with his words. He didn’t care about how she felt. It didn’t bother him that he had taken out his anger on her.
All that mattered — his priority — was his family, and finding justice.
She understood, to an extent. He had lived with this grief, this yearning to take vengeance, somehow, someway, for years. She just wished he had taken a moment to sit with the knowledge, to rationalize his next steps, instead of acting without thought.
The weight of all they had uncovered fell upon her as she watched his broad shoulders lead the horse down the drive until she could no longer see him. Finally, she allowed the first tear to fall down her cheek.
She opened not only her mind but her heart, allowing everything to flow in and through her.
For her, this was no longer merely a partnership.
It was not an obligation.
It was not a marriage being held together by their mutual respect, preventing society from speaking further about them.
She loved him.
She loved Asher for all he was. Not only for the warm, caring, charming man he showed her now and then, the one he had been before responsibility and obligation had found him.
She also loved that upright, rigid duke, for she could understand what made him the way he was, and why he took the world upon his shoulders. In fact, she respected him for it.
And, she realized, she would do anything to help him be happy, in whatever role he decided to take on. He didn’t have to be one or the other. He could be both, and she would love him equally for it.
If he let her.
The fact that she had such depth of feelings for him only made his own flippant disregard of her all the worse.
For she knew that whatever she felt for him, he still felt as he always had for her.
He respected her intellect, enjoyed spending time with her, and was obviously attracted to her.
But how could she love someone so strongly and constantly be in his presence — in his home, in his bed, in his life — when he didn’t feel the same for her?
It caused a crushing weight to descend upon her chest, and she resolved that she would try to get to the heart of the matter, to determine what he felt — and if it wasn’t the same, then perhaps she should try living in the country, to see if it might make this marriage slightly more bearable.
But first, she had to wait.
Wait for him to return. To see if Norwood would confess. If Asher were believed.
She couldn’t think about him not returning, for it was nearly too hard to bear.
But the most important question of all was what would be left of the two of them once the truth was finally spoken aloud?