Chapter 2
“My Lord, His Grace, the Duke of Harrowden, to see you.”
Silence stretched as Leonard attempted to think of an excuse—any excuse—to explain his daughter’s behavior and out-of-line words. Evangeline could practically see the gears and wheels inside the man’s head spinning and whirring as he desperately scrambled to retake control of the situation.
“Ah… Your Grace, we were not expecting company today!” Leonard explained with an awkward and hasty half-bow.
He was practically fumbling over himself to put the Duke at ease as he moved forward.
Gone was the ferocious man who yelled at them a few moments ago.
But the Duke of Harrowden did not seem the slightest bit interested in anything that the viscount had to say.
His eyes were on Evangeline. She glued hers on the floor, her face burning with shame.
I guess it is a small mercy that he chose not to comment on it.
“I have come to call upon my future bride,” the Duke spoke in his naturally deep timbre, and it was not posed as a question but rather a statement. It implied that, whether such a thing was permissible at this hour or not, he expected to be hosted properly.
“Well, of course!” Leonard quickly said, snapping at the butler. “Please, have tea brought up at once for His Grace and take his coat.”
“That will not be necessary; I simply came to meet my bride and speak with her about a few rather pressing topics. Is she here?”
Evangeline could not tell from his tone of voice if he cared about getting to know Anastasia before the wedding. He did not even know his bride’s name or face, so why the sudden visit? He seemed wholly and utterly bored to even have to subject himself to speaking to them in the first place.
She would admit, however, that it was rather difficult to reconcile the man that her mother had been speaking about just a moment ago, hinting that the man was a veritable devil on two legs, and the man that was standing before her right now.
She ventured a few peeks at him, but her face was still aflame with embarrassment as she stood there mutely, attempting to catch her breath and slow down her rapid heartbeat.
The Duke stood in front of her, well-dressed and groomed even better.
More than that, he was painfully handsome.
Deep brown eyes that were set under a prominent brow bone, but the rest of his features were equally defined, so that one thing did not seem to overpower any of the other parts of his face.
His jawline seemed as if it would cut glass should he will it.
He had the broad shoulders and well-muscled frame of a soldier, and from the way that he had already seemed to examine just about every corner of the room, she bet that she was not far off.
A devil with the face of an angel.
If Evangeline were being even more honest with herself? He looked as if he could have stepped right out of the pages of one of the books that she was not supposed to be reading. It was unnerving, and she did not like it.
“Have you lost your voice, Wilkins? Where is my bride?”
“Your bride—” Evangeline opened her mouth to tell the Duke that there was no bride here for him, that his reputation had managed to scare her away, but her mother pinched her the moment that she attempted to open her mouth.
“Ow!” Wincing in discomfort, she started to rub at the spot on her side where her mother had injured her, but Serenity quickly stepped to her side and took her arm.
“Sister, why does the Duke carry a sword? Surely, he does not mean us harm?” She whispered in a shaky voice.
“Shh, now,” Evangeline hissed. The last thing that any of them needed was for the Duke to become offended and draw said sword.
They were hardly the only ones in the room intimidated by the Duke.
Father seemed to almost tremble when the man looked at him directly.
The viscount would often boast of his hunting prowess, but the women in his family knew the truth.
Were the Duke to feel the need to draw his sword, there would be little to no competition to greet him.
“You see, Your Grace. Anastasia is not here because… Well—”
Evangeline could see the moment that her father realized that if he had said that his daughter was feeling under the weather or any other excuse, he might have been able to buy them a little more time.
“There is a small… situation with my daughter,” Leonard said quickly, as if that would make it better.
Evangeline’s eyes were glued to the muscle in the Duke’s jaw and the way that it tensed at the news. He was clearly annoyed by their evasiveness.
The silence in the room stretched, and the Duke waited expectantly for Leonard to speak, and when the older man did not do so, the look that crossed the Duke’s face could only be described as utter fury.
“Well, then, what reason do you have in keeping her from me and wasting my time?”
He no longer bothered to look at the viscount as he spoke.
“Well, you see, Your Grace, the reason that she cannot come to speak with you… is, well…” Leonard laughed humorlessly, rubbing the back of his neck as he stammered.
With every half-answer, it felt as if their family was losing at a test that the Duke had placed in front of them.
Evangeline did not like to lose at anything at all.
“It is because she is not here, Your Grace,” Evangeline blurted.
Her father gave her a stare that could have curdled milk, but she forced herself to keep her spine straight and her head held high.
Slowly, the Duke’s brown eyes slid from her father to her, and the sheer intensity there nearly stole her breath right out of her chest. His head tilted slightly to the side as he gave her his full and undiluted attention.
It was direct enough that Evangeline almost regretted speaking.
Her mouth went dry, but her whole body seemed to warm up for reasons she did not quite understand.
“She has left home, Your Grace. My sister will not be marrying you,” Evangeline said with every last shred of firmness that she possessed.
Evangeline was utterly paralyzed under the Duke’s striking gaze.
She felt laid bare in front of him in a way that was deeply uncomfortable but also…
curious. What was it that he was looking for in her expression?
Was he simply staring at her strange eyes, one brown, one blue?
Did he find them disturbing, like everybody else?
It ought not to matter at all what his opinion of her was, but he currently held more power over this situation than she did.
And yet, instead of an explanation, all he said was, “Interesting.”
That was it.
That was the only word the Duke said to her, and she had no idea how to take it.
He glanced around the room once more at all the people frozen and waiting for his reaction before they moved forward.
He moved without a care in the world as he trailed his fingers over the back of the settee before sinking himself into it slowly, as if he owned it.
He let his long arms drape over either side of it and shrugged softly.
“Well, I was promised a bride, so I shall not be leaving this house without one,” the Duke said, and Evangeline could not help but think that he was looking at her a little too hard now.
Serenity squeaked and grabbed hold of Evangeline’s arm tightly as she half-hid behind her eldest sister. She could hardly blame her; the Duke was intimidating. Their father opened his mouth to speak, but the Duke’s slicing gaze silenced him.
“To put things plainly, the banns have been read, and we will not pretend that any of you are ignorant of the fact that my reputation is already in tatters. Even with the title of duke, there is only so much leniency that the ton is willing to grant,” the Duke explained, nodding toward them as he spoke.
“I shall not have yet another rumor abounding about me come tomorrow’s gossip sheet that my bride jilted me, died, or ran away from marrying me. No matter the reason.”
“Well, as soon as she is located and brought home—” Leonard started to explain, but the Duke lifted a single hand to silence the older man.
“I do not have the luxury of time for you to locate your wayward daughter. If she is not here, then I shall have one of your other daughters.”
The viscountess gasped and seemed to go weak in the knees as their father started to stammer and tumble over himself.
“One of my other… well… perhaps.” Father cleared his throat and composed himself, standing a touch taller as he reached for Serenity, all but forcing her out from behind her sister’s back and into the spotlight.
“Yes, of course, Your Grace. This is Serenity.”
Evangeline wanted to grab Serenity back to her.
She hated that her sister was starting to cry.
Could their father truly not see that she was trembling?
Could he be so ignorant of their feelings that he could not see how frightened of the Duke she was?
She was the worst possible bride for a man like that.
All Serenity wanted was love, happiness, softness…
and the Duke was going to be none of those things. Evangeline could tell.
Right there at that moment, she decided that she did not like him, even if she knew what she was going to have to do.
I cannot let him ruin Serenity’s life.
Evangeline clasped her hands together and stepped in front of Serenity.
She wore no smile, and she certainly did not bat her lashes at the man nor try any of the other silly courtship nonsense that her mother was always attempting to force her to do.
“I shall do it. You need a bride. I volunteer to marry you in my sister’s stead. ”
Nothing could have prepared her for the lupine smile that flickered over the Duke’s features. Had she not been watching the Duke so intently, she would have missed it entirely.
Just a blink, and it was gone.