Chapter 4 #3
Alice, who could be sweet with Henry, patient with Eveline, and firm with any steward who tried to muddle an account, wore at that moment the expression of a duchess who had decided that obsessed men deserved to bleed a little for love without the world coming to an end.
‘Good?’ he repeated.
‘Yes. Let him fight for her and win her.’
‘Alice…’
‘Not with his fists, if possible. And preferably without your having to step in front of him when he truly goes mad. The two of you have already contributed enough to the afternoon’s brutal education.
But if Arden loves her, he will have to prove it to her.
Not to you or to me. To himself, and most especially to her. ’
‘Is this a test, like when you sent me that infamous note to see whether I could bear your past, Alice?’ It was something that had passed between them, but that was another very interesting story which at the moment was beside the point.
‘Of course it is,’ she affirmed without the least shame.
Oliver rested his hands on the edge of the desk and bowed his head.
‘This could turn out very badly.’
‘I know.’
‘Eveline could end up hurt.’
‘She is already hurt. She thinks she will have to marry a man who cannot tolerate her at all and that the two of them will ruin their lives.’
That pierced the duke’s last reluctance. Alice came closer and ran her fingers through his hair, careful not to graze the swollen cheekbone. Oliver closed his eyes a moment.
‘Arden has gone to London to obtain a special license; he meant to marry as soon as possible. ’
‘Then he will have a surprise when he returns and discovers we are not at home. ’
‘I have never known how to understand her,’ Oliver confessed. ‘I believed that if I protected her enough, if I kept her away from the wrong men, she would be all right. But it seems I shall never understand her. I want her to be happy, Alice. ’
‘You do not need to understand everything in order to love her better. And I assure you that one way or another she will be happy. Eveline is every bit as strong and as cunning as you. Do not underestimate her. ’
‘That sounds very reasonable.’
‘It is.’
‘I detest it when you are reasonable after I have been punched.’
Alice grazed the corner of his lip with the handkerchief again.
‘And I detest that you brawl with the man who has just become engaged to your sister, but we are both making concessions this afternoon.’
Oliver let out a low, tired laugh and drew her towards him enough to rest his forehead against hers.
‘You say we must go to London?’
‘Yes. Let us allow Eveline to decide what she wants to do. Give her room to breathe, but do not abandon her. There is a difference, though you Hartwells tend to discover such subtleties after breaking some piece of furniture.’
He looked at the fallen chairs, the spilled ink… his study was a disaster. His study? His whole life had gone to ruin that very afternoon!
‘Arden will pursue her without rest.’
‘Of course he will. I am counting on it. ’
‘And if he hurts her, I shall have to kill him. ’
‘Have a little faith in him. And if that fails, remember that Eveline will be able to manage him. ’
‘Curious. Arden told me he would marry her because only he is capable of managing her. ’
‘Then he will have another surprise when he discovers how strong and brave your sister is. ’
‘I do not want either of them to suffer, Alice. And what if it does not turn out well?’
The duchess smiled at him then. She looked very sure of herself.
‘Eveline will have to lay siege to him and make him confess that he loves her, just as I did with a certain very stubborn duke. ’
Oliver studied her for a long instant and, despite the pain in his cheekbone, the social ruin they faced, and the certainty that London was about to become a battlefield with elegant carriages, he felt something like hope.
Very small, but there it was. Hope, after all.
‘I have seen it, my love,’ he noted wearily. ‘Arden will not stop. I have seen in him the same determination I had with you. So I am going to trust your judgment and my instinct. ’
Alice raised a hand and set to rights the collar of his coat, still disordered from the fight.
‘Good,’ she repeated. ‘Then let him fight and prove the truth to her, for only thus will Eveline agree to marry him. Now forget the problems for a moment and be a conqueror. ’
‘What?’
‘Oh, come now! The great Duke of Statony plunged into a brawl… You look like a fierce warrior. Have you not realized that I have wanted you since I came through that door, my Spartan? I closed it for a very particular reason.’
‘Alice?’ In truth he had not realized what she mentioned. His arousal was instantaneous.
‘Make love to me on the desk. I cannot wait any longer,’ she ordered.
There he was lost. How thrilling! They had never been intimate outside the bedchamber.
‘As my duchess wishes,’ he said, and then began to kiss her and undress her.
The entanglements could well wait a little. The first thing was to satisfy his wife. It would be quick, though most satisfying for them both, for the luggage had to be prepared soon to set their course for London.