Chapter 5 #2
He turned around. “What are you suggesting?”
“I am not suggesting anything. I was merely explaining the importance of the scandal sheets for young ladies, if they know how to read what is not said as well as what is said,” Evelyn replied.
“If you have such a low opinion of me, Lady Evelyn, why did you speak to me so frankly at the opera?” He needed to know; he could not skirt around the matter any longer.
Clearly, she thought that he was some manner of scoundrel who ought to be in the scandal sheets, or perhaps thought she had read about him without him being directly accused.
There were plenty of instances where those gossip rags detailed a ‘certain gentleman’ or a ‘known gentleman’ or a ‘dark-haired gentleman'.
Yet, he had never read a story and thought that he was the secret protagonist, and he would not have this… infuriating woman making him feel as if he should be ashamed of himself.
It was at that moment that he realized that Selina had wandered off with her chaperone, now a good distance ahead of him. She did not bother to look back. Rather, she seemed to be quickening her pace, as if escape had been her intention all along; she had just been waiting for a good opportunity.
“I do not have a low opinion of you,” Evelyn protested, as her gaze sought out her friend. “I told you, I was not suggesting anything. This has nothing to do with you, though I am sure you find that hard to fathom.”
“What I find hard to fathom is your insistence on being so rude, Lady Evelyn,” he said coolly, his patience wearing very thin indeed. “If you were not referring to me, then why glare, why remark so pointedly, why behave as if you were calling me a scoundrel?”
She rolled her eyes. “I was not calling you a scoundrel.” She exhaled a strained sigh.
“Indeed, I do not know why I am continuing this conversation. You can feel wounded if you wish, but I meant no injury. That is all I have to say on the matter, for it is my friend you should be concentrating on, not me. You speaking to me right now is futile.”
Hugo could not believe that those words had just come out of her mouth.
It was one thing for her to insult his talent with women, it was one thing for her to make veiled allegations, but it was quite another for her to tell him, more or less outright, that he should not be speaking to her at all. As if he were the bothersome one.
“If you will excuse me,” she said brusquely, moving to walk right by him as if he were no one, just an annoyance in her path.
Incensed, he acted before he could think, his hand shooting out to grasp her by the wrist, pulling her back.
He would not be dismissed in such a fashion.
He had spent far too many years of his life being told he should not speak, that his opinion was worthless, that he was not worth acknowledgment, and he would not permit history to begin repeating itself.
I am not a powerless boy anymore. I will not be made to feel like that, ever again.
She could not have known what she had incited within him, or why his hand was now around her wrist. Her eyes flitted down to his fingers, as if uncertain of how they had gotten there.
“You should unhand me,” she said in a quiet voice, laced with warning. “We are in a park, in full view of countless people, and I shall not end up in the scandal sheets because of—”
Her sentence ended in a blood-curdling scream, her gaze no longer on his hand, but lower still, to her shoe. She grasped at Hugo as if she were drowning and he was driftwood, her fingernails raking at his lapels, her eyes wide in terror as her breaths sawed in and out of her in panicked gasps.
At first, Hugo did not understand what was happening; he was only aware of her grip, tugging and pulling at him, not at all the behavior of someone who wanted to be far away from him.
Then, he noticed it…
A lumpy, brownish-green toad was crawling up the length of Evelyn’s shoe, apparently trying to find some shade beneath the hem of her skirts.
And though Evelyn’s upper half frantically clawed at him, that particular foot remained completely frozen, as if she did not dare to move it, lest it encourage the toad to jump or crawl higher.
Hugo had seen ladies react badly to spiders and bees, and he doubted there were many who favored toads, but he had never seen such visceral fear upon someone’s face before. And as her hand gripped his arm, he would not have been surprised to find faint bruises later.
Instinctively, he held her to him, some sudden impulse to protect her taking over, even though he knew it was just a little toad.
“Get rid of it,” she whispered frantically, her eyes scrunching shut. “Please, get rid of it.”
With a frown, Hugo gently swiped the toad with the side of his boot, Evelyn breathing hard as the creature hopped off, leaping into the longer grass that eventually led down to the Serpentine.
The ‘danger’ had passed, yet he found he could not let go of her.
She was shaking, her face drained of color, her hands still gripping him tightly, as if she meant to stay there indefinitely, protected by his arm and his body.
And for a fleeting moment, he found that he did not mind, for she felt rather… nice in his embrace.