Chapter 32
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Evelyn could not bring herself to look up from the safety of Hugo’s shoulder as that voice shivered through her.
Her father’s voice.
“Answer me at once!” he barked, Evelyn’s body trembling involuntarily within the protective sphere of Hugo’s arms.
She felt him hug her tighter, and wished she could stay in his embrace forever, hiding from her father’s wrath, but the longer they stayed in that compromising situation, the worse it would be.
Indeed, any hope she had had of her engagement to the baron being dealt with peaceably had just gone up in smoke.
“I shall deal with this,” Hugo whispered, slowly releasing her from his grasp.
She longed to pull him back down and hold onto him a while longer as he rose to his feet and turned to face the irate figure of her father.
How could it be that, a few minutes ago, she had been the happiest she had ever been in her entire life, and now she was bristling from head to toe with icy dread?
“Step away from my daughter!” Evelyn’s father snarled. “What do you think you are doing out here, alone with her? I realize you are a duke, but that does not give you the right to flout the rules of decency!”
Hugo squared his shoulders, putting himself between Evelyn and her father. “I love your daughter, Lord Townshend. I love her, and she has just accepted my proposal of marriage.”
“I beg your pardon?” Josiah scoffed.
“I believe you heard me,” Hugo replied, eerily calm while Evelyn’s heart had transformed into a desperate bird, flapping its wings against the cage of her ribs.
Her father’s face contorted into a mask of pale fury. “Well, Your Grace, I may have heard you, but it is impossible. My daughter is already engaged. She cannot accept any proposal you might have made.”
“It is her life, sir,” Hugo replied. “She can accept and she has, and all you need to do is give your blessing. Yes, there might be some ruffled feathers to smooth over with the baron, but I am sure he is a reasonable man.”
Do not rile him, Hugo! Evelyn urged silently, for her father was a proud man. He did not like to be told how things would be. He did not like to take orders from anyone. The authority that Hugo might have used with other people, like her brothers, would not be tolerated by her father.
“All you need to do, Your Grace, is leave my house immediately,” Josiah retorted, chest puffed, eyes shining with rage. “You do not get to tell me what to do with my daughter. An agreement is made, and we do not break agreements in this household.”
“If I leave this house, sir, I will be taking your daughter with me,” Hugo said with that same air of cool calm. “She will be my wife because we are in love, and that is worth more than any forced agreement.”
“If you try to take her, it will be the last thing you do,” Josiah warned, his voice icy.
Hugo took a step forward. “I do not take kindly to threats, sir.”
“It is not a threat; it is a guarantee.” Josiah took a step toward Hugo. “She is my daughter, my property. I decide who she marries, and I do not give my blessing.”
Of course, that is all I am to you… Property.
It hurt less than Evelyn had expected, to hear her father admit it out loud: that she was just a thing to be sold, requiring no affection or love whatsoever.
Yet, he had loved something once. Her mother.
A mother who was not here to talk some sense, some compassion into her husband.
Just then, more footsteps drummed upon the terrace, an imposing trio marching along from the drawing room to where Josiah stood. Like guards, her brothers flanked their father, while the third man positioned himself awkwardly off to one side, frowning at the scene before him.
Miles clearly did not know what to think of what he was seeing but even now, his gaze seemed to skim over Evelyn altogether.
“What is going on, Father?” Luke asked in a low voice. “The guests are agitated.”
Matthew wore a scowl so startlingly identical to Josiah’s that, for an awful moment, they looked like twins.
“Is it not obvious? I knew you were a scoundrel, Your Grace,” he hissed at Hugo. “Has he kissed you, Evelyn? Touched you?”
Evelyn dropped her gaze and grasped handfuls of her skirts to try and dispel the shaking in her hands. She looked guilty, no doubt, but she could not help it.
“Do not insult me. I have asked her to marry me,” Hugo shot back.
Matthew laughed coldly. “Marry you? She is already due to be married, and certainly not to you.” He flashed a dark look at Miles. “You ought to demand satisfaction for this wretched behavior. If I were you, I would.”
“Yes, exactly!” Josiah joined in, his lip curled. “You must demand a duel, Lord Hemstich. For my daughter’s honor, you must.”
Evelyn shot to her feet, running in front of Hugo as if pistols were being drawn at that very moment.
“No! No, there should not be a duel!” She glanced at the baron.
“Please, Lord Hemstich, just… accept whatever Hugo is willing to offer in exchange for breaking our engagement. There will be no scandal, no trouble. This can all be handled quietly if you just agree.”
“How dare you,” Josiah erupted. “How dare you speak on your family’s behalf, when it is your family that have been heinously insulted!”
Luke cleared his throat. “Perhaps it would be better if we went inside to discuss this. The guests may become more curious and come out to investigate.” He looked back at the servants’ door. “Your study, Father. Let us convene there instead of—”
“There is no need,” Josiah interrupted, huffing and puffing. “There will be a duel in the morning. Hyde Park. By the Serpentine. Lord Hemstich shall have his satisfaction, and I shall have mine for the dishonor that you have committed against my family and my good name, Your Grace.”
Miles stared, unblinking, at Hugo. There was not a single indication upon his face that he wished to be part of a duel, yet the man could not speak. Evelyn wondered if it was fear that held him silent or if, like her father, he needed to protect his reputation.
“Very well,” Hugo replied, to Evelyn’s dismay.
“If it is a duel you demand, then it is a duel you shall have. But when I win, make no mistake about my terms: I shall marry Evelyn. Do not attempt to hide her or imprison her, for there is nowhere on earth that you could place her where I would not find her.”
Josiah’s nose twitched in displeasure. “Get out of my house.”
“Hugo, please…” Evelyn whispered, terror in her voice. “You cannot duel. Please.”
If he left now, she feared she would never see him again.
Under no circumstances would she be permitted to attend the duel, and if he were to die…
then she would lose everything. She would be forced to marry Miles, the cruelty of it increased tenfold now that she had the memory of Hugo’s kiss and confession.
“Do not worry,” Hugo told her, as his hand came up to hold her face. “I will not lose, my love.”
“You do not know that,” she rasped. “You cannot possibly know that.”
Hugo leaned in and, right there in front of her family and her betrothed, he kissed her brow and whispered, “I swear to you, all will be well. Do not doubt me now.”
As he pulled back, she frowned up at him. Did he know something that she did not? Did he have a plan? She was given no opportunity to ask as Matthew suddenly marched forward, grabbed her by the arm, and wrenched her bodily away from the man she loved.
“If I find a single bruise upon her, I shall deliver ten to you in return,” Hugo growled, as her hand grasped for his, holding onto him for as long as she could before the insistent pull of her brother’s grip finally separated them.
Matthew shoved her toward Luke, who caught her with more care, putting a strangely protective arm around her.
“Tomorrow then.” Hugo flashed a grin that Evelyn did not understand and, blowing a kiss to her that made her father huff with rage, he took his leave of the shadowed garden, heading back through the servants’ door they had emerged from.
“Ensure he leaves,” Josiah instructed Matthew.
Matthew nodded. “Yes, Father.”
Throughout all of the chaos, Miles continued to remain silent, frozen in place with a wide-eyed stare. If Evelyn had not known any better, she would have said that the man was terrified.
“As for you,” Josiah turned to his daughter, “you are to retire to your chambers at once. I shall make excuses for you with your guests. I do not want to hear another word out of you or see hide nor hair of you until this… unpleasantness is dealt with.”
Tears pricked at her eyes as she stared back at her father in defiance, no longer afraid of the man who had made her life so miserable. After all, she was just property to him, and she was tired of pretending to be a dutiful child.
“If he dies, Father, I shall never forgive you,” she hissed. “And I shall never obey you. Goodness, if Mother could see you now, I do not think she would recognize you at all.”
Her father lunged for her, the swipe of his hand missing her by an inch as Luke pulled her sharply out of the path of the strike. The whisper of wind tickled her skin, giving her a good idea of just how much the slap would have hurt if it had hit her.
“I am taking her inside,” Luke said firmly. “I suggest you contend with the guests before gossip begins to spread.”
Without waiting for their father’s response, Luke ushered her into the servants’ corridor and through the maze of passages until they popped out in the main hallway, from a door under the stairs.
For a moment, Evelyn wondered if her brother was letting her go, giving her the chance to escape whatever imprisonment would surely follow. Instead, he led her to the staircase and walked behind her to make sure she headed upward.
“You will not let me go after him?” she asked as they reached the landing. “I can stop this madness, Luke.”
“If you are to marry him, Evelyn, it should not be an elopement, something that will be gossiped about,” Luke replied with a sad smile. “I will tell Father that I have locked your door, but do not run away. If you want an end to this, you must wait until the duel is done.”
Evelyn shook her head, a tear escaping onto her cheek. “I cannot, brother. What if… what if Hugo dies?”
“I will not let him,” Luke replied as he opened her chamber door for her. “Go on. Go inside and try to rest.”
But Evelyn could not enter her room, not yet. “So you will be there tomorrow?”
Luke nodded.
“Promise me you will keep him safe?” she begged, her heart beating violently in her chest, fear slithering through her veins.
“I promise,” Luke said. “Promise me you will not run away?”
She smeared the tears from her cheeks with her palms. “I promise.”
After all, if anything happened to Hugo tomorrow, she would have nowhere to run to. But could she trust her brother? Twenty-two years upon this earth suggested she could not, but perhaps he deserved the chance to prove her wrong.
Besides, Hugo was probably halfway back to his townhouse by now; she would never catch up to him without being caught.
Even if she did, they would never make it to a place like Gretna Green to elope without her father and Matthew chasing her down like a fox during a hunt.
And, deep down, maybe she knew her brother was right; there would be no end to this until tomorrow crowned a victor.