Chapter 4
“Am I allowed to know your name?” Stephan asked.
He had escorted the lady to a slightly more reputable tavern, but even the slightly improved venue did little to conceal just how much the lady did not belong in such an ungenteel place.
The massive coat and loose-fitting shirt were clearly meant to obscure her feminine figure but instead made her look somehow more delicate.
She was unquestionably lovely with dark green eyes and auburn hair, which was kept mostly concealed beneath a ragged-looking hat.
“Evelina,” she said. “I suppose there is no harm in telling you. I am already disgraced in your eyes.”
He snorted. “You are unusual, but I would not call you disgraced.”
“No?”
Stephan recalled her brazen remark about how she wanted him to offer an invitation. “Not yet,” he said.
The young lady would certainly be disgraced if she intended to do anything close to what she had insinuated.
“And you are?” she asked.
“Stephan.”
Evelina narrowed her eyes. “We have not met.”
“No,” he said. “I have been away from London for the past ten years.”
“I assume you have returned to take your title,” she mused.
Stephan inclined his head, acknowledging Evelina’s words. “And I suppose you are trying to avoid an unwanted marriage.”
She blinked. “What would give you that impression?”
“Your desire to ruin your maidenhood and reputation,” he said. “That is the easiest way for a woman to evade a repulsive suitor.”
A flush of pink spread across the woman’s face. “I am offended.”
“Am I wrong?”
“Entirely,” she said. “You have turned my meticulous plan to achieve my greatest wish in life into a cheap trick to evade responsibility. That is rather presumptuous of you.”
Stephan could not withhold a bark of startled laughter. “Pray tell, my lady, what did you expect me to think? I am waiting with bated breath to learn how having a congress with a man in a tavern is your greatest wish in life. How noble!”
Evelina crossed her arms. Stephan suspected that she was trying to look fierce, but the expression was somewhat ruined by her delicate face. “No,” she said haltingly. “Men mean nothing to me.”
Stephan raised a brow. “Do they?”
Something subtle changed in her expression.
She no longer looked fierce and angry; if anything, he would have thought she seemed forlorn.
He had the sense that there was something to Evelina that he had missed, something he did not understand.
“I only need one for a single night,” Evelina said.
“I just want to conceive and have a baby.”
Stephan paused, considering her. “Just a baby?”
She nodded. “I want to be a mother more than anything.”
Stephan frowned and tried to think of a kind way to voice what he thought about that, which was that Evelina could simply adopt a baby if she wanted one so badly. “Are there no orphanages?” he asked, dumbfounded.
“Adoption is not the same,” Evelina said. “Not for me. I want to feel a baby growing inside me. I want to know that I have brought life into the world. That is all I have ever wanted, and I—I am nearly out of time.”.
Her face was so desperate and distraught that Stephan softened just a little.
“Suppose that you do not succeed on that single night. You would need to repeat the act.” Stephan paused, recalling uncomfortably all that he had heard of the French pox.
“You do not mean that you will conceive a child out of wedlock.”
“Why not?” Evelina asked. “It is better to have a child out of wedlock than with a philandering husband, who will share his bed with everyone except me.”
A chill swept over Stephan’s shoulders. He suspected that Evelina spoke from her own experiences. Was she married, then? Widowed? Maybe his initial assumption had some merit, but Stephan suspected that there was something more, a tiny detail that he was missing.
“I have everything I need. Money, a house, and the means to raise a…” Evelina trailed off, as if embarrassed to finish the sentence.
“A bastard,” Stephan concluded.
Evelina winced but nodded. “I have thought it through. I do not—I am prepared to leave London if necessary. I have friends who live in the countryside, and I—I am willing to leave polite society entirely if that is what I must do. It will be best for the baby to be away from prying eyes.”
Evelina clasped her hands over the table and fixed him with a somber look.
Her plan was utterly ridiculous. How did Evelina expect it to work?
Did she imagine that she would spend one night in a man’s bed and achieve conception on the first try?
It was an absurd plan, all of it, but Stephan could not bring himself to say so.
Evelina clearly believed in her plan. She was still a lady, though.
He did not believe for a moment that she was prepared to carry through her plan, but the difficulty would be in convincing her of that.
“Besides, I can—I can return with a child, and it is my word,” Evelina said. “Once my child is grown, I will tell the truth, but…but that will not be for some time.”
If Evelina pursued this plan, she was bound to get hurt. Stephan had seen how rough men could be in taverns, how careless they were. Evelina was playing with fire, and Stephan could not bear it if she was hurt because he refused to be involved. Fortunately, he had something of a plan.
Stephan smirked, and Evelina’s expression hardened, as if she anticipated that he might do something undesirable. “Very well,” Stephan said, slowly standing. “I see that you are resolute in your aims.”
She tipped up her chin, her eyes fixed defiantly on his face. “That is right.”
Evelina rose, too. Stephan stalked toward her, noting the color that rose to her face and the subtle, quickened rise and fall of her chest. Long dormant passions stirred to life inside him, and he was acutely reminded of how much time he had spent at sea.
When Evelina’s back collided with the wall, he pressed his weight against her slight, quivering form.
“I am willing to oblige you,” he said. “You wanted that, no?”
Evelina did not answer, save to breathe unevenly.
Stephan brought his hand down to the hem of her shirt, his fingers brushing the warm skin of her stomach. Evelina’s muscles tensed, and a gasp tore from her throat. “I—I do…” She closed her eyes and furrowed her brow, giving Stephan the impression of a woman who was enduring above all else.
“I knew you would not be ready for this,” he said, withdrawing his hand. “Now, you see it, too.”
Stephan stepped back, and Evelina remained where she was, her hands braced against the wall and her face red. He could not determine if she was angry or mortified, likely both.
“How dare you?” she asked, though her words did not carry the expected heat.
Stephan crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. He would not let himself feel guilty for tricking her. That was far kinder than allowing this sheltered woman to do something so foolish. “How dare I show you the truth?” he asked. “You ought to be thanking me.”
Her eyes widened, and she took an angry step forward. “Thanking you?” she cried. “I will do no such thing! You deliberately embarrassed me!”
Stephan tried not to smile. Perhaps it spoke poorly of him that he was so amused by a woman’s anger, but it was difficult not to be when Evelina was such a slight, lovely lady. “I am protecting you from making a terrible choice,” he said.
Evelina glared at him. “I can make my own choices!” she snapped.
“I am certain you can,” he said. “But with the men here in this tavern? Do you think any of them will respect you or give you a moment’s consideration?”
Evelina smiled bitterly, but Stephan saw the deep pain in her eyes. “Am I to assume that you believe the men of the ton would, Your Grace?”
“Yes.”
Evelina had not seen the true horrors of the world.
At worst, Stephan imagined she had encountered a rakish man or a neglectful husband.
She had not seen all the pain that one man might seek to inflict upon another.
Evelina had no knowledge about the true depravity of the world and doubtlessly believed that an encounter between a harlot and her customer was the worst the world had to offer.
A strange surge of protectiveness grew inside him, fierce and hot.
He was not a good man, not by far, but he was no better for having seen the true cruelty lurking at humanity’s black heart.
Stephan could not imagine leaving Evelina to discover some of it in this dark and ramshackle tavern.
“You are wrong,” Evelina said suddenly. “There is no moral difference between a wealthy man and a poor one. On the contrary, I would argue that the men of the ton are the worst of all. They may do as they like to whomever they like, and the law will never bring them to justice.”
Stephan narrowed his eyes. “Are you speaking from experience?”
“It is a simple truth that every woman knows, and which men find convenient to ignore,” Evelina said.
“Is that so?” Stephan asked.
Evelina tipped her chin defiantly up. “Yes.”
“No woman has ever told me such before you,” he said. “Maybe ladies ought to remind men more often of this inconvenient truth, so they do not forget.”
“Maybe the ladies try, and the men simply do not listen,” Evelina said, crossing her arms.
Stephan’s lips twitched in amusement. “I imagine you are a great admirer of Wollstonecraft.”
“She is an inspiration to all women.” Evelina frowned, a sudden puzzled look crossing her face. “Are you familiar with Wollstonecraft?”
“In passing.”
In truth, he had read the entirety of her Vindication of the Rights of Women.
Stephan had been young and foolish then, still convinced that he might be able to win his grandmother’s approval if he showed a willingness to understand the fairer sex better.
He remembered approaching her, bursting with excitement to discuss the text, only to learn that Her Grace had not read Wollstonecraft.
“Most men have not,” Evelina said. “I suppose that says something about your character.”
“You make that admission sound profoundly like an insult,” Stephan remarked. “Nevertheless, I shall take the compliment, regardless of how begrudgingly you have offered it.”
Evelina sighed and looked askance. Stephan wondered if she was searching for an escape but had nowhere to which she might flee.
“I suppose it would be proper to ask you to forgive my indiscretion tonight,” she said stiffly.
“I must think of a new plan, and for that, I may need my reputation to be unsullied.”
“A lady’s business should be her own,” Stephan said.
Evelina nodded. She tucked her hands into the pockets of her coat and sighed quietly. “Thank you.”
Stephan inclined his head. At once, an idea occurred to him. Evelina wished to have a child, but it was clear that she was not prepared to have an amorous encounter with any man in this tavern. Would she feel similarly about a respectable, titled man? Stephan considered the possibility.
“I should return home.”
“I will escort you,” Stephan said at once.
Evelina cast him a vexed look. “I have already told you that is unnecessary.”
“I insist.”
“It is improper,” Evelina said. “You are a stranger.”
Stephan laughed at the absurdity of the remark.
The lady had already engaged in far more disreputable behavior that same night, but she insisted that allowing him to escort her home was improper!
“I have told you who I am,” he pointed out, “and we have spoken for some time. You cannot say that we are strangers.”
“I can,” she argued. “I know that your name is Stephan, and you allege to be a duke.”
“Just as you allege to be a lady,” he said.
Stephan suspected that Evelina was a lady, but teasing her was proving to be a most enjoyable pastime.
“You should introduce yourself first,” Evelina said. “Properly.”
Stephan smiled and bowed. “I am Stephan Burke, the Duke of Rothbury.”
Evelina furrowed her brow and seemed to consider him for a long moment. “Are you unmarried?”
“Why do you ask?”
Perhaps Evelina had come to the same conclusion that he had. She could not know his situation, but it did seem too perfect that they were both in the tavern at the same time and each with their own problem to be resolved.
“I wondered if you have abandoned your duchess to be in the tavern tonight,” Evelina said stiffly.
“There is no duchess. Are you interested in being one?”
He spoke only half-facetiously, waiting to see how she might respond. Evelina only smiled politely. “I rather enjoy being a widow,” she said.
“Yes,” he persisted. “The dazzling widow, the…baroness? Countess?”
“The Dowager Countess of Thornwall.”
“Charmed,” Stephan said. “I know where Thornwall House is and will see you safely there.”
Evelina frowned, something like accusation in her eyes. Stephan surmised that she did not appreciate his insistence on taking her home.
“You see, my lady,” Stephan said. “I have an invitation of another kind which you might consider.”