Chapter 10
Evelina pressed her fingertips against her lips.
She knew it was likely her imagination, but she could have sworn that her mouth still tingled from the previous day’s kiss.
If she closed her eyes, she could still smell the freshness of his cologne and feel the warmth of his breath against her.
Evelina’s breath shuddered in her chest. She should have been terrified of his kiss.
A proper lady would have stormed away, fury incarnate, at being kissed in such a brazen manner.
Evelina had not. Worse, she had kissed him back and enjoyed kissing him.
Why? When he had approached her in the tavern and fixed his lustful gaze upon her, she had refused him, but the kiss had set her pulse jumping.
She had not refused him. Maybe it was because she had not anticipated the kiss leading to anything further.
Heat rushed to her face as she tried to sort through her thoughts.
At least, she was alone in her coach, and no one else could witness the unsightly flush that spread over her face.
She put her hands to her face and found that her skin was hot.
Silently, she tried to will herself to be calm.
Too soon, she arrived at the Corset Chronicles Club.
Anna had sent a letter asking for Evelina’s presence at once, and she did not wish to arrive flushed and flustered.
Evelina dropped her hands and silently prayed that her still too warm face had cooled enough to conceal her unsightly blush.
Jacob, the footman, opened the door and bowed to her.
“My lady,” he demurred, offering to aid her descent.
“Thank you.”
Evelina stepped from the coach and slowly walked up the familiar path to the club’s entrance.
Her heart hammered against her ribs. Despite her resolve to linger no longer on the memory of the kiss, it seemed as though the Duke of Rothbury was determined to occupy her thoughts.
The waiting butler threw open the door and bowed to her. “Shall I announce you, my lady?”
Evelina had never asked to be announced. Instead, she always simply entered the drawing room, where the other ladies would be gathered. The butler William still asked as a courtesy. “That is unnecessary,” Evelina said.
She continued into the drawing room, where Anna and Maria were already gathered. The two ladies sat on the settee to one another, seemingly engaged in an invigorating conversation, but they lapsed into silence upon seeing her. Evelina suspected that she had been the topic of their discussion.
“Evelina!” Anna exclaimed. “How are you?”
Anna rose a little more slowly than usual.
Her pale green dress did not entirely conceal her condition, and if the ton saw her, there was certain to be a scandal.
A lady was not supposed to appear in society when she was so near giving birth.
The small rebellion brought a smile to Evelina’s face.
“I am well,” Evelina said. “How are you? I did not anticipate seeing you!”
Anna pulled Evelina in a tight embrace. Then, the lady settled onto the settee once more. “I had not anticipated on leaving my house for some time,” Anna said, “but Theodora sent me a most scandalous message. I have come to hear the truth directly from you.”
Evelina wryly noted that Theodora was conspicuously absent. “And what did she say in this message?”
“She says that you were with the Duke of Rothbury,” Anna said, adopting a mock scandalized tone. “Alone.”
Evelina swallowed hard, thinking of how his warm, soft lips had felt when pressed against her own. “Is that so?”
“Is it true?” Maria asked. “I have already told Anna of your plan.”
Third plan, but there is no need to admit I have already discarded so many approaches.
“And I had to know all the details,” Anna added. “I am passingly familiar with the Duke of Rothbury.”
“Are you?” Evelina asked. “I did not realize that.”
Anna waved a dismissive hand. “He is an acquaintance of my own dear duke,” she said. “He has come for a few visits.”
“Then, you must know a great deal about him,” Evelina said.
She could not quite say how that revelation made her feel.
“A little,” Anna replied. “Perhaps, not as much as you would want if the gossip is true.”
Evelina wondered how many of the ton knew about her being alone with His Grace, but she pushed those thoughts aside for a moment. There was a more important matter at hand, after all. “But what do you know?” Evelina asked.
“He is currently engaged in a war with the Dowager Duchess of Rothbury,” Anna said.
“What sort of war?” asked Maria.
Anna offered a small shrug. “I am afraid that I do not know the finer details, but it seems as though Her Grace has some means by which she hopes to maintain power over the dukedom.”
Evelina frowned. “But she is a woman. The dukedom should belong to His Grace.”
“I do not know,” Anna said. “Her Grace must have some means by which she believes she can maintain power, though. Otherwise, I do not imagine she would even try.”
“Maybe a stipulation in the will?” Maria suggested.
“It is a good guess,” Anna said.
“Whatever it might be, I suppose that an heir would help His Grace maintain control,” Evelina mused.
“I would assume so,” Anna agreed. “From what I have heard of the late duke, it would not be unusual for him to impose some stipulation on your duke’s inheritance.”
A fissure of something warm shot through Evelina when she heard the man referred to as her duke.
“The whole affair sounds quite complicated,” Maria said.
“It is,” Anna said. “That descriptor might well be applied to the entire family as well. His Grace and his father were not especially fond of one another, and I imagine that the Dowager Duchess of Rothbury has some involvement in that.”
“Maybe she was often forced to mediate between them?” Maria offered.
Evelina furrowed her brow, trying to imagine what manner of woman Her Grace must be.
Was the same woman who was trying to seize power for herself the same manner of woman who would let herself be mediator between two powerful men?
Maybe she had no other choice. A dowager would be left entirely at the mercy of her male relatives.
“I cannot speak to that,” Anna said. “I do know that His Grace’s relationship with his father was so dreadful that he left London entirely and joined the navy. He has been away for—how long was it? I think ten years.”
“That is unusual for a duke,” Evelina murmured.
She thought impulsively of her husband; if she had been born with more options, she might have fled that wretched man for ten years.
Anna nodded. “It seems as though he was quite gifted, though. He became an admiral and was evidently quite a strategist. His Grace had several victories at sea.”
“And presumably returned home to take the title,” Evelina concluded.
“So it seems,” Anna said.
“Does he get along well with your husband?” Maria asked.
“Spencer finds him to be a little cold,” Anna said. “However, I am uncertain if that is because the Duke of Rothbury has a disagreeable temperament or if his time in the navy has taught him to be unusually reserved.”
“Reserved for one of the ton,” Maria said wryly. “That would make me wonder if he dislikes everyone.”
“Perhaps, he does.”
“Well, not—” Evelina was caught off guard abruptly, but too late for her friends not to notice.
“Not?” echoed Maria.
“You have distracted us!” exclaimed Anna. “I have told you all about the duke, and you have not yet given me the knowledge I came for!”
“I have not distracted you,” Evelina said, lowering herself into the chair. “I have only sought to improve my understanding about His Grace’s character because I have received a proposal from him.”
“A proposal!” Anna exclaimed. “You do not mean to marry him, do you? Theodora told me about your plan, but I could scarcely believe it!”
“She is quite resolute,” Maria said.
“I am considering his proposal,” Anna said. “If we could have a mutually advantageous arrangement—”
“You would make a handsome pair,” Anna said. “Whatever I might think of his manners, His Grace is an attractive man.”
“And maybe a reserved man could be good for you,” Maria added. “If he is so cold, I do not imagine that he will resemble your first husband.”
Evelina forced a smile. “Rakes come in all kinds, my dear friend. I suppose it does not matter if he is a little rakish as long as he gives me what I desire, though.”
“Only if you arrange the terms favorably,” Anna said. “Like Maria did with her husband.”
“Agreed,” Maria said. “Doubtlessly, Evelina has already thought of that.”
“At least, we will be more experienced,” Anna said. “We know what requests to make. Evelina, you must insist upon keeping your own home. A separate home.”
“And you must convince him to agree that he will have no involvement with your child unless you wish it,” Maria added.
Evelina took a steadying breath. She had already considered those aspects of her arrangement, but hearing her friends voice her own concerns made the situation somehow more real than it had been.
After years of swearing that she would never marry again, Evelina was genuinely considering marriage to a duke!
“We had best send for a solicitor,” Anna said. “We need someone who will know how to be clever with the wording.”
“I can request my own house—” Evelina began.
“Of course, you can,” Maria interrupted.
“However, a duke will already have considerable advantages over you, Evelina. We must anticipate that he will seek to use the law against you if it benefits him, and having a solicitor write the agreement may well be the best means to ensuring that he cannot.”
Evelina shook her head. “There is no time for that.”
“No time?” exclaimed Anna. “My dear, it will only take a handful of days to tell a solicitor what you want and for the documents to be written! You have waited this long. A few more days will not matter so much, will it?”
“It will,” Evelina said. “His Grace is anticipating my answer today. He is a marriageable man and prepared to pursue other prospects if I cannot give him an answer today.”
Anna’s eyes widened. “Evelina,” she said, her tone serious. “You must find some way to give yourself more time.”
“You must not agree to any particular thing,” Maria said. “If our assumptions are correct and he needs an heir to win this war with the Dowager Duchess of Rothbury, he will be willing to wait a few days.”
Would he? The memory of the kiss burned brightly in Evelina’s memory, but so did the memory of His Grace speaking to those young, unmarried ladies. Evelina had no doubt that any one of them would be delighted to marry the duke without stipulating a single condition on their relationship.
“I am not certain he will wait,” Evelina confessed.
“Then, tell him that you will marry only if you are allowed to write the marriage contract and if he agrees to the terms,” Maria said.
“I suppose,” Evelina replied.
Given the circumstances, that was the best solution she could find to her dilemma. She would agree with conditions, and as long as His Grace accepted her answer, he would have to honor his word.
“Are you certain that is the only reason you do not wish to wait?” Anna asked slyly.
Evelina blinked, equally concerned and confused by the mischief in Anna’s eyes. “What do you mean?”
“I am simply thinking of everything that might occur between a man and woman,” Anna said. “Alone in the gardens.”
“Nothing happened,” Evelina said.
“Not even a kiss?” asked Maria. “Or something else more compromising?”
Her friends were not being unkind. Evelina knew that they were curious, and even if she said that she and His Grace had engaged in an amorous congress in the gardens, her friends would not think worse of her for it. But her face burned, the memory of the kiss so enticing.
Evelina stood abruptly and hurried away, accompanied by Maria’s delighted cackle and Anna’s laughter.
In all likelihood, her reaction would only drive their curiosity.
They would demand answers the next time she saw them, and Evelina had foolishly left in a manner that aroused considerable curiosity.
It was foolish and irrational, but she found that she was simply not ready to explain the kiss to anyone, not even her dearest friends.