She stopped talking and stood still. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Charity asked, stopping to listen.
Why ever for? Afraid plain Mr. Woolf will feel slighted?
"That! Did you hear that?"
Charity nodded and ran to the door, Prudence and Phoebe not far behind. "Shh," mouthed Charity, a finger across her lips to signal silence.
"I just feel like Edward was the better choice ..."
"From the start you've done nothing but show your disapproval ..."
Charity gasped, clapping her hand to her mouth, while Prudence and Phoebe looked to each other, eyes wide, jaws slack.
"Thank you, now should we actually knock?"
All three girls reeled backwards a step, and, once Fleur and Julia knocked, Prudence opened the door, pulling them both inside before slamming it shut. "You are married!" shouted Prudence.
Charity rushed forward, grasping Fleur's hands. "To Evan Woolf?"
Fleur laughed, though the sound more like strangulation than merriment. "Er, surprise?"
Tired of the topic, Julia walked over to the bed and sat upon it, leaning against the poster and watching Fleur flounder with amusement.
As Fleur explained the particulars, Julia watched her sister and wondered if she knew how she sparkled when she spoke of her wedding, or how she smiled when she said his name.
Definitely in love with the devil, thought Julia as she conceded. It was time for her to stop being selfish and thinking only about her own feelings, to stop disparaging her new brother-in-law, because all it did was cause Fleur pain. Above all the most important thing was for Fleur to be happy, and there was no denying that she was well on her way.
***
Fleur set her wine down upon the dining room table and fiddled with her wedding band, her thumb spinning it around over and over. She was still not used to its constant presence, but the sight of it pleased her.
She looked across the table as Evan chatted with his friends. They had not spoken during dinner, but that was expected, it would be rude to shout across the table, though it seemed like all were doing so.
Dinner had been a relaxed affair. Madeleine always had a way of making formal situations seem informal with her easy manners and relaxed atmosphere. Prudence and Julia were laughing and Phoebe was shushing them, though she was clearly amused. Charity was in a conversation with Prudence's aunt and seemed content.
Her favorite thing to do, though, was watch Evan. He was so different. Changed from the young boy he once was. Being surrounded by his friends softened him she thought, and it was something new. She'd never seen him interact with his university friends before, and she was fascinated.
Suddenly Evan caught her eye, a smile lingering on his face like it was meant for her. She quickly took a long sip of her wine, trying to hide her unease at being caught staring.
She wondered if tonight would be the night they could finally talk. Would he come to her or would they keep dancing around one another? She admitted to herself that she tired of the avoidance and the anticipation. She wanted him to come to her, like he had done before, to hold her hand as he did on the day they married and ... suddenly felt warm and decided she'd had too much wine.
The sound of chairs being moved across the wood floor as everyone stood caught her attention. Madeleine signaled the end of dinner by ushering the ladies to the drawing room. The men would follow soon after, and maybe then they could spend some time in each other's company.
***
Evan watched Fleur all evening. It was the only time — since everything began — that he was able to sit in her company and regard her. She seemed happy enough sitting between Mrs. Simmons and Lady Preston, easily conversing with them both.
Their eyes met, no more than a glance, but her movements turned wooden and her demeanor apprehensive. He felt hopeless in that moment, her composure revealing his worst fears, his regrets. He knew not how to reach her.
His mind elsewhere, he did not hear his mother bring dinner to a close and when the ladies rose to leave he stood, the action so practiced it did not require his attention. He saw nothing but her as she walked away in her dark plum evening dress, gold embroidery gleamed in the soft candlelight when she moved, her raven hair shimmering, beautiful on its own with no need for adornment.
Nathan nudged him when he failed to notice the men were also exiting to the billiard room. It would be another hour at least before he saw her again, such as was the after-dinner custom. He did not much feel like joining the men for drinks and cards or one more bloody round of billiards.
He clapped Nathan on the shoulder and waited for him to turn. "I think I will go for a walk, clear my head."
"I will join you, if you don't mind the company."
Evan nodded in agreement and made his way outside, Nathan behind him. He stood on the vestibule and took a deep breath, looked over the grounds, and smiled. It had been too long since he came to his childhood home and took in the air. Always was he running, busy with some plan or another, but this reminded him of his youth, of simpler days, and it calmed him.
Nathan walked up beside him. "The moon and stars are so bright tonight we do not even need a lantern."
"Country moonlight. One cannot see near as much in London, even with a lamp on every corner."
Evan slipped his hand in his pocket, feeling the cool metal against his warm fingers, knowing exactly where he wanted to be. "Coming?" he asked before he walked down the stairs, his stride long and with purpose.
"Evan, slow down," Nathan shouted, trying to keep up with his brisk pace.
Evan slowed and stopped, standing in front of the stables. He pushed the wide doors open and walked inside. Darkness filled the room to every corner, the moonlight unable to reach.
"Stay here," said Evan, running into the stable.
Nathan carefully stepped inside and shouted. "Evan, what are you doing..." He trailed off as moonlight flooded the room.
He saw Evan run from one side of the loft to the other, throwing open another window. He walked back to the center of the loft and looked down on Nathan. "Coming up?"
Nathan grimaced. He hated heights.
He took a deep breath and climbed, not wanting to think about how he would get down again, and once his feet landed on the floor, he sighed. He walked over to the window, wishing Evan would stop leaning out of the godforsaken thing. He peeked out of the window himself and decided turning around and leaning to face Evan was safer.
"I have always loved it up here, but it has been almost eight years since I last came," said Evan.
Nathan smiled. "It is just the sort of place you would come. I can see it now, you with a book in hand, hiding away up here, basking in your solitude. I bet Edward had to come fetch you for dinner."
Evan laughed. "Of course. I devoted so much time to sitting up here, Fleur too, when we were younger."
"I bet her father loved that."
"He didn't mind. We were but little things then."
"Is there a reason we are here now?" asked Nathan, daring to peek out the window once more.
Evan's fond memories faded along with his smile. "I just wanted to see the old place again."
"I think it's more than that."
Evan's head swung around, staring Nathan down. "I don't know what you mean."
"You do, you only have to discover it for yourself. Let us start with the fact you have been avoiding your wife for the past two days."
Evan snorted. "Have you been speaking to Edward? He said the same thing to me last evening."
"No, but it is not hard to see. I can understand, you know, it must be hard, to be thrown together with someone you were not previously courting, but you and Lady Fleur have so much history. Why is it that you run from her?"
"It's not so simple. We have history, yes, but that does not make it any easier, I assure you. If anything, it makes it harder."
Nathan shook his head. "I don't understand."
Evan looked out of the window once more, not
sure he could help Nathan to understand, but decided to try.
"The first time I knew I was in love with Fleur I was standing right here, much as we are now. She was taking a walk with her sister and I was sulking, having wanted to walk to town with her like we always had before, but that time my mother had forbidden it. I was seventeen at the time and Fleur fifteen, and I suppose she was right, it had become rather inappropriate for me to escort her around alone and unchaperoned."
Nathan laughed. "I should say."
"I know, but at the time I thought my mother was barking, because who could ever suspect something between Fleur and me? We were friends, nothing more. But that day I secluded myself up here, and when I heard voices below I stood and looked out of the window, and I could see her. I still remember it so clearly, she was laughing at something Julia had said, wearing a lavender walking dress. I even remember the ribbon in her bonnet was white."
"Ah, you were definitely smitten."
Evan nodded. "Then Edward came upon them and she took his arm, as she had done many times before, mind you, but I was so angry and full of ... I'm not sure ... jealousy I suppose. I couldn't stand seeing them together. I could not speak to why I felt so bitter in that moment, but as the days passed I realized that I loved her. I didn't know how to handle those emotions."
"Did you ever confess to her?"
"I tried once."
Nathan gave Evan a look. "Perhaps you could elaborate?"
Evan smirked. "Fine, but you won't like it. It was little more than a year later and I was home for the holidays. It was Fleur's birthday and I had prepared a gift for her." Evan Laughed, remembering how nervous he had been. "I thought I was so clever, but really I was still too immature to handle my feelings. I was going to tell her that night that I loved her and propose marriage, she was but sixteen and I nearly as young. I knew we would have to be patient to actually exchange our vows, but I could not wait to ask her. It would had been wiser if I had."
"My God, she refused you?"
"I did not give her a chance. I asked her to meet me here that night and I waited so long for her to come, but she didn't. It was freezing and I became worried, so I walked back to the house, and I could see her through the windows with Edward. He was kissing her under the mistletoe, innocently enough on the cheek, but everyone around them was cheering and making a fuss, and they were smiling at one another."
Nathan nodded, knowing that seeing such a thing as a love-sick youth would be soul crushing.
"What did you do?"
"I did what I always do, I became angry and we quarreled. I said horrible things to her, Nathan, and then I shut myself up in my rooms. The next morning, I saddled my horse and went back to university. I did not see her or talk to her again till the night of the Brockhursts' ball."
Nathan's brow furrowed and he paused, letting calm take him over lest he shout at Evan that he was a damned fool. "That was cold, even for you. Just think how devastated she must have been."
"Now you know why our past complicates things."
Nathan clucked and slapped Evan in the arm. "Are you finished?"
Confused Evan looked to Nathan. "What?"
"You said you came up here to sulk when you were younger, and now look at you, are you finished sulking yet?"
Evan shook his head, irritated. "Not quite. What would you have me do?"
"Woo her, you fatwit! You have to show her that she still means everything to you. She does, does she not?"
Evan gave a curt nod. "I would not know where to start."
"You start, my friend, where everyone else does, from the beginning."
Even huffed and whipped his head back towards the window. "That is impossible. She could never forget."
"It sounds to me like you are the one holding onto the past. Your negativity does neither you nor Lady Fleur credit. She is gentleness itself and no one could ever lead me to believe she is capable of holding a grudge. I am not telling you she won't be angry - you deserve, it you know - but she will forgive you. I'm certain."
"So I am just supposed to ask her for walks, take her on drives, bring her flowers, and confess my undying love and devotion?"
Nathan sighed. "If you had never met the lady before, what would you do?"
Evan thought long. He did not have any experience wooing ladies or the like, he only knew what other men did.
"Perhaps ... perhaps this evening I could ask her if she would like to walk in the gallery? Away from the others?"
Nathan smiled. "There, you see? A beginning."
Evan laughed and put his head in his hands, embarrassed. "I suppose it is."
"I am curious though. The gift you brought her for her birthday so many years ago, what was it?"
Evan placed his hand in his coat, pulling a small silver watch from his pocket, handing it to Nathan. The edge was tarnished, and the colors dulled with age, but Nathan could see that the watch doubled as a miniature portrait of Evan himself, as he was when they went to school together.
"From the day I meet you, you have always fiddled with something in your pocket, and it was this all along?"
Evan nodded. "When I left for university, Fleur was quite upset. I had it commissioned while at Cambridge from one of the artists. Took my whole damn allowance for the year."
Nathan laughed, his shoulders shaking, his smile wide, as he handed the watch back to Evan.
"What is so funny?"
"Oh, nothing, just the fact that you have carried around a miniature of yourself for the past eight years."
Evan laughed and placed the watch back in his pocket. He looked over the grounds once more and felt more content than he had in a long time.
Nathan was right. There had to not just be a beginning between them, but something new, something that would not erase the past but help them remember the fond memories, not only the ones that held pain.
WOOING A WIFE
Fleur took a turn around the room with Charity while the others enthusiastically talked about tomorrow's plan to ride across the grounds to picnic in the woods.
She reached out to take Charity's arm in her own when she saw her friend blanch. "We do not have to go if you would rather stay. I can invent some excuse and you can say you do not wish to leave me alone."
Charity smiled but shook her head. "No, it really is silly. Who ever heard of an Englishman, or an Englishwoman for that matter, being afraid of horses?"
Fleur stopped and turned to her friend, grasping both of her hands in her own. "It's not silly at all. Charity, you lost your brother to a riding accident not even two years ago. It makes perfect sense to me."
"That is because you love me without question, no matter my faults or disagreeable temper."
Fleur laughed at Charity's mischievous smirk as they walked towards the far window in the drawing room. "You aren't disagreeable, not to me."
"Yes, well you and Julia have known me since we were children, though your sister hates me —"
"She does not hate you, Charity, she just doesn't know you like I do."
"Fine, then Prudence hates me. Don't deny it, I know she does. And I know it is horrible but I don't care one fig about what Prudence Wilson thinks of me. I don't have time to coddle her hurt feelings when I'm already five and twenty and no sign of a husband on the horizon."
"You have plenty of time—"
"Time is the one thing I don't have. Fleur, my father is ill, and the doctors say it is only a matter of one year, perhaps two before..."
Charity swallowed hard, blinking swiftly, and Fleur sat them down upon the window seat. "I didn't know, I'm sorry."
"Nobody knows. My father doesn't want to appear weak, but he is fading. I must find some kind of security before then, before my cousin inherits."
"But surely your cousin will provide for you, it's his responsibility —"
Charity laughed, a bitter sound caught in the back of her throat. "My cousin has, in a few short years, squandered his own inheritance gambling and racking up mo
re debt than the estate can handle. He will ruin the estate and finally the family line. The Earldom will become penniless and along with it myself. Even my inheritance is in danger should he decide not to honor it. He knows I would not drag the family name through the mud with a suit."
"Oh." Fleur didn't know what to say.
"Prudence would laugh if she knew. I'll be worse off than she is in a few scant years. At least she can find work as a governess if the need calls for it, but who is going to hire an earl's daughter with no references or work experience? I will be a laughingstock."
"You do her an unkindness. Prudence would never laugh at someone's misfortune. Besides, I would never let you suffer such a fate, and neither would Julia, Phoebe, or even Prudence."
"You must not tell them, Fleur, promise me?" Charity said quickly, looking around the room as the men made their way inside.
Fleur gripped her shaking hands. "I promise."
Charity put on a smile for the room, straightening her shoulders and looking around, her stiff and haughty protection back in place, her fan out and waving between herself and the rest of the room.
It was then Fleur understood how tired Charity must feel. First losing her mother then her brother and now her father. In that moment, Fleur felt lucky despite her own loss in life and love.
"So how is married life?" asked Charity, wanting to lift the concerned look Fleur was giving her.
"It has only been two days, so I cannot rightly say. I haven't even really had a chance to talk to him."
Charity's brow arched, her smile sharp. "As his wife he will have to talk to you eventually. You know I always thought you might marry into this family, though of course then I figured it would be to the elder brother."
Fleur thought to herself that her friend didn't know how close that came to happening.
Charity looked over at the viscount and saw him watching them. Her breath quickened, and she fanned the heat from her face. Finally able to tear her eyes from the his, she turned fully towards Fleur. "Look alive now, here comes your beloved, Mr. Carter, and one of his cousins. Which Woolf is that?"
"Felix," said Fleur, her heart quickening.
Marriage to a Mister (A Daughters of Regency #1) Page 15