Page 5 of A Virgin for the Duke of Ash

Daniel turned to the man with a raised eyebrow. “You have just lost some customers for the night, and yet you are pleased?”

The man let out a grateful smile. “His Lordship, the Earl of Sidmouth, is not exactly known for his generosity.”

“One would think that a gentleman of his stature would be more willing to part with his coin,” Daniel remarked softly.

“If he had coin to part with…”

Daniel shot the man a knowing look, and the waiter immediately ducked his head, although his expression was largely unrepentant as he went about cleaning up the mess the group had left behind.

The Earl of Sidmouth might have found favor amongst the womenfolk, but there were those who saw him for what he truly was.

A joke.

Daniel, however, did not find his latest repertoire the least bit amusing.

“Where do you think they will be headed for tonight?” he asked the waiter.

The man did not even look up from his task. “I heard that Lady Horton is hosting a great ball tonight, Your Grace.”

Daniel smiled grimly. Whatever schemes that pathetic coward had, he was going to make sure they were not going to succeed.

Just the thought of that bastard putting his hands on Evie was enough to inspire the ungentlemanly side of him.

It would seem that everything about her simply unleashed his darker side—and not always for the better.

Ever since she was young, Evie had the most disconcerting feeling that her emotions could be read from her face alone. It certainly did not help that for the past few years, the Dowager Countess of Wellington had taken over her upbringing. Hergrandmother simply had a way of ferreting out the truth from anyone with but a single glance.

She could not possibly have known what transpired this morning, could she? Evie fretted as she smiled wanly at the gentleman who had offered to fetch her some lemonade.

Her grandmother had made no mention of it, and besides, she had made sure that she was not seen tiptoeing back to her rooms earlier that morning. If Daniel did not mention the incident to anyone, then no one would ever know, and she knew that he would never breathe a word of it to anyone.

Not if it would jeopardize his friendship with Colin.

He might be largely antagonistic towards Evie, but the man valued his friendship with her brother greatly, so she can rest assured that no one else would know of how she had managed to find herself in his room, in his bed, in the dark of the night.

How she had draped herself over him most scandalously, her hands wandering where they should not…

“There you are, Evie!”

Evie was jolted out of the quagmire of her thoughts by that soft, cheerful voice. She looked up to find Phoebe, Alice’s younger sister, smiling most charmingly at her.

“Is something amiss? Are you coming down with a fever?” her friend asked her anxiously, reaching out to feel her forehead. “You look rather flushed, my dear.”

Evie shook her head a little too frantically. “It is nothing. I merely felt a little hot, that is all.”

“Are you sure?”

She managed an overly large smile and nodded. “Absolutely.”

Phoebe did not look too convinced, but she decided not to press the issue, and Evie was grateful that her closest friend in all of London was tactful enough to sense when a conversation had become largely uncomfortable.

“Have you been dancing with Lord Percy?” she asked her friend instead.

“Yes, I have!” Phoebe nodded. “How can you tell?”

“Because there was a slight limp to your gait,” Evie replied wryly.

Both young ladies shared a knowing look before they burst into laughter.

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