Page 57 of Loving a Beast of a Marquess
Part of her wanted to protest, but there was something so unbearably sweet about his tone, and although the prospect of waiting for their wedding day felt almost impossible, she acknowledged the rightness of waiting.
“Then let us marry soon,” she said, resting her forehead against his, “for my sanity.”
“And mine,” he said, and his chuckle reverberated through her. “Return to your room, Evangeline. We will speak tomorrow.”
There would be lots to speak about tomorrow, but although the very thought of Lord Riffy’s betrayal still hung heavy over them, he had not cast out his mother. They were in love. And although time would be needed to heal this latest wound, they would prevail.
Evangeline kissed Zachary one last time before slipping out of his room and—finally—to bed.
* * *
Things moved quickly after the truth about Percy’s relationship with Zachary’s mother was revealed. Zachary wasted very little time thinking about it although he spoke with his mother once again about her behavior.
The majority of his time he put into his forthcoming wedding.
Now that his engagement to Evangeline was finalized, there seemed very little for him to wait for. He made the necessary announcements and removed himself from the house to both appease public opinion and protect her innocence; he could make no promises that he would be able to hold back without physically removing himself from the premises.
He visited her every day, of course, and as her aunt and sister took her shopping for a wedding dress, he looked at what houses they might purchase together. One day soon, he would inherit the Duke’s house, but he was not prepared to take on the responsibility quite yet. He wanted a house Evangeline and he could make a fresh start in, away from all the haunted memories of the past.
Finally, it was time for him to make his own life. Not to live in the shadow of his father’s death or the Duke’s disappearance—which even thetonwere talking of now—but to forge his own path.
That began with a house.
Thanks to his father’s stringent business practices and his own unwillingness to touch those resources, he had quite a pretty sum in the bank, and according to his man of business, his estate was thriving.
In short, he had plenty of money with which to purchase his very own townhouse.
“Do you like it?” he asked Evangeline as he guided her around its great halls. “You may decorate it, of course, as pleases you.”
“Do you have no preferences?” she asked, looking across the vast hallway and the pillars that rose either side of the door.
“None.”
“Then I shall do what I can.” She glanced mischievously up at him. “Does this mean when we marry, you will bring me here?”
“If you like it.”
She squeezed his arm. “Of course, I like it. I hardly see how I could not.”
“Then it is settled.”
“Will you carry me over the threshold?” she asked, a wicked smile curving her lips. “We have not yet investigated the bedrooms, I noticed.”
“I thought I might save that for tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” she repeated, those beautiful eyes of hers contemplative as they exited the doors and emerged onto the street. “It hardly seems real.”
“And yet it feels as though it has been a very long time coming.” He helped her into the carriage and rapped the roof, so they lurched into motion. Evangeline peered out of the window as they passed, commenting on the passers-by, and he watched her as he always did when they were together. Every day that passed lured him into a greater sense of need when he was around her as though she was his drug of choice, and he was helpless to do anything but want her.
Every day. Every moment. Every breath.
Times like these, moreover, when they were alone, with her knee just brushing his and her hands tucked demurely on her lap as though she was not feeding him into a frenzy, were even more impossible.
Yet she, innocent as she was, for all her teasing, she had no clue what she did to him. How hard it was to resist when his entire body begged him to push her skirts up around her waist and sink into her as he had dreamed of doing so many times.
The Lord help him, he was unhinged.
When they finally arrived at the Wellton house, it was to find servants milling around the hallway with an air of utter bewilderment.
