Page 22 of Loving a Beast of a Marquess
Zachary had a suspicion the smelling salts were merely a distraction; a suspicion supported by the way she glared in his direction as they were applied. He was not to be dissuaded.
“If you require a guide around the house,” Evangeline said defiantly, “I shall take you.”
“Sister,” Emily said, laying a hand on Evangeline’s arm. “I am happy to oblige.”Evangeline clenched her jaw, her spoon equally clenched in her fist, but she said nothing more, and when they rose, and Zachary offered Emily his arm, the younger girl took it with only one, quick, frightened look at her sister.
“Evangeline will be very cross,” she confided as they crossed through the hallway to the front door; the place she had decided it would be best to start. “She doesn’t like you, you know.”
“Ihadnoticed,” Zachary said dryly. “Is it because she thinks I’m a monster or because she thinks I’m trying to usurp your father?”
“Both, most likely.” Emily gave him a shy look. “But I don’t think you’re trying to do either.”
Oh to avoid Evangeline and her frustrating, irritating opinion of him. “How kind,” he said. Emily frowned at the acerbic note in his voice, and he swallowed, wrestling with his wretched temper until he could find a smile again. “That is to say—I am glad to have one friend in a household determined to think the worst of me.”
The term ‘friend’ caught her off-guard, and she swallowed as she began her tour with surprising determination, informing him of the history of the house as she knew it—including where the Prince Regent had sat when he had come to stay—and deflecting his every attempt to initiate conversation.
When they eventually returned to the hallway, he had given up on attempting to force her to speak about anything other than the house and merely said, “Thank you for your time and kindness.”
She flushed and glanced up at him through her eyelashes. The similarity between her and Evangeline was only, for a moment, heightened. “You should speak with Evangeline if you want to be friends with her,” she said. “Befriending me will not help.”
He pinched his lips together. “I at no point suggested I would want to be friends with your sister, Lady Emily.”
“But she’s so beautiful.”
“That matters little when she has made her opinion of me quite plain.”
Emily’s smile was sudden and bright. “No,” she said, “she does not hide what she is feeling even for a moment. But befriending me will not win her over.”
He peered down at Emily. She was pretty in a quiet sort of way that likely appealed to many men who wanted something a little less bold and stubborn than Evangeline’s bright beauty. He, however, found her to be a little bland, like comparing the moon to its partner, the glowing sun. “And if I wanted to befriend you for your sake?” he asked. “What then?”
“The younger daughter?” Emily's smile was, for once, unrestrained. “I can hardly fathom why.”
Neither could Zachary, at that moment. He merely offered her a smile and a bow and returned to the drawing room where his mother and Lady Pevton sat together, needlework in their hands and gossip on their tongues. Lady Pevton silenced immediately at his entry. He half expected her to call for her smelling salts.
“Pray excuse me,” he said, bowing and leaving almost immediately. In the library, at least, he could have some space in which to think and consider his options.
* * *
Evangeline waited until she was walking with Emily before attempting to pry the pertinent details from her sister. “Well?” she asked impatiently. “How was it?”
“I told him everything, and he seemed interested,” Emily said. Infuriating girl. “I told him about when the Prince Regent came to stay, and he even asked a few questions about—”
“Not the house,” Evangeline said through gritted teeth. “Did he say anything else?”
“What was there to say?” Emily gave a demure smile to some of their acquaintances walking past. In early afternoon with a heavy cloud cover, Evangeline suspected they would only have a little time in Hyde Park before being required to return home. But ever since she had discovered the Marquess in the library with her, she had not felt safe in any room of the house. He could be lurking anywhere.
“Did he not at least indicate why he wished to haveyougive the tour?”
“I told him he would not recommend himself to you in this way,” Emily said, her tone serene. Over the space of the Marquess’ visit, she had gone from fearing him to viewing him with a kind of complacency Evangeline didn’t trust. Of course, her younger sister wasn’t aware of all the things the Marquess had done—and nor, if she had her way, would she be. “But he assured me he was not trying to recommend himself to you. He is aware that you dislike him.”
“As well he may be,” Evangeline said. “I have taken no pains to hide it.”
“Perhaps you might consider—”
“Consider what?” Evangeline turned to face her sister. The wind pelted her face, and not for the first time, she wished they had just stayed home. Judging by Emily’s red-tipped nose, she was also feeling the cold. “Do you believe him a good man now?”
“I believe he doesn’t want to alienate himself from the family,” Emily ventured, a frown creasing between her brows, “and he was more than polite to me.”
Evangeline pressed her hand against her forehead. “Of course, he’s being polite to you! He wishes to marry you.”
