“There are some books about fish in the library,” Evan said. “Maybe one of them talks about anatomy.”
“Excellent!” Marina said, grinning at him. “Then you can read those books to her.”
He looked at Lilly, who smiled excitedly at him and relaxed.Could she really want me to read a book to her?“I am amenable to the idea,” he said carefully.
“What’s amen’ble?”
“Amenable. It means I want to read a book to you.”
Lilly started to jump up and down with excitement.
“Both feet firmly on the ground, please,” he said, looking at the wet, slippery rocks so close to her feet.
Marina helped Lilly take Princess Delphinium the Third off the hook and threw her back into the river. Lilly was smiling and grinning at her the entire time. Evan remembered how his wife had smoothly covered up his mistake and saved his child from tears.
She knew exactly what to do to make Lilly smile, and thanks to her, the day was not ruined. As Marina brushed a patch of mud from Lilly’s skirt and smoothed out the child’s hair, she was anything but invisible.
Marina watched with happiness as Lilly and Evan talked about the fish. It seemed to physically pain Evan every time he said the name “Princess Delphinium the Third”, but he did it because it made his daughter giggle. She could have sworn that she saw a hint of a smile on his face a time or two as well.
Good. Evan will realize his daughter does not hate him, and Lilly will realize her father is not as scary as she thinks he is. All it took was catching one fish.
She loved the sight of his smile.If only I could bring it out more.She winced a little, thinking about how he told her why he didn’t smile much after his wife’s death.He must have loved her to be so affected, even if he does not always show or acknowledge his emotions. It must have been horrible to have his wife’s death be the talk of the ton for so long.
But now that he and Lilly were spending time together that did not involve him waking her up from a nightmare, he might have reason to smile again.
She picked the abandoned fishing pole off the ground before turning to look at the river.I cannot believe that it was almost two weeks ago when I jumped into this river to ‘save’ Prince William. It feels like an eternity.
Her life had changed so much since then. She went from facing complete ruin to taking care of a sweet child, whom she was quickly beginning to love. Her husband was far from perfect, but he was kind to her, and he was at least trying to improve his relationship with his daughter, which was more than what her parents ever did with her…
She still did not know how to feel about Evan—she was still trying to figure him out. He confused her at times, which sparked her curiosity. Other times, he made her feel flustered, especially when he got so close to her or revealed just how much he paid attention to her.
But he’s also endearing. And he makes me feel safe, especially after the care he showed me when I fainted at the wedding.
Even though her feelings still confused her, her affection for him was quickly growing. Sometimes she wondered if his feelings for her were growing as well. She did her best not to indulge those thoughts. There was no point in giving herself false hope.
Lost in thought, she did not notice when Prince William jumped on the back of her leg from behind. The force of his little body was enough to make her lose her balance on the slippery rocks, and she started to tumble forward. Her hands shot out in front of her as she braced for her impact with the riverbed.
But before she could hit the water, a strong arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her up. Evan pulled her close, so her back was against his muscular chest. She shivered, feeling the heatradiating from beneath his suit. His arm held her protectively, which made her feel flustered and safe all at once.
Her cheeks burned as she turned around in his arms to face him. The corners of his mouth were turned up in a smirk that took her breath away. She stifled an urge to bury her face in his chest and breathe in his scent. “You seem to need a lot of rescuing, duchess,” he said. “Perhaps it would be best if you avoided the river from now on.”
If she did not know better, she would think there was affection in his tone. An impulse to tease him and provoke him welled up inside of her with the need to cover up her fluster. But she pushed the feeling back down. She returned the smile as butterflies fluttered in her stomach. It was unfair how handsome he looked when he smiled. It easily scattered her thoughts.
“Let’s go back to the manor,” she said. “We can go to the library and find those books about fish.”
As she pulled away from Evan, she thought she caught a glimpse of a frown on Lilly’s face before the little girl turned to look at Prince William, but she could not be sure.
Chapter Eighteen
That night, Lilly decided to go to bed early because she was so tired from fishing. Marina was hopeful that the exhaustion could make her nightmares less severe. But Lilly woke up screaming at the usual time of night.
When she hurried to Lilly’s room, Evan was already at the door and about to open it. “Go back to sleep,” he said. “I can handle this.”
Reluctantly, she nodded and went back to her room. She didn’t like staying in her room while listening to Lilly scream. She wanted to check on the little girl to make sure she was all right, just like Evan did.
But at the same time, this was the only moment that Evan spent alone with his daughter. Maybe it was good for both of them to have this time together.
Obviously, Lilly’s nightmares needed to end, and the two of them needed to spend more time together, as father and daughter, but it was important to Evan that he be the one who woke her up. Marina didn’t want to take that away from him.
