“If you’re ready, we shall leave,” Anthony said. “We’re to ride, so let us walk to the stables.” He never felt panic, but it was there now, clawing at his throat.
He wanted Evangeline Spencer with a need that he doubted would ever wane, and that terrified him. She had given him hope, and that was a dangerous thing for a man who had never allowed himself to believe in it before. Damn this searing pain inside him. For the first time in many years, he longed for the numbing cold that usually existed in his heart.
“Tell us what is going on with you, Anthony. Your face is leached of color, and you look ready to cast up your accounts,” Jamie said.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I merely drank too much brandy last night.”
“You never drink to excess when keeping company with your fellow peers,” Toby said flatly.
Damn, he should have said he’d eaten something that disagreed with him. Anthony was usually far more alert than that.
“Get up,” Toby said. “Now. We are walking.”
“I don’t want to walk,” Anthony protested. “I want to eat my meal.”
“Which you are pushing around your plate,” Toby said. “Move your feet, Hamilton.
“Go to hell,” he snarled with more venom than he should have used if he wanted to stop further questioning.
“I have no wish to join you there,” Toby said, leaning toward him. “What have you done?”
“I have no idea what either of you is talking about.”
“My money is on Evangeline being the problem here, but what I don’t know is why, or what you’ve done to ruin things with her,” Jamie said.
He reacted to hearing her name before he could stop himself. Anthony’s hand clenched into a white-knuckled fist around the knife.
“What did you do?” Toby said slowly.
“Lord Hamilton.”
“Yes,” he said far too loudly.
“Miss Prudence Spencer has asked that you attend her at once please.”
The only reason Evie’s sister could want to speak to him was because she had told her what happened last night. Was Prudence Spencer about to take him to task for his behavior?You deserve it if she is.
“Of course, I shall go at once,” Anthony said rising. “Where is she?”
“In the orchard, my lord.”
“Thank you.” He faced his friends who had also risen. “I will meet you shortly in the stables.”
“Not bloody likely. We’re coming. Something is afoot, and we want to know what. If Miss Prudence Spencer can shed light on that, excellent.”
“There is nothing afoot, and I don’t need your company, so go away,” Anthony snapped.
“Why are you hurrying if nothing is afoot?” Jamie said, pulling alongside him. “And you can insult us all you like, but we’re still coming with you.”
“Evangeline is the perfect wife for you,” Toby said. “We think you care deeply for her. In fact, we believe you love her.”
Anthony’s foot caught on the other one and he stumbled for several steps, only just managing not to land on his face.
“What?”
“She’s fiery, strong willed, and won’t let you have everything your own way. Plus, she will finally heal your pain,” Toby added. “Don’t mess things up with her. Make her your real fiancée, Anthony.”
She was all of those things and more, and it was because he cared so much for her he knew she was safer without him.
