“You spoke, Lord Cavendish. I did not. Nor did I agree to what you proposed.”
“You knew my intentions, woman. Knew what I wanted.”
Anthony’s hand once again settled on hers. The gentle squeeze was reassuring.
“Her name is Miss Spencer, and if you speak to her like that again, Cavendish, you will be walking away with a bloodied nose… at the very least.”
Had he really just said that in a public setting?She felt a small surge of heat that he was protecting her, even if this, what was between them, was not real.
“You threatened me, Lord Cavendish,” Evie continued, keeping her voice soft so those craning to overhear, could not.
“Did he? Care to tell me how, Evangeline?”
“No.” She shook her head to ensure Lord Hamilton understood. “It no longer matters.”
“It matters to me,” he said darkly.
“Misunderstanding,” Cavendish said glaring at her. “Woman’s not the most intelligent, if you grasp my meaning, Hamilton. You may want to revise your intentions toward her.”
Before Evie could tell Cavendish exactly what she thought of him, Lord Hamilton released Evie and started to remove his jacket.
“Wh-what are you doing!” Mr. Calthorpe yelped.
“Cavendish insulted the woman I am to marry.”
“It was not his intention,” Calthorpe added. “Tell him it wasn’t.”
“It was not my intention,” Cavendish said reluctantly.
Anthony stopped his movements, and picked up Evie’s hand, placing it back on his arm. “Miss Spencer is to be my wife. Therefore, under my protection. I suggest you think long and hard before insulting her again, Cavendish.”
“You will both regret this,” Lord Cavendish hissed.
“Be careful. That sounded like a threat to me, and I believe I have already told you I do not take well to those,” Lord Hamilton said.
Both men turned and stalked away, leaving Evie wanting to do the same. However, noting the curious looks around them, she forced her lips into a smile, and wondered what she had now found herself in the middle of.
Chapter Eighteen
“Let us walk,”Anthony said attempting to cool the inferno raging inside him. “Evangeline, move your feet now.”
His words shocked her into taking a step, and soon they were walking down the path. Anthony usually kept his composure around those men, but today he’d felt the urge to plant his fist in their faces. The anger from his youth was there, but there was something more now. Cavendish had insulted Evangeline, and that had him seeing red.
“I’m sorry you were exposed to that.” He looked at her, taking in her tight expression. Was she about to weep? “He has gone, and I will not allow him to harm you again.”
She exhaled loudly. “I did not give him any reason to believe I wished to be the future Lady Cavendish, Anthony.”
It was the first time she’d willingly called him by his first name, and he liked the sound of it on her lips.
“I know that, just as I know it would have been he who bullied and intimidated you, Evangeline. Now tell me what threat he held over you.”
“He knew of our situation.”
Cavendish would use every means he could find to get what he wanted, and that had been Evangeline.
“I loathe that man. He calls himself a gentleman and yet he is far from that. He—he makes me so angry. How dare he speak as if he owned me?”
“So, your maidenly sensibilities are not upset then? This is pure rage?” Anthony asked, feeling his own mood lighten.
