“Sarcasm is a sign of a small mind,” she said haughtily.
“Yours must be minute then.” Her only response to that was a hiss of breath.
A loud yapping had them both turning to see Monty approaching at a sprint.
“Bloody dog,” he muttered.
“Whose bloody dog is he?” Evie dropped to her haunches right there in front of everyone looking, of which there were many after his chat with Miss Beasley and what happened last night. In fact, they seemed to be the center of attention in the park today.
Monty ran at her, dancing on his hind legs, licking her face until Evie started giggling.
“Who does he belong to?” she asked.
“He is my aunts’ dog, Monty.” Anthony lifted her to her feet, ignoring the heat in his chest as he studied her. Her smile did not reach her eyes. They still looked sad.
“He’s lovely.”
“He’s a spoiled dog, but yes, he is a good boy. I brought him for them three years ago, and they dote on him.”
Anthony bent to stroke Monty, who immediately flopped on his back to have his belly rubbed.
“He is of course mannerless as you can see. It is not done to expose your belly in public like that, Monty.”
When he rose, she was giving him one of those unsettling looks that told Anthony she could read every thought in his head, but all she said was, “He’s lovely.”
“What’s wrong, Evie?” he said, because right then he would have done just about anything to make her happy again.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Nothing is wrong,my lord.”
“You are an exhausting woman. One minute I am Anthony and the next Lord Hamilton, or my lord.”
“This is exhausting,” she said. “I had thought it would be a simple matter of getting through the season, but it has turned out to be so much harder, and none of it was of my making.”
“As it is not of mine.”
“I know.” Her shoulders slumped. “If you must know, my sister and I are arguing.”
“What about?” He wandered to another artist and studied his work, and as she had her hand on his arm, she had to follow.
“I’m not sure why I should tell you.”
He handed her another barley sugar, which she took.
“Are you inundated with people you could speak with then, Evangeline? From what I have seen, you are friendless here in London.” He had to be honest with her, because it was the only way to get a reaction.
“I am hardly that.”
Anthony made a show of looking around him.
“They would not all be following me about like ducklings, now, would they?” She frowned in displeasure, and he wondered what it was about this woman that intrigued him. Perhaps it was that she did not flirt with him or drop silly inane comments into a conversation.
“Very well, perhaps you are correct, even if it was rude of you to point out my friendless state,” she said, and then crunched loudly on her barley sugar.
“I’m a rude person. I thought you already knew that.”
“There is that,” she said. “I don’t have friends here, but that is because this is my first season and I am too old to make any, and not worthy of anyone’s attempts to try. However, I have encountered several chaperones that appear nice.”
