“Anthony?” Her voice sounded like a rusty door hinge.
“She does not wake well, my lord,” Prudence said from the doorway. “It is best to keep your distance for at least an hour.”
“Yes, it is I,” he said, giving in to the need to touch her. His thumb ran over a soft cheek. “Are you feeling all right after your long journey?”
She nodded, and then blinked again. Lastly, she rubbed her eyes like a child. He found it ridiculously endearing.
“Are you now alert enough to leave the carriage?”
“I think so. That was a long journey.” She frowned. “In your carriage. You shouldn’t have let us use it. Plus, there are thedresses, Anthony. You have spent too much money on us. I did not need a doctor; that, too, was a cost to you.”
Looking about for her bonnet, he found it on the floor. Picking it up, he lowered it onto her head.
“No, really, I don’t know how we can repay it all,” she said, lifting her chin as he tied the ribbons. “Stop that,” she hissed, realizing what she was letting him do. “Someone may see.”
“You are my fiancée. I’m sure I can help you with your bonnet ribbons, considering how ill you have been, Evangeline.”
“But we’re not… not really.”
“We are in the eyes of society, and to give that lie credence, then we must do things like this.” He bent to kiss her softly. No one could see, as his body was blocking the view, but he needed to taste her lips again. When Anthony raised his head, they formed a perfect O.
“Don’t do that again,” she whispered.
“I like being told what to do about as much as you, so perhaps you should remember that, Evangeline.”
“It’s a failing,” she whispered, “which clearly we share.”
“So it would seem. Now come along.”
Her eyes met his then. “I owe you an apology, my lord… Anthony.”
“Just Anthony.”
“I’m sorry I left quickly that day when you saved Miss Little, but I did not want the fuss that would follow, plus my clothes were sticking to me in an unseemly manner.”
“Running away solves nothing, Evie. However, I understand, and you were wet, cold, and very likely in shock. But it would have relieved me to know you were all right,” he said. “But now you are well, I can tell you how courageous and foolhardy you were.”
“I was not foolhardy,” she said, eyes narrowing.
He backed out of the carriage and held out a hand for her to join him.
“Foolhardy,” Anthony added, helping her to step down. He then kept her hand and placed it on his arm. “You could have drowned plunging into that water recklessly like that.”
“I was helping!”
“Oh goody, she has regained her wits,” Prudence said dryly.
“There were others—”
“No one was rushing forth to help,” Evangeline snapped, interrupting him.
Anthony felt lighter inside than he had in days and knew that was solely because she had arrived. His fake fiancée.
“Good day to you, Miss Spencer,” Jamie said. “Ignore my friend. You were extremely brave.”
“She could have drowned,” Anthony snapped.
“I know how to swim,” Evie said.
