“Has he approached you?”
“Yes. I was eating outside, and he did so. There was an apology that I didn’t believe was genuine. I told him in a roundabout way that he needed better friends and walked back inside. When I returned, he’d left.”
“Good girl. Keep your distance from him, and if he approaches or says anything that upsets you, then come and find me, Toby, or Jamie.”
“I will. I’m so sorry you suffered because of those men, Anthony.”
For once, he didn’t get that jolt of anger and anxiety at the thought of Blackwood Hall. It was Evie, of course. She made him feel calmer.
What did he feel for this woman?
“Evie!” Prudence waved to her sister as they arrived where the croquet was being held. She was standing with Landon, who Anthony had recently taken the time to get to know better.
“There is more food over there should you require it,” he said.
“You’ve already been eating those biscuits I had, haven’t you?” She looked up at him with an accusatory look on her face.
“Of course, but one can never have enough biscuits.”
“There is that.”
They talked with her family and Landon, and then he excused himself to speak with Jamie and Toby, who were flirting with several women.
“Miss Spencer certainly has better color in her cheeks than when she arrived. Care to tell me why, Anthony?” Jamie asked, moving away from the women so no one could overhear their conversation.
“She has been asleep as you very well know.”
“You looked quite happy with yourself also when you arrived,” Toby added.
“If there is a point to these veiled comments, please reach it before I get a gray hair,” Anthony said. He made himself look at his friends and not her. Because when Evie was close, she drew him to her side.
“There is, actually,” Jamie said checking to make sure no one was listening to their conversation. “We’ve decided you like Miss Spencer very much.”
“In fact, we think you like her so much you should make the engagement real,” Toby added.
It should have given him a shock to hear the words. It didn’t.
“No denial?” Toby asked.
Anthony refused to answer that. “Are we to visit Brawley tomorrow afternoon?”
“We are,” Jamie said grinning.
“Excellent. Now I’m going to play croquet and beat you both,” Anthony added.
They played and Evangeline was, of course, as competitive as he. She argued every point and heckled her sister constantly.
“Do not crow, Evie,” Prudence said as their father roared with laughter over his daughter’s antics.
“I’m not crowing. This is my victory look,” she said, fluttering her eyelashes.
God, he wanted that woman, but could he take a chance and go after what he wanted? Anthony had always believed himself broken, but lately he’d wondered if Evie was the one to put him back together.
“Hello!”
Anthony found his aunts approaching, and behind them his sister, Harriet. He was moving in seconds. Reaching her, he hugged her close.
“Hello, Harry.”
