‘You are angry with me,’ observed Drake. Evelyn looked up to the ceiling in mock gratitude that he was beginning to understand. ‘Curse me all you like if it makes you feel better. I can take it. I probably deserve it—’
‘Probably?’scoffed Evelyn.
‘—but whether you believe me or not, I left to saveyouas well as myself.’
Evelyn turned on him. ‘I did not need saving.’
Drake glanced at the door. Satisfied no one was listening he stepped forward and touched her elbow. ‘You did need saving . . . from me. I would have ruined your life.’
She looked at his hand, its warmth moving up through her arm in a most pleasurable way.
‘As a child I had no voice or control of my life. My opinions were not worth considering, my cry for help not worth hearing. My crime?’ She eased her arm away and took a step back. ‘I was a girl and incapable of independent thought.’ She watched his gaze lift to hers. ‘I thought you were different, Drake. I thought you treated me as an equal, but I can see now that I was mistaken. You left to save me, but did not ask my opinion. My thoughts were not worthy of consideration.’
Unconsciously, as if requiring some protection, Evelyn stood behind a chair and rested her hands on the back hoping she could calm her beating heart.
‘Should a woman dare to step out of line, she is labelled, ostracised, stripped of everything she holds dear. I know. I haveexperienced it. So we do as we are told and walk the narrow path of propriety, dedicating our lives to pleasing others. God forbid we should aspire to achieve anything more than a suitable marriage. So we are told who to love and I, like many others, have resolved to abide by our families’ wishes for the good of the family name. And then I find you standing in my home, after all these years. I have lost count of how many times I have turned your parting words over and over in my head.’
‘I’m sorry, Evie.’
‘I deserve the truth, Drake. Why have you come back? Is it to soothe your conscience? To quell your curiosity? To close a chapter? How fortunate that you are also being paid for your time.’
They could hear her mother’s voice in the hall. Their time alone was drawing to a close.
Drake raked a hand through his hair. For the first time she saw that he trembled too.
‘I came back to see you, Evie.’
‘And what do you see?’
‘A woman who has lost her rebellious streak. A woman who is going to marry a man she does not love and who will never love her the way I do.’
Her breath caught in her throat, turning her voice to no more than a whisper. ‘Don’t preach to me about what real love is.’
‘I loved you enough to leave you.’
‘But you did not love me enough to stay.’
* * *
It seemed ironic that Evelyn found herself looking at her reflection and reliving every word of their parting, just as she had done on the day Drake had left all those years ago. Back then Tilly was unpinning her hair in preparation for bed and todaywas no different. Evelyn would probably not be seeing Drake again.
Her mother had returned abruptly ending what had never really begun.
‘I think it has been a tiring day for all of us, Lady Pendragon,’ Drake had said, bowing over her mother’s hand. ‘I think I can complete the designs from now on.’
In the hall, he stole a moment to whisper. ‘Where is the Evie I used to know, who escaped her governess’s company and ran free through the grounds?’
‘I’m no longer a child,’ she had replied through tight lips.
‘It is not the child I am talking about, it is the spirit inside,’ Drake had answered.
Evelyn looked at herself and wondered the same thing now.
‘I can manage now, Tilly,’ she said, breaking free of her maid’s brush to stand up.
Tilly froze in surprise, the hairbrush aloft in readiness for another stroke.
‘I’m sorry, Tilly. I am not myself.’
