Evelina chose to ignore it. “Of course you aren’t an innocent, you were married and you are well-aware of society politics. But what I’m about to say is about…it’s about something far seedier.”
Caroline’s brows lifted and she smothered a smile. “Then Idefinitelywant to know. Yes, you might shock me, but who doesn’t like a little shock? It isn’t the same as causing offense. And if it would help, I would hear you tell meanything, no matter what it was. Tell us.”
Evelina let out her breath and waited a moment while the servants brought dessert. Her favorite, a lemon tart, heaven love Arabella. But even as she looked at the dessert, she couldn’t think of eating it as she tried to find a way to explain her tangled thoughts.
“I already told you about Blackburn taking me to see that his wife was in my house, with Harry…Southwater.”
“Yes,” Silas said. “And I’m still deciding if I’m happy that he ripped the plaster from that wound so swiftly or angry that he put you through that.”
“You don’t have to be either,” Evelina said with a little smile. “I’m capable of taking care of myself.”
He inclined his head as if conceding that point. “Of course you are. Go on.”
“Well, I didn’t tell you something else that happened that night.” She shifted slightly. “After we had talked about the situation. Commiserated about betrayal, I suppose is a better way of putting it. Well, after that he made a suggestion about how we might…might get back at Harry and Lady Blackburn.”
“Get…get back at them?” Arabella repeated slowly. “What did he mean by that?”
“Blackburn believes that Harry used to take some kind of brutish pride in my apparently foolish devotion to him. And that it would rankle him if I very swiftly entered into another arrangement, especially a public one. And as for Blackburn’s wife?—”
“Wait, are you saying he wants to be your protector? To enter into an affair with you?” Julia burst out, her eyes wide.
“Gracious, am I so easy to read?” Evelina asked. “Yes, that’s exactly it. Well, no. Not truly. A pretend affair. Nothing real.”
“Oh, well, that’s disappointing,” Caroline said, and all of them stared at her. She bent her head, cheeks even darker than they had been after Silas’s swearing. She took a long gulp of her wine. “I realize you inhabit a very different reality from my own. And Lord Blackburnisa fine specimen of a man.”
“No one could deny that he’s very handsome,” Evelina admitted, and found herself thinking of him briefly with those intense green eyes and angled features. She shook that away. “But neither of us is ready for something like that. No, this would only be to tweak our previous lovers. To make ourselves look a little less pathetic.”
“You aren’t pathetic,” Arabella insisted. “I’ll duel anyone who says otherwise, including you, so be careful.”
Evelina couldn’t help but smile at that playful defense. “I think you would, thank you for that.”
“So you said yes to him?” Silas asked, gently steering the conversation back to matters at hand.
Evelina shook her head. “I was so shocked by the suggestion, I don’t think I said anything. He left soon after with a great many apologies and I haven’t seen the man since. But I also haven’t been able to stop thinking about that proposition. And I suppose I would like some opinions on it. From all of you.”
There was silence at the table for a moment as her family exchanged looks. There was concern, but also interest, and happily, no judgment.
Julia spoke first. “What would the terms be?”
“We hadn’t gotten that far,” Evelina admitted. “But if they weren’t good terms, I wouldn’t agree.”
“How long would it go on?” Silas asked.
She shifted. “Goodness, it seems I can offer no information one way or another. Again, we didn’t dig into the specifics. It was an offhand suggestion made while he was telling me I deserved my feelings of hurt and anger.”
“Which you do, so at least we know he isn’t a complete waste,” Arabella said. “Silas, what do you know about Lord Blackburn? You two were in school together briefly, yes?”
“We were,” Silas said. “We weren’t mates, exactly, but I never had any negative feelings about him. He was a fun fellow, always telling jokes and playing pranks, but never cruelly or at another’s expense. As far as posh pricks go, you could do a great deal worse. And you have.”
Evelina bent her head with a little smile. “Your impression of him is the same as my own. Before everything happened with his wife, I used to actually look forward to encountering him. He was always friendly and polite. And he never spoke to my breasts, which is what most of Harry’s friends did, even if the duke was standing right next to me. Blackburn is changed now…broken, I suppose. But there still isn’t a sense of abject cruelty or violence to him.”
Arabella shifted her attention to Caroline. “And what are your thoughts on the man, auntie? He is in your circles, after all.”
“He’s much younger than I am, but I did know his father, who was nothing but gentlemanly.” Caroline shrugged. “I’ve encountered the new earl a few times at gatherings here and there over the years and I’ve always judged him much the same way as you all have. He seems a friendly, jovial man with a sharp intelligence. I’ve never heard him spoken of in any negative way until the divorce scandal.”
“And what about his wife?” Evelina asked softly.
Her aunt met her gaze. “There were always a few little whispers, unproven suggestions that she was untrue. And I always found her to be very proud when I met her, and not in a good way. She likes her title and she likes attention. Those things alone don’t mean anything, but she isn’t a very nice person, especially if she believes someone around her is beneath her.”
