“But I trust she is a gentleman’s daughter, and your family is entirely respectable.”
She cast her gaze toward the far wall as if remembering something that pained her.
“Titus expects you to marry a noblewoman. You’re to be a duke and likely quite soon. You know your duty as well as I do.”
“I know what’s expected. I know my father’s preference and what good society anticipates. Indeed, what everyone gathered in this house thinks I will do.” Gray shot up from his chair. A driving need gnawed at him to act on what he knew in his gut to be right. “None of the other ladies hold a candle to Evangeline.”
Lady Worthington offered him a sad smile, and for a moment, he thought perhaps she understood.
“She is a lovely and clever young woman. But she’s not for you, Rothwell, and I forbid you from promises to Evangeline that you cannot keep. I warn you. I will not see her heartbroken.”
“I would never hurt her. Indeed, I plan to spend the rest of my life making her happy.”
Evie’s aunt let out a long sigh, then she edged forward on her chair and pushed up to her feet with her cane. When Gray moved toward her to help, she waved him off.
“Even if you went to her right now, she would not accept a proposal from you, Rothwell. Evangeline is a practical, dutiful girl. Though I will give you this much. She cares for you deeply. I’ve always known that. But it’s precisely why she won’t allow you to ruin yourself with such fanciful nonsense.”
“Being with Evangeline could never cause me ruin. She makes me better, more true to who I am. And I won’t stop until she understands that. I will go and speak to her now.”
She lifted her cane and pointed it in his direction. “You have five ladies waiting to partner you in a dance. Can you not speak to her tomorrow?”
“No, Lady Worthington. Once a person knows what they want, time seems very precious. I do not wish to wait. Why waste the time of the ladies you’ve invited? Why feign an interest I do not feel?”
She drew close to him, then stared up at him, studying him. “You think I do not understand the yearnings of the heart? That I am too old, too practical, too concerned with my reputation to understand that sometimes the heart’s wants can lead us astray.”
“I haven’t gone astray, my lady. I feel more certain of who I am than I ever have.”
“But duty, my boy, means that we cannot always do as we wish. We do as we must.”
Gray expected the lectures on duty and knew he could anticipate several similar admonishments in his near future. But he knew something else too.
“I’ve been well versed in duty, Lady Worthington. All my life, it has been my chief study. Watching my father. Embracing my purpose. But my father, who speaks of duty to the title as if it’s his religion, taught me something else too.”
The lady arched one gray brow.
“Dukes can do as they please, and none dare defy them.”
* * *
“She hasno chance to marry him, so why would she ruin ours?” Lady Maribel was nearly in tears, and her whispered words to the two young ladies standing near her carried across the ballroom.
Gray and Aunt Lydia had been absent for over a quarter of an hour, and all of the guests had ceased dancing and begun to gather in clusters to gossip and speculate.
Evie felt their gazes on her.
“You’re sure you’re all right?” Lady Imogen had approached the moment Gray departed and remained by her side.
“I am, but I’d prefer to be anywhere but here at the moment.” Evie saw no reason to prevaricate with her friend.
Imogen slipped her hand around Evie’s elbow. “Why don’t take a walk? I understand there’s a wild, overgrown conservatory at the back of the castle.”
“I’d like that.”
On their way out of the ballroom, Evie let a maid know where they were going so that her aunt would not worry about her absence.
The conservatory proved a balm to her senses. It wasn’t unkempt, but many of the vines and decorative trees were enormous. Even under the gray skies of Yorkshire, they’d managed to thrive.
“It smells quite wondrous,” Imogen said as she reached for a broad, glossy leaf. “And look, there’s a spot we can sit.”
