Page 38 of Love and Loathing

“Oh my God,” Liv breathed, delight mingled with disgust. “You do.”

SEVENTEEN

Evie followed the othersthrough to the dining room with zero expectation of enjoyment. She’d never had any hopes for the whole evening, even with Hugo and Amy there, because her father was holding tight to the reins until the very last jump, and this whole elaborate evening, from the fancy clothes to the row of roasted birds down the laden dining table, was designed purely with Domnall in mind. Everyone else was an accessory. And her father would be watching her like a hawk, already in a bad mood at her still being here.

But despite all that, she’d left her room with something close to excitement in her heart, something fluttery and daft anyway, imagining tormenting Aubrey in some unspecified way, getting that muscle to tic in his jaw, bringing that unholy dark anger into his eyes, and forcing him to abandon the usual smooth disinterestedness he adopted around everyone else in order to fight.

Childish pranks,she reminded herself bitterly, seeing again the scorn on his face at Liv’s suggestion that he liked her.Her?his whole manner had suggested,Don’t be absurd.

She found, not to her surprise, that her father had done the traditional thing and split the couples up, seating Liv to his right at the head of the table, and Domnall to his left. Hugo sat on Liv’s right, and Evie sat next to him. Poor Amy was sitting to Domnall’s left, with Aubrey on her other side, facing Evie. She took her seat, arranged the napkin on her lap, though not even a crumb would fall on it, and, ignoring Aubrey who she was currently finding it difficult to look at for reasons too absurd to contemplate, smiled across the table at Amy.

Amy smiled back, resigned, then turned to Domnall, who was complimenting her on her dress. While staring at the velvet sweetheart neckline. At Evie’s side, Hugo watched, mouth set, turning a knife over in his fingers. Without taking his eyes off them, he leant towards Evie and whispered, “I suppose it’d take the shine off Dad’s whole weekend if I stabbed the guest of honour in the eye?”

Evie bit back a laugh. “It might.”

“Just checking.”

“But I’d help you hide the body.”

“Thanks, sis.”

Evie laughed again, then took a sip of water, inadvertently meeting Aubrey’s eye across the table. His expression told her nothing. He’d taken her elbow when she descended the stairs, escorted her to the hall where a fire was blazing in the ancient, enormous hearth, brought her a drink from the sideboard where they were being served, and said very little at all. There were only around twelve hours until he left, taking his laptop with him. Evie’s stomach gave an uneasy lurch, and she put her glass back down.

The food, arriving shortly afterwards, was exactly as she’d expected. Excessive and, to her, inedible. She pleated the napkin on her lap, listening to Liv’s raptures over the crackling on the duck, then looked up in surprise as Howell came back into the room, making a rather grand entrance with an enormous covered silver platter in his hands.

“A vegan meal for Miss Evelyn, courtesy of Redbridge,” he announced, and walked towards her, placing the platter in the space in front of her hastily cleared by one of the waiting staff.

“What’s this?” her father called. Everyone had paused eating. They were looking at her, the platter, the frown on her father’s face.

“Oh, ah…” Hugo said. “It’s um…from me.”

“You arranged this?” asked their father.

“Well, she can’t exactly eat the duck, can she?”

Her father’s jaw clenched. He hated having his authority disrespected. But Domnall was watching, seeming amused by the brewing domestic. The lure of money won out. George schooled his expression. “We’ll talk about this later.”

Hugo nodded tightly, the threat clear.

“Actually,” Aubrey said. “I asked Hugo to do it. If you’re annoyed that your daughter will get to eat dinner, take it up with me.”

Evie stared at him, but he was watching her father, face cool. If he was worried about her father’s wrath, he didn’t show it.

“Oh, God,” groaned Hugo beside her, hand over his eyes. “I told him not to say it.”

She looked at Amy next, trying to figure it out, but her friend shrugged, eyes wide, clearly no wiser than her. Whatever it was, it had been cooked up between the two men.

She looked again at Aubrey. He gave her a faint smile that seemed as much apology as anything. Why had he…? Why…? She forced back the idiotic threat of tears.Not now.

“Young love!” called Domnall, breaking the silence and raising his glass. “I think it’s charming.”

“Agreed,” said Amy stoutly, aiming a wink at Evie as she raised her glass, too.

And Howell, who had been waiting patiently by her elbow the whole time, now lifted the lid from the platter and calmly asked, “Shall I serve?”

“Aubrey!” she hissed, catching his sleeve, because the stupid man was on the verge of disappearing into the drawing room with all the others.

He looked back at her, frowning faintly, as though he couldn’t for the life of him think why she would want to speak to him alone. “Yes?”

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