Page 32 of Desperate Proposals
“What?” Stunned, Evelyn actually gasped. Where was this condemnation of her character coming from? She had not provoked Selina in the slightest! “Why, this is the first time you’ve ever made mention of—”
“And it’s been so lonely. So terribly lonely, idling away our days in Lancashire.” Selina sighed. “If I did not have Wright I don’t know what I should do.”
Evelyn pressed her lips into a hard line. It would fall upon deaf ears just now, if she were to scold Selina for being too close with the staff. And Wright, of all people! Their butler was loyal and capable, not deserving of being forced to deal with such embarrassment as being Selina’s confidant. Evelyn’s body thrummed with some horrid feeling, and she turned around lest she lose control of herself. As she took another turn through the room, her heart settled again.
“If only I could return to London,” Selina murmured, mostly to herself.
There was such sorrow in her voice that Evelyn slowed her gait. Perhaps she’d not been fair. Selina had once been a highly esteemed young lady, or so Evelyn had been told. Although her family were of a good name and standing, they’d suffered myriad losses over the past decades, both fiscally and physically. And now Selina and Leonora were all alone in the world, save Evelyn and Baron Methering.
And her father would do nothing to secure their futures.
She recalled the shocked look on Mr. Hartley’s face earlier that evening when she’d explained her frequency of conversation with her father. But that was merely his way, his taciturn manner—unless, as of late, one was willing to be on the end of a one-sided lecture about dubious athletic pursuits—and Evelyn had never considered it odd before. It was, after all, her way as well.
Perhaps shehaddone ill by Selina. There was some truth in what her sister-in-law had said: Evelyn could, at times, be a little too cold-hearted. She stopped pacing, then returned to Selina and sat down alongside her on the couch.
“You are… not wrong,” she said haltingly.
Selina regarded her with glassy eyes. A brief feeling of nausea passed over Evelyn like a shadow, but she pressed on.
“Iamwaiting for something, which you have surmised.” She glanced back at the clock, as if to emphasize her point; it had not advanced much. “But not because I…” She drew in a breath and closed her eyes. “It is not that I am enamored with Mr. Hartley, or he with me. It is true, he is broaching the subject of marriage even as we speak, but it is a union born of practicality. Surely you can see that we need to consider our, and Leonora’s, futures. We will not be allowed to remain at Methering when the next barontakes residence.” Even just speaking the words was like driving a dagger through her heart.
Although this time, it felt blunted. Slightly.
Selina’s eyes searched hers for a moment. Then she nodded slowly. “Yes. I see. I can see that.” She looked away, pursing her lips. “And Leonora and I?”
“You shall come with me. I explained it all to Mr. Hartley.”
“To Platt Lodge?” Selina frowned. “Isn’t it quite small? Wright was telling me about it once; it must have six or seven bedrooms at the most.”
Oh dear.Evelyn could not let something as silly as Selina’s sense of entitlement ruin everything she’d labored for these past months. She forced herself to reach out and pat Selina’s hand. It felt horribly awkward.
Selina stared, clearly shocked by this token display of affection. Evelyn suddenly felt the burn of humiliation, and she pulled her hand back, as if she’d set it too close to the fire.
“We will also need to remove to London, on occasion,” Evelyn said, conveniently forgetting to add that she herself had no desire to do so. At least, no more than was absolutely necessary.
“Really?” Selina’s eyes lit up. “Does he possess a residence there?”
“Yes, I believe so.” Evelyn, of course, could not explain that it was a terrible, cramped, stuffy townhouse, one with onlythreebedrooms in a merely satisfactory neighborhood.
Because to admit that would be to acknowledge that she’d not only been there, but that she’d also spent the night. Well, what were a couple more falsehoods atop all the others? She was beginning to realize she could be quite conniving, and what was more, it did not bring her as much discomfort as she’d always feared it would. Evelyn idly wondered if the governesses she’d had as a girl knew this to be the case, as they regularly implored her to be upstanding and truthful.
“Oh,” Selina breathed, then flashed a smile Evelyn had not seen since Edmund’s passing. “Should we not bring along Wright when we go, if Methering could spare him?”
A chill ran through Evelyn. Was this more of a problem than she’d assumed?
To her great relief, the door opened just then, precluding the need for her to answer Selina’s highly improper request. They both turned to see Mr. Hartley striding in, hands shoved into his pockets, a rather smug look upon his face.
Evelyn released her breath. He’d done it. Soon she would be his wife.
“It’s done, then?” she said.
“As of twenty or so minutes ago, yes. Although I fear I am now one of the foremost experts on pedestrianism in the whole of England. Perhaps second only to your father.” Mr. Hartley shook his head.
It felt so strangely banal, this man speaking of their impending marriage as if it were any other mundane topic.
“Good,” she said, lowering her eyes. She did not want to stare at him excessively.
After Selina blandly offered her congratulations to them, they made their respective excuses and quit the room. Time was of the essence; they must begin planning.
