Page 4 of Saving a Scoundrel
She swung around to face him. “What’s going on is Mr. Evans. That is my father wants me to marry Mr. Evans. Wouldn’t it be perfect, he said.”
“Who is Mr. Evans?”
“My father’s new curate. He just moved to Marbury a month ago.”
“I take it you don’t want to marry Mr. Evans?” Lucius asked cautiously. He knew enough about women to see the signs of a temper about to blow.
“No!” Her shout echoed across the quiet garden. She seemed to deflate after the sharp extort. Her shoulders slumped, and she let out a long sigh. “I just want to do something, anything, before I settle down to take care of some man and a passel of children.”
Lucius’s lips quirked. He’d never seen Ellie be so dramatic. This was usually Susanna’s territory. “A passel of children?”
Ellie’s eyes narrowed. Uh oh. She pointed one finger at him. “This is all your fault.”
“What?”
But Ellie wasn’t listening to him. Instead, she paced away, muttering. “If only…how would he know. But if he just saw…” Then she turned and stalked to him, her expression inscrutable.
Stopping inches from him, they stood toe-to-toe. Her cheeks were flushed, and her chest rose and fell at a rapid rhythm. His breath hitched at the look in her eye. The same look she’d had in the graveyard, right before she kissed him. “Ellie,” he said softly as he took a step back.
She froze for a moment, then blinked those long eyelashes. “Uh, yes. Sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you. Not your problem, of course.” She looked back over her shoulder at the house. “I must get back inside; they’ll wonder what’s happened to me.” Then Ellie turned on her heel and hurried away.
Ellie was getting married. He didn’t know why the thought of her married to some random bloke sat so heavy in his gut. Maybe it was because she didn’t wish it. But, same as his sister last year, she didn’t appear to have much choice in the matter. He put his hat back on and slowly headed for the house. He would have to interrogate Charlotte at dinner tonight and find out what exactly this Mr. Evans was like.
Chapter Two
Ellie shifted herheavy shopping basket to the other hand. It had been a successful trip to the bookshop, but her father would certainly chuckle and say perhaps she had chosen too many books. Finally, her home in sight, Ellie picked up her pace. The simple two-story manor house had whitewashed walls and green-painted lattice ladders that supported the roses in the summer months. The barn-wood door and shutters added rustic charm and a low stone wall circled the house and a pretty garden.
Usually, this time of year, she would see her father out in the garden preparing the flower beds for spring. His greatest joy was helping things grow, whether it was his beloved flowers or the souls of his parishioners. Her father had been the vicar for Little Marbury for twenty years. The Earl of Dearborn provided his living.
But today, Ellie spotted a barouche waiting in the lane. The coachman wore Dearborn livery. She didn’t have plans with Susanna today. What was going on? Ellie came through the wooden gate into the yard and spotted her friend Susanna standing next to her father’s study window. Ellie sat her basket of books down on the bench by the front door. “Susanna, what are you doing skulking around Father’s window?”
Susanna’s spun around. “Shhh!” She hurried over. “Oh, it’s so exciting.” Then Susanna tugged Ellie farther into the garden away from the house.
“What’s so exciting?” Ellie asked.
“My mother is talking to your father.”
Lady Dearborn was paying her father a visit? “What about?”
“I had the most fabulous idea. I broached it to Father last night at dinner, and he and Mother both agreed! I’m just sorry it didn’t occur to me sooner.”
Ellie huffed. “Susanna, for goodness’ sake, what are you talking about?”
Susanna reached for both of Ellie’s hands, gripping them tightly. “Mother is asking your father if you can be my new companion this season in London.” She bounced up and down on her toes. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful? You would finally get to come to town!”
“What?” The whole world tilted on its axis. She blinked a couple of times to clear the sensation. Her heart beat wildly. London? “Father will never say yes. What about Mr. Evans?”
“Nonsense. He doesn’t want you to marry Mr. Evans immediately, right? He only just suggested the idea. My mother will convince him that it would be a personal favor for her and Father. How can he say no?” She batted her eyelashes dramatically. “You know how much trouble I am.”
Ellie laughed at her friend’s pained tone. Susanna did not fit the mold of a regular debutante. She wasn’t demure, willing to make small talk about the weather, or particularly impressed by fancy clothes or jewelry. Her sharp wit often took people by surprise, and she had no patience for fools.
“But you know how he feels about town,” Ellie protested.
“My mother is not asking; she is requesting your presence as a companion. Because you are such a steady influence on me.” Her friend rolled her eyes. “Your father would not say no to a request from his favorite cousin.”
It was absurd to let Susanna’s excitement infect her. Her father would never let her go. Would he? Ellie plopped down onto a wrought-iron bench. Tulips and daffodils swayed in the breeze across from her. A trip to London would be her chance to experience something new before she had to settle down and be a wife and mother. But being part of the social season? Even as just as a companion. Terrifying. She shook her head and then raised her eyes to Susanna. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
Susanna sat next to her. A frown marred her otherwise beautiful face. “Eleanor Spencer, are you not the same woman who came to me not three months ago complaining you have never gone anywhere, done anything exciting? Were you not the woman in tears yesterday at the prospect of having to marry boring Mr. Evans?”
