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He does have a good point there. If I am to simply meet Mr. Turner, I will not need to impress him with my skills. Not for now, at least.

“If I say you will meet him, then you will,” Daniel said firmly. “And if you wish for him to teach you, then hewilldo that as well.”

“Daniel… you cannot just order people about like that. It is just notright.”

He looked at her, his eyes softening slightly. “Sweetheart, you seem to forget that I do not always do what is right. I will, however, do all that is necessary.”

“I hardly think this is necessary!”

“It is because you will be my Duchess. Your slightest wish will be a necessity.”

There was simply no arguing with him. He was set in his ways.

She looked back at her friends helplessly, hoping that they might at least step up and rescue her from this immensely compelling man who seemed to hold the entire world in the palms of his hands.

Scarlett simply winked back at her and mouthed, “Best of luck!”

It would seem that Evie was on her own this time.

CHAPTER 16

Is there actually something or someone he cannot access?

Evie felt as if she were in a daze. When Scarlett had mentioned that Mr. Turner would be in attendance tonight, she had not exactly thought out how to meet him properly. For her, it was already enough to be in the same place as him—a painter she admired as a master of his craft.

Never had she thought that she would actually bemeetinghim. Be introduced to him.Talk to him.

What am I supposed to say? How am I supposed to act?

“There is no need to be nervous.”

She glanced up and found Daniel staring at her with a neutral expression, his face devoid of any emotion.

It was so easy for him to say that when she knew he was apathetic to most of the world. How could he possibly understand the excitement coursing through her now?

Evie scowled at him. “I am not nervous.”

“Forgive me. It must have been my hand that was trembling.”

He was teasing her! Here she was, her heart almost beating out of her chest, her knees knocking together, and he still had the gall to tease her!

Daniel Stanton truly was the most attractive, infuriating man alive!

She wanted to hit him. Was it considered appropriate to smack one’s betrothed in public? Perhaps not, but the temptation to retaliate was too great to resist.

She pinched his arm, and he did not even flinch. She rolled her eyes at that. Was he impervious to pain as well? Perhaps even if she hit him outright, it would have the same effect as a gnat fighting against a giant.

But gnats can sting.Maybe if I hit him right in the eye…

“Mr. Turner, I suppose you have not met my betrothed,” she heard him say calmly. “Lady Evelyn Fitzroy.”

All at once, thoughts of vengeance flew out of her mind as she beheld the artist whose works she had admired for so very long.

Mr. Bernard Turner himself.

The painter looked to be no more than in the third decade of his life, with an open smile and wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. He wore a dark blue jacket, and his cravat was tied rather sloppily, as if he had put it there as an afterthought. This was a man who cared very little for appearances, choosing instead to capture the beauty around him with his brush.

Truly a man worthy of admiration.Nothing more.