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Alice looked up at her frustrated husband and reached out to cup his face in her hand with a smile. “By any chance,” she murmured. “Did you ever think toaskEvie her opinion on this matter before you barged into Ashton Hall this morning?”

“Why would I need to do that?” he asked her, confusion visible on his features. “EviehatedDaniel. She did not even want to be left in his care when we departed for our honeymoon.”

Any other person would have been intolerable in his stubbornness, but she still found him woefully endearing. Alice had to pause and wonder if it was indeed marriage that had given her this newfound forbearance, or if her love for this man had made her more… tolerant of his flaws.

Probably both.

“That is because your sister actually cares for him,” she told him softly. “And right now, to her, you are the one who disrupted their marital bliss.”

“Marital bliss?” he echoed in disbelief. “How can those words be used with Daniel and Evie,my sister?”

She sighed. “I know it beggars belief, my darling, but that is precisely what happened in this case. Do you think the Duke of Ashton would have lain with her if he… did not find her to his liking?”

She felt the warmth rushing up to her cheeks. Should she really be talking about the private affairs of others? And to her husband of all people?

But she knew that it was not for lack of intellect that her husband failed to comprehend the furor he had caused, but because he simply refused to believe it.

Yet.

“You know very well that despite his reputation, your friend is rather… selective of those he chooses to associate with,” she spoke slowly. “And if you, one of his closest friends, had leftyour sisterin his care, then she would be the last person he would ever think to be entangled with!”

“Well, I had certainly hoped so!” Colin burst out in indignation. “As it turns out, I was sorely mistaken on that aspect!”

“Then, knowing what youdoknow about both their personalities, you should know that marrying each other was not something they would have taken lightly.”

He looked most adorably flummoxed at that, and Alice had to resist the urge to lean in and give him a kiss.

“You mean to say that they truly care for one another?” he choked out. “That Daniel Stanton—the bloody Duke of Ash—cares forEvie?”

Alice crossed her arms over her chest. “Why do you find it so incredibly hard to believe?”

“Because this isDanielwe are talking about!” he argued. “God, Alice—the things he does… how could Evie want the same? You have heard of his reputation, but even that barely scratches the surface!”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Oh, you are one to talk,Duke of Thorns. I remember my own father havingthose very same misgivingswhen I wanted to marry you!”

He looked thoroughly abashed, but Colin Fitzroy had always been quick to recover.

“As I recall,” he declared with an arrogant tilt of his head, “your father wasecstaticwhen I announced my desire to seek your hand in marriage.”

“And then, he was none too pleased after everything that went down at your grandmother’s house party.”

She sighed and placed a gentle hand on his arm. “The point of the matter is that Evie truly cares for the Duke of Ashton,” she told him softly. “Believe what you will of their marriage, but Ican see that they genuinely care for each other, and now, in her eyes, you have ruined her happiness.”

Pain flashed across his blue-gray eyes, and Alice felt her heart ache for her husband. He truly was a good man who had his sister’s best interests at heart.

However, even with the best intentions, people can still mess up.

“Do you think she will ever forgive me for this?” he muttered harshly.

Alice smiled up at him and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth. “You are siblings, my love, and you care for each other. As long as you make the proper amends, I do not see why dear Evie could not find it in her heart to forgive you.”

“But I have already given her her favorite pastries, and she refuses to even look at them!”

She gave him a pointed look. “Your sister is no longer a child that she should be so easily persuaded by sweets.”

“Oh yes, she was simply persuaded so easily byDaniel Stanton.”

“Colin Fitzroy!” she chastised him with a reproving look.