Page 32 of A Lady’s Rules for Seaside Romance (The Harp & Thistle #3)

“I would.” Victor gave a small bow. Anne, now feeling even more uncertain about the evening, would have expected him to make an excuse, as he didn’t seem fond of the Ashbys. And she wasn’t even sure why she had invited him, either. The question had come out on its own.

“Good. That’s settled, then.” Anne recalled the reason she’d approached the trio in the first place. “Evelyn.” Anne turned to the tall redhead beside her. “I need to speak with you. In private.”

*

Anne shut her bedroom door as soon as Evelyn had entered the room. Evelyn looked around, quite confused as to why they were here.

“I didn’t want to explain why I’m seeking your help in front of Victor and Ollie,” Anne said while angling over to her vanity.

“Oh?” Evelyn followed, curiosity clear in her question.

Anne put a hand on the drawer but hesitated. She looked over her shoulder. “First, I want to make sure you understand this is a conversation that stays between you and me. You have come to me for help in the past. It is my time to come to you, if you may.”

Evelyn’s eyes widened slightly. “Of course. You may trust me with anything.”

Anne nodded and pulled open the drawer. She first showed Evelyn the drawing of the daisy amongst the night sky. “I received this the night of the ball Vivian and Dantes hosted.”

Evelyn took it. “Did someone deliver it to you?”

Anne shook her head and debated what she should tell Evelyn. She decided to tell her everything—otherwise, this would be of no help. “No. I saw someone watching me from the balcony that overlooks the ballroom.”

Evelyn’s mouth made an O . “Who was it?”

“I don’t know.” Anne lowered into the vanity chair while Evelyn studied the drawing. “I went up there to find out and they were gone, disappearing into thin air as if they were a phantom.”

Evelyn glanced up and tilted her head. “Interesting.”

“But as I headed back down the hall…” Anne pointed to the drawing. “That was lying in the middle of the floor. It hadn’t been there before. He’d somehow reappeared without me knowing. And quickly disappeared.”

“The Phantom left it for you,” Evelyn concluded.

“Yes.” Anne swallowed. “And then this arrived today.” She took the daisy drawing from Evelyn, set it atop the vanity, and handed over the new drawing.

“That’s you,” Evelyn said immediately, not bothering to hide the surprise in her voice. “My word. Whoever your phantom is is exceptionally talented.”

“It’s strange, right? It’s as if they have my face memorized.”

Evelyn’s face tensed—an odd reaction—and she responded with a nod.

“Do you think…I should be disturbed by this?”

Evelyn looked up briefly before frowning back down at the drawing. “I suppose it depends on who the sender is, doesn’t it?”

Anne considered this. “Yes, I suppose you’re right.”

“And I suppose the sender is whoever this gentleman is holding you in a lover’s embrace, his face conspicuously hidden. It’s a drawing of desire, I believe.”

“So, you agree that’s what it is? That’s what I thought too, a lover’s embrace, but then I thought I was reading too much into it.”

“No, whoever drew this…” Evelyn trailed off as if struck by a sudden thought.

“What is it?” Anne hurried the words out. “Whoever drew it…what?”

“They are clearly quite fond of you.” Evelyn handed the drawing back and appeared to fidget as if uncomfortable. But Anne couldn’t imagine why. “Do you have any idea who the sender might be?”

Anne set the drawing next to the other one. “I thought it might be Mr. Ashby, as he has been pursuing me. And the second drawing could have come at the same time as the Ashby dinner invite for tonight.” Anne studied Evelyn’s reaction to this. But her expression was carefully guarded.

Though now that she was talking this out with a friend, she concluded Mr. Ashby was rather a forward person.

He had made his pursuit of her clear without resorting to mystery.

Unless he found giving her mysterious drawings to be a lark?

Or thought she would enjoy them? That could make sense.

And Mr. Ashby could definitely have been the one to have done the drawings.

With the daisy one, he could have arrived at the ball with it, waiting for a good opportunity to sneak it to her.

But he couldn’t have been the man hiding in the shadows.

“How would you feel about that, if Mr. Ashby were the one sending you the drawings?”

“I don’t know. I’ve not had a great initial impression of him, to be honest. But it’s possible I’ve been wrong in my assessment of him.”

“Could there be anyone else sending them?”

Anne turned back to the open drawer and pulled out Victor’s horrific drawing of Onyx. Briefly, she debated bringing Victor into this.

And yet, she couldn’t quite let the unlikely possibility go, either. She really had no reason to think it would be him, yet her mind kept going that way.

Anne handed the horse drawing to Evelyn. “What do you think about this drawing?”

Evelyn smiled wide. “Rather rubbish.”

“This is why I wanted your help. You’re an art expert, right?”

Evelyn bobbed her head left to right. “Sort of. My expertise is in paintings, not drawings.”

“I think you can still help. Could the person who drew this”—Anne pointed to the horse—“also have drawn those?” She then indicated the expert drawings on the vanity.

Evelyn tapped the horse drawing. “Who drew this?”

“I…don’t wish to say.”

Evelyn’s red eyebrows lifted high, but she didn’t comment on that. “It’s hard to say. The person who drew this horse couldn’t draw those.” She indicated to the expert ink drawings. “But the person who drew those could have easily drawn this horse.”

“I don’t understand.”

Evelyn set the horse drawing beside the expert drawings. “This horse drawing. If this was the sketcher’s honest skill, they would never be able to draw those. But someone with the expert skill of your Phantom, he could easily draw that horrific horse to evade you.”

Anne had to bite her cheek.

“I am quite curious who drew the horse.” Evelyn went back in the direction Anne had been hoping to avoid. And she held Anne’s gaze, unwavering, unwilling to drop the subject.

Anne opened her mouth, stammered, and then finally admitted, “Victor drew it.”

“Really!” Evelyn paused. “Why did he give you a drawing of a horse?”

Anne brushed her hands over her white, linen sleeves. “I asked him to.”

Evelyn studied Anne. “After you received these drawings from your Phantom? Or before?”

“After I received the drawing of the daisy. Before the one of me.”

Evelyn tapped at her chin. “Forgive me, but what are you trying to discover here? Do you think Victor might be in love with you? That’s why he would give these to you?”

Anne couldn’t help it. She gasped loudly at this. “Evelyn!”

But Evelyn looked at her with round, innocent eyes. Suspiciously innocent. “What?”

“You can’t say that out loud!”

“Why not?”

“Because that’s Victor and me you’re talking about!”

Evelyn was quite for a long beat. “And?”

Frustration ground at Anne. Must she verbalize all of this? “Victor is my dearest friend in the whole world. I fear even thinking those thoughts will destroy our friendship.”

“And you…don’t wish to be without his friendship?”

Anne frowned at Evelyn. Really, now! “Of course not. Let’s say, hypothetically, Victor is the Phantom.

He’s not—but pretend for a moment that he is.

” She began to tap her fingers together rapidly.

“And pretend for a moment that there were a mutual romantic attraction—which there isn’t, but again we’re pretending.

Maybe it would be nice for a short time, but then what would happen? ”

Evelyn waited for Anne to provide the answer.

“It would end in disaster!” Anne flung her hands out to side. “I’ve already been married and it was horrible. I’m never going to get stuck in such a situation again.”

“Wait.” Evelyn closed her eyes and shook her head. “I thought Victor was the one against marriage?”

“He was.” Anne’s face became hot.

“I see.”

“Regardless of who is against marriage, what would happen? We have a secret liaison for the rest of our lives? That doesn’t happen. Eventually, feelings will become unbalanced. One will want more than the other. Plus, I wouldn’t wish to hide something like that, not with him at least.”

Evelyn twisted her mouth in thought. “I can understand that.”

“I don’t want to lose my dearest friend because of a silly, short-lived romance. That would be devastating to me. I won’t risk it.”

“Of course not. But I should add that, I did marry my dearest friend and it’s the most wonderful way to go through life.

To be passionately, madly in love with your dearest friend in the world?

It’s a wonderful experience. It hasn’t lessened, either, and we’ve been married a good while now.

Quite frankly, I’ve never been happier.”

Anne clenched her teeth. This was not helping her at all.

Evelyn studied Anne’s face then looked back down to the vanity.

“Let me take a good look at these drawings.” Evelyn picked up the drawing of the daisy with one hand and the horse drawing with the other and held them up side by side.

“The paper is different. Of note, your Phantom used the same paper for both drawings. But the horse drawing is cheaper, generic, white paper. Your Phantom’s paper is more expensive. ”

Anne nodded to show she understood.

Evelyn held the drawings close to her face.

“The ink appears to be the same. It’s the same color, same opacity.

It doesn’t bleed at all, which indicates high quality.

But it’s also ink. They could easily be different types or different brands while looking the same.

” For a long moment, Evelyn studied the drawings and Anne could see that the wheels in her mind were turning.

She waited patiently to see to what conclusion Evelyn would come.

Finally, Evelyn set the drawings down and turned fully to Anne. She crossed her arms. “Does Victor know how to draw?”

“Not that I’m aware of. I’ve never seen him do it before.”

“I haven’t, either. And Ollie has never mentioned Victor having this talent.” Evelyn chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip.

“What do you think, then?”

Evelyn, her arms still crossed, sighed. “My sons could have drawn a horse better than that when they were four.”

“I don’t think we should be insulting Victor—”

“No, no.” Evelyn dropped her arms to the side. “You misunderstand. What I’m trying to say is, Victor drew that horse terribly on purpose. Most adults could draw better than that. He wanted it to appear he cannot draw.”

Anne felt a bit lightheaded. “You’re positive on that?”

“Yes. Absolutely.” Evelyn looked down at the vanity surface. “What I’m left wondering is why he drew badly on purpose, and why is he hiding this talent from everyone?”

“You think Victor is the drawer of all of these?”

“Yes, I do.”

With Evelyn’s conclusion, Anne was left feeling more confused than ever.

Had Victor really drawn these? And if so, did that mean he was also the Phantom?

She trusted Evelyn’s assessment, but unlike Evelyn, she believed an adult could really draw that horrifically. It made more sense for Mr. Ashby to be the expert drawer, and Victor the Phantom. Maybe Victor had been simply watching out for her the night of the ball like the good friend he was.