Page 13 of A Virgin for the Duke of Ash (Ton's Wolves #2)

CHAPTER 13

I s the thought of marrying me that awful that she would need to down an entire glass to get through the mere announcement of it?

Daniel’s fingers tightened around the fragile stem of his glass, even as he maintained a calm and unaffected smile, even going so far as to fake his amusement at the sight of Evie downing an entire glass of wine.

How could he not have known that she needed the liquor to bolster her courage?

But how could he blame her as well? If he had been in her place, he might have finished off the entire bottle himself. In fact, he might even want to continue numbing himself once they finished with this farce.

“Oh, I knew it!” Lady Wellington crowed. “Saw that spark last year with my own two eyes!”

“Grandmama, you could not have!” Evie protested.

“Oh, nonsense!” The Dowager Countess shook her head and patted her granddaughter’s hand. “That was precisely why I put you two to work together on the treasure hunt.”

Caroline turned towards Evie with a wide smile. “Us older ladies can spot these things from a mile away,” she told her confidently. “That is why I had the servants move your things to the room closest to Daniel’s.”

Both she and Lady Wellington shared a look, as if they were congratulating themselves on a job well done.

“Well, your efforts have been wasted on that account,” Daniel announced. “She has already claimed my rooms for her own.”

Both older ladies gasped.

“You do not say!” Lady Wellington choked out, turning to her granddaughter for an explanation. “Well, Evie, dear, what have you to say for this?”

“Grandmama, I?—”

“There is no need to chastise her, My Lady,” he interjected smoothly. “She simply prefers my rooms. Naturally, I shall let her keep it. I already had the servants move my things to the tower.”

“The tower,” Caroline muttered under her breath.

It was so soft that Evie and Lady Wellington failed to catch it, but Daniel had spent most of his life observing other people. It was a habit that was hard to break and one he had no intention of breaking anytime soon.

“Well, that is rather odd, but I suppose it is still appropriate,” Lady Wellington managed, although she did not look too convinced by his explanation. Her eyes swiveled back and forth between him and her granddaughter, as if she might pry any more information about this sudden news.

Daniel was not going to give her the opportunity to see through their ruse.

“Now that we have dispensed with all of that,” he announced, “the wedding will be taking place this week. I shall leave the preparations to you ladies.”

The Dowager Duchess was none too pleased with this particular arrangement. “This week? Why, that is hardly enough time to inform anyone?—”

“I do not want to have the whole ton showing up at my doorstep for my wedding,” he warned her darkly.

She pursed her lips. “I understand, but?—”

This time, it was Evie who surprisingly stepped in.

“Your Grace, His Grace has assured me that he will obtain a special license for us to marry posthaste,” she reassured the older lady with a calm smile. “I, for one, agree with him that a more intimate ceremony would suit us far better than a grand one. After all, is not our union what truly matters? A few close friends and family would make for a lovelier celebration, I should think.”

The Dowager Duchess looked at her helplessly. “If you say so, my dear,” she conceded with a sigh. But then she added sharply, “He has not acted inappropriately towards you, has he?”

Define inappropriate …

A lovely rose hue tinted Evie’s cheeks, but she bravely rallied again. “His Grace has only ever acted with utmost propriety towards me. Please—you need not worry on that account, I assure you.”

“Very well then.”

The sharp look the Dowager Duchess gave him, however, told him that she would not let this matter rest easily.

Daniel returned it with yet another of his smiles. “Now that we have all that settled, perhaps I should go get that special license.”

“Are you sure you will be able to manage it?” Evie asked him. “The Archbishop of Canterbury rarely accepts these petitions…”

He smirked at her. “Oh, you of little faith.”

It was a little galling to know that his betrothed did not have much faith in his capabilities.

Very well then. Perhaps I should prove her wrong on that account…

It took only a matter of moments to have a letter drafted in his study. It took another hour for said letter to make it to the residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Nearly three hours after that letter had been sent out, Daniel was ushered into his private office with much deferential bowing and scraping.

Moments later, he left with the special license safely in his hand.

But before he could return home, he had to make one last stop…

“Good god, Ash! Has no one ever bothered to tell you to knock?” Ethan exclaimed as Daniel burst into his study without prior announcement. “Most would send a card beforehand, you know?”

“Come off it,” Daniel scoffed in response. “I am not one of those desperate mamas begging you to take their daughters for a turn about the park. And there is no need to act so surprised.”

Ethan simply laughed as he poured another glass of brandy and handed it to Daniel. “You are late, by the way.”

Daniel took the proffered glass and was immediately reminded of a certain lady who downed an entire glass of wine before him just that afternoon. More vividly, he recalled the drop that lingered on her bottom lip before her tongue delicately swiped at it.

“And what made you think that I was coming over, anyway?” he muttered gruffly.

Ethan shrugged and sat back on his chair, casually propping his feet up on the hardwood desk. “Because you made a hell of a mess back at the park and you needed my insight to sort things out?”

Daniel smirked and drank the entire glass of brandy. He poured himself a new one as he sat back in the seat opposite his friend. “I would have much rather have gone to Hudson, but that damned recluse lives so far away.”

“And that is precisely why he stays there,” his friend replied, wrinkling his nose. “One would think that he is purposely avoiding his friends.”

“Well, if living closer affords him to be more accessible to your schemes?—”

“Hey!” Ethan cried out in mock affront. “I resent that!”

Both men shared a look and shook their heads, laughing. Daniel refilled their glasses and sat back with a somber look.

“I have already obtained a special license,” he said softly. “We shall be married in a week.”

“That fast?” Ethan asked with a raised eyebrow. “I was not aware that the Archbishop had become so free with handing out special licenses.”

Daniel smiled humorlessly at his friend. “Everything is a lot easier when you know a lot of things about people.”

The Duke of Sinclair’s eyes widened. “What did you—on second thought, do not answer that question,” he amended quickly when he saw the sinister glint in Daniel’s eyes. “I do not think I would want to know.”

“You never know when such information might come in handy, you know,” Daniel replied with a shrug of his shoulders. “Heaven only knows that out of the four of us, you are the most likely to need a special license. Eventually.”

“I shall have you know that I am far too wise to be outsmarted by their cheap tricks!” Ethan scoffed. “But really, your time at the gaming hell starts showing when you do crazy things like this.”

“It should make sense, seeing that I own it now,” Daniel snapped.

Ethan did not reply to that. He just looked pointedly at him and poured himself another glass.

Daniel felt like kicking himself for his quick temper. It was not like his friend was scorning him for his past. Far from it. Ethan only reminded him that it was all behind him right now.

And how far he had risen from it all.

“At least I offer the highest wages—both at Ashton Hall and the gaming hell,” Daniel muttered.

“I doubt you came here just for me to tell you what a good man you have been,” his friend pointed out to him wryly. “But you, of all people, know better than to put little Evie in such a position. If Colin was here?—”

“Evelyn is already a grown woman, and she does not need a bunch of men dictating to her how she is supposed to live her life,” Daniel put in bluntly. “Besides, I could not let her marry that oaf after I…”

He immediately shut his mouth when he realized that he had just volunteered information that he had not meant to. Ethan was his friend—and among the very few he actually trusted—but for one who dealt with a great amount of secrets, it was strangely uncomfortable to reveal his own.

“You mean you could hardly allow her to marry the Earl of Sidmouth after that kiss?” his friend asked him with a raised eyebrow.

Daniel’s hand immediately tightened on his glass. “Who else knows?”

“I did not know, Ash. It was simply a guess, and a lucky one at that.” Ethan raised his glass to Daniel and smiled self-deprecatingly. “You know what they say about broken clocks—it still gets the time right twice a day.”

“You certainly give yourself too little credit.”

“I could never compare to you.” Ethan laughed.

Daniel scowled at him. “Well, this marriage is nothing like what you are thinking, so you had best put those thoughts to rest.”

“Whatever type of marriage it turns out to be, you still have to tell Colin about it,” the Duke of Sinclair pointed out. “You cannot just marry the lady and not inform her brother about it. Just because you are his friend, though, does not mean he is going to like it. Or you.”

“Colin will understand once he learns of the precarious situation Evie is in,” Daniel muttered. “And he should know, seeing as he was the one that mostly put her in that position by announcing to everyone just how generous her dowry was.”

“A dowry like that would propel any young lady to the height of popularity—not that little Evie needs it.”

Daniel narrowed his eyes at his friend. “You had best keep away from such thoughts about my betrothed.”

“You have hardly announced your engagement to anyone other than the man who once intended to marry her, and now you are acting like a jealous husband.” Ethan chuckled.

“I have already sought the approval of her grandmother and obtained a special license from the Archbishop of Canterbury. That should give me more rights than anyone to tell you to back the hell off .”

Ethan put his hands up defensively. “Hey, you need not be so quick-tempered about it. Besides, you still have to inform Colin, and he should have as much authority as to whether you could marry his sister or not.”

“He has handed that authority to me in his absence.”

“Yes,” his friend replied in exasperation. “But I doubt Colin intended for you to actually marry Evie when he did that. At least write him a letter, won’t you? It will not do any of us any good if he returns to find out that you have married his beloved baby sister.”

“You make it sound like such a bad thing.” Daniel scowled. “And I told you, she is already a grown woman.”

Even I have been made painfully aware of that ever since I woke up to find her in my bed…