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Evelyn took an unconscious step backward. Though there were only about fifteen yards between her model for today and her easel, astonishment rose incredibly swiftly so that she was consumed by it by the time Richard had reached her.

“How dare you?!”

Evelyn blinked. “How… How dare I?”

What on earth had she done? Did he believe it was not appropriate for her to be painting out in public?

But no, that could not have been it. Gentlemen did so all the time and even ladies were allowed to practice their vistas; there were some days in the summer when you could not move for easels in this place.

Besides, Richard understood the importance of her art.

“I wouldn’t have thought it of you,” Richard hissed in an undertone, red blotches in his cheeks. “After all we shared!”

Evelyn’s eyes widened, her mind whirling as she attempted to decipher what appeared to be code.

All we shared? Well, there had been that kiss, yes… and their conversations about her art, his father, the way he had bared his back and scars to her…

But what did that all signify when it came to painting Leopold ?

“I just cannot believe it of you,” he spat, clearly furious, although Evelyn could not for the life of him understand why. “I thought we—”

“We what?” she asked. A stray curl escaped a pin and she pushed it back, not letting her eyes leave Richard’s. “I don’t understand why you’re so upset.”

He laughed bitterly. “I thought you would say that, but you are no fool, Evelyn!”

“I feel pretty foolish right now,” she said helplessly. Why was he so angry? It surely could not have been because she was painting someone else… could it?

“What’s going on here?” Leopold had walked over and for some reason, that only appeared to inflame Richard’s temper. The man’s fists positively shook at his sides.

“ You keep out of this,” Richard snapped.

“ Richard !” Evelyn gasped.

“Hang on there,” said her cousin, raising his hands as though in mock surrender. His eyes darted to Evelyn as if to say he’d caught her intimate use of the man’s given name but would not, just now, comment on it. “Look, friend, I am not sure what I have done to elicit your anger—”

“You are no friend of mine,” said Richard darkly.

Evelyn looked between the two men, one dressed rather comically as a Greek archer, the other in the plain and simple clothes of last year’s fashions.

She had not missed an appointment with Richard, had she? From memory, they had not agreed to meet again at her studio until tomorrow. She had been most clear on that because of today’s light. So why did he seem so… so betrayed?

“I cannot believe you and… you and him!” Richard hissed.

Evelyn blinked and put her paintbrush down. “What on earth do you mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean!” Richard’s voice was low, urgent, as though he had a very important thing to tell her yet could not bring himself to say the words. His eyes kept glancing to Leopold, who was now inexplicably grinning, in a way that denoted a great deal of understanding.

Understanding? But Evelyn had not even been aware that her cousin and Richard knew each other.

Her stomach lurched. The only reason why they would was because Richard moved in the same circles as her family. But that would make him a gentleman at the very least, and perhaps even nobility.

“You like fine, handsome men, then, I see,” Richard shot back.

Evelyn gasped as Leopold started to laugh. “Rich—Mr.… Mr. Richard! How can you—what a thing to say! And you can stop laughing, Leopold.”

“Oh, why am I not surprised that you speak to him with his first name, too!”

This was all getting entirely ridiculous and Leopold’s laughter was not helping.

Evelyn’s temper rose. Well, there she had been, having a pleasant day and really working to improve her knees, and now here was Richard shouting about something he did not appear to wish to explain!

And her cousin was still laughing!

“—never thought this of you, Evelyn. I thought you would be different from the other ladies of Society who go for looks alone.”

“Richard—sir, I have no idea what you mean,” Evelyn said firmly, attempting desperately to get a grip on the situation. “And quit chuckling, Leopold, you know how it annoys me! Aunt Alice shall hear about this, you mark my words!”

“And another thing! I—what did you say?” Apparently, she had said something interesting, for Richard was now staring with wide eyes.

Well, why that had halted his tirade, she did not know. “I said that Leopold’s chuckling annoys me. Honestly, it’s not that complicated.”

“This is going to be good.” Leopold smirked inexplicably, rubbing his hands together.

“‘Good’?”

“You said something else,” Richard said urgently, his cheeks now blazing. “Something about an aunt?”

“Yes, Aunt Alice.” Does he know her? Surely not. “My aunt, Leopold’s mother. He’s one of my cousins. And today , my chaperone.”

For a moment, there was complete and blessed silence—a welcome relief from the barrage of noise to which she had so recently been subjected.

“Ah,” said Richard weakly. “Right. I… I see.” He looked around. “I suppose you wouldn’t be out here in public without a chaperone, would you?”

Evelyn looked between him and Leopold, entirely lost.

“You see, I thought,” Richard said slowly, not quite willing to meet her gaze. “A natural assumption, I suppose. When I saw you two together—”

“Quite understandable, old chap,” said Leopold calmly, a slow smile on his face.

Evelyn stared. What had he deciphered? Did he suspect the level of intimacy between them? Did he mistake it for something more than it was?

“Easy mistake to make,” her cousin was saying.

“It was just… I assumed…” said Richard, his chest hitching.

“I would wish to ensure the respectability of my sister in such a situation,” Leopold said solemnly. “Though now that I say that aloud, I’m quite sure Maude wouldn’t need a hand. I wouldn’t put it past her to defend her own reputation, terrible flirt as she is.”

“ Leopold !” Evelyn said sharply.

Well! This whole situation was most bizarre, but that did not mean he could go about slandering his sister!

“Right,” her cousin said hastily. “I suppose this is my cue to exit. It was pleasant meeting you, Mr.…?”

“You can call me ‘Richard,’” he said gruffly. “I didn’t mean—if you need to stay, I would hate to interrupt the artist’s flow.”

Only then did he meet Evelyn’s eyes and there was… embarrassment there as he swallowed noticeably. He ought to have been embarrassed for making such a scene.

“Leopold, you cannot leave. I can’t be left alone in public with…” She swallowed, glancing at her favorite model.

Leopold took a look around and winked. “It’s not so crowded today, I’d say.

And any wandering eyes will certainly be drawn to me in this ridiculous getup, not you, upon my exit.

” He gestured toward his Greek costume and Richard let loose a little chuckle.

Leopold’s face fell as he looked his cousin in the eye.

“Do you need me to stay? I promise I won’t tell my mother if I leave early—or yours. ”

“I suppose… not,” Evelyn said weakly. She pulled forward on her bonnet, wondering if the wide brim might shield her identity from any wandering eyes. She was hardly a Lilianna, noted in all the fashionable spots.

“Excellent.” Leopold’s arched brow vanished as he suppressed a shiver. “Take care of my cousin, Mr. Richard. Now I must away and put on some half-decent clothes.”

The two men were shaking hands, Leopold still grinning, Richard not quite meeting the man’s eye, and then her cousin was striding through Green Park looking as though he were on the hunt for a hydra.

“Right, well, now he has gone,” Evelyn said firmly, dropping her paintbrushes into their water pot and turning to Richard. “Do you intend to tell me just what caused you to behave so abominably?”

At some point, she had put her hands on her hips. When had she done that?

Richard winced then rubbed the back of his neck. It took him a moment to collect his thoughts. When he did so, he was evidently hoping that she would interrupt him at any moment. “It was just… When I saw the two of you, I thought—I mean, I could see his knees !”

“It is a period-appropriate costume,” Evelyn said, her brow furrowing as she tried to understand his precise objection. “Though I admit I borrowed it from a theater. Did you think it was not historically accurate?”

“Blast it all, Evelyn, you know that’s not what I thought,” Richard said in a rush, taking a step toward her and lowering his voice. “I thought… I thought he was another one of your models.”

“He is!”

“A model to whom you are not related and might have spent long afternoons and evenings with, and may have kissed, Evelyn,” Richard said quietly, his eyes fixed on hers.

Evelyn’s pulse skipped a beat.

He is jealous.

Now that was something she could not have predicted before today. Richard, jealous? Of Leopold?

He was still speaking. “…tall, young gentleman, and I thought, well, you might want to—I mean, if you found him so damned interesting… You’ve never taken me to Green Park to paint.”

Heat was searing Evelyn’s décolletage and her corset was suddenly far too tight.

Oh, goodness.

“You don’t have any rights over me,” Evelyn said quietly.

Her words interrupted Richard’s tirade and he looked wretched, giving her a slow headshake, when he met her eyes. “I know.”

A moment of silence fell between them and she had no idea how to break it.

“But I want to,” Richard said quietly, and only then did Evelyn notice that his hands had become fists at his sides. As though he wanted to lash out—not at her, but at himself. “I want to possess you, Evelyn.”

Need poured through her, an aching heat, a desperation to be touched and kissed and held such as Evelyn had never known. It overpowered her.

Oh, the desire in his voice. She had not heard anything like it; and Richard was staring, in public, as though he wanted to devour her. As though possessing her would not be enough. As though there could never be enough of a connection between them.

Fighting down the instinct to ask precisely how he would do such a thing, Evelyn tugged on her bonnet’s brim again and managed to say, “Y-You… You do?”

Richard nodded, leaning toward her as though about to kiss her. She did not move, welcoming the closeness, the intimacy, the scandal of it all.

They were in public! Her chaperone had left. They couldn’t do this!

“I have wanted to taste you again ever since I kissed you,” he whispered, his voice inviting on her throat. “God, haven’t you seen it? You, with your artist’s eye? Can’t you see just how much I need you?”

A whimper escaped Evelyn’s throat and for an instant, she wished it hadn’t. She should have had better control over herself!

But she had never been more provoked. Had any woman ever withstood such an erotic onslaught?

Seeing the way her whimper made Richard quiver gave her all the more reason to do it again. He shuddered, his hand unclenching and clenching, as though he were resisting pulling her into his arms.

Evelyn swallowed. But this was madness! She couldn’t go around permitting herself to be attracted to men like this! She needed to step away, to end this madness.

Such a shame she did not want to.

“A gentleman would… would never say such things to a lady,” she managed.

There was a glitter in Richard’s eye as he replied darkly, “How would you know what a gentleman and a lady say to each other in the dead of night, when they are all alone?”

Evelyn quivered, that aching need now pooling between her legs, and she did not know how she could stand. She did not know how she could stand it. He was intoxicating, mesmerizing.

“I don’t know,” she breathed. “But you and I have had conversations, the two of us, at night. What else would you like to tell me?”

Somehow, it was the wrong thing to say. Richard blinked, as though suddenly aware of where he was, as though the last five minutes had been a dream. He stepped back, almost slipping over the grass in his haste, and the ruddiness of his cheeks suggested that he regretted what he had said.

Which was a shame. Evelyn was more than eager to continue.

Only now, however, that Richard had stepped back was she able to take in the wider scene…

and she appeared to have created one. There were a great number of people staring, and a few of them were even pointing.

Before, she had been alone with a man—her cousin, yes, though passersby would only have guessed as much at a glance.

They might have assumed the man with her now to be a relative as well had he not been standing so close and in such a manner.

Oh, dear.

She tugged her bonnet low, hoping no one could identify her. Still, how many lady artists were there in town? She couldn’t stay here much longer. She was sure to be recognized.

“You are the artist, and I am only a model,” Richard said quietly. “I only do what you want me to do. I only say what you want me to say. I suppose the question therefore is: what would you like me to tell you?”

Evelyn blinked up into his eyes.

Everything , she wanted to say. This mystery is intoxicating and I am slightly worried that therein lies the attraction; that once I know your full name, your history, who you are, you will cease to become a wonder to me.

And then I look at you, and I think: never. I will always be intoxicated by you.

Evelyn tried to smile. “I… I had better get home. I ought not to be here without a chaperone. And it’s getting late.”

It wasn’t getting late. But she couldn’t just stand here, staring at a man she could not have.

“Let me help you with your things.”

“No, it’s quite all right.” Evelyn was, after all, quite accustomed to this.

With a snap of a clasp and the tightening of a buckle, her easel transformed into a small trunk.

An even smaller box contained her paints.

She tipped out the water she had been using to clean her brushes, highly conscious that he was just standing there, watching her. “Good day, Richard.”

Heat quivered within her as he met her eyes, a sad smile gracing his cheeks. “Good day, Evelyn. Remember what I said. I will possess you.”

Precisely how Evelyn was able to walk home, she had no idea.