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H e had to stop kissing this woman. Had to let her go, but Anthony didn’t seem able to do either of those things. Evie felt right in his arms, and he wanted to keep her there. Wanted to lay her down and take her where they stood. His body was hard with need for her.

“Anthony.”

It was she who eased back, not he.

“We can’t do this. Anyone could—”

“I don’t care about anyone right now, Evangeline. I care about you,” he rasped.

Her brown eyes were so close to his, and he could read every conflicted emotion in them.

“I don’t understand.”

“That makes two of us. There are things we need to discuss, Evie, but not now where anyone could chance upon us. Right now, you’re correct. We need to stop kissing and walk.”

He took her fingers and kissed the backs of them before lowering them to his arm.

Out of the corner of his eye he noted her exhale. As he’d just done the same, he understood why. They both needed time to recover from what had happened.

“I dropped my biscuits, and just when I had decided who should receive one.” Her voice wasn’t its usual forceful tone. There was a huskiness to it now that he’d put there.

“To whom were you giving it?” Anthony asked, happy to change the subject.

He’d just kissed Evie on the path where anyone could have seen them. Yes, they were engaged. Nevertheless, it had not been a wise move on his part. Especially because now he really knew what she tasted like and that she responded to him as she did everything, with enthusiasm.

“Why, Prudence of course.”

“You’re a mean woman, Miss Spencer.”

“I try.”

“Are you really recovered from your illness, Evangeline?”

“I am, yes. I haven’t been ill in a long time, and I don’t want to be again anytime soon. It was horrid.”

“I’m sure it was.” He’d hated thinking of her lying in that bed in pain.

“Why did you kiss me?”

He’d known of course she’d want answers but had hoped she’d wait, but then this was Evangeline. She never simply accepted things.

“Because I wanted to,” he said slowly.

“Do you do everything you want to?”

“Usually. You?”

“Where I can,” she said, her tone prim.

He smiled, as he often did in her company. He’d thought to strike a bargain with this woman to benefit them both, but it had turned out so much more than that. For so long, he’d vowed he was better alone. Better not putting his trust in anyone else. But he trusted her.

“Mr. Calthorpe is here, Anthony.”

“He is Hampton’s cousin so that stands to reason.”

“I just wanted you to know, seeing as there is a past between you.”

“Has he approached you?”

“Yes. I was eating outside, and he did so. There was an apology that I didn’t believe was genuine. I told him in a roundabout way that he needed better friends and walked back inside. When I returned, he’d left.”

“Good girl. Keep your distance from him, and if he approaches or says anything that upsets you, then come and find me, Toby, or Jamie.”

“I will. I’m so sorry you suffered because of those men, Anthony.”

For once, he didn’t get that jolt of anger and anxiety at the thought of Blackwood Hall. It was Evie, of course. She made him feel calmer.

What did he feel for this woman?

“Evie!” Prudence waved to her sister as they arrived where the croquet was being held. She was standing with Landon, who Anthony had recently taken the time to get to know better.

“There is more food over there should you require it,” he said.

“You’ve already been eating those biscuits I had, haven’t you?” She looked up at him with an accusatory look on her face.

“Of course, but one can never have enough biscuits.”

“There is that.”

They talked with her family and Landon, and then he excused himself to speak with Jamie and Toby, who were flirting with several women.

“Miss Spencer certainly has better color in her cheeks than when she arrived. Care to tell me why, Anthony?” Jamie asked, moving away from the women so no one could overhear their conversation.

“She has been asleep as you very well know.”

“You looked quite happy with yourself also when you arrived,” Toby added.

“If there is a point to these veiled comments, please reach it before I get a gray hair,” Anthony said. He made himself look at his friends and not her. Because when Evie was close, she drew him to her side.

“There is, actually,” Jamie said checking to make sure no one was listening to their conversation. “We’ve decided you like Miss Spencer very much.”

“In fact, we think you like her so much you should make the engagement real,” Toby added.

It should have given him a shock to hear the words. It didn’t.

“No denial?” Toby asked.

Anthony refused to answer that. “Are we to visit Brawley tomorrow afternoon?”

“We are,” Jamie said grinning.

“Excellent. Now I’m going to play croquet and beat you both,” Anthony added.

They played and Evangeline was, of course, as competitive as he. She argued every point and heckled her sister constantly.

“Do not crow, Evie,” Prudence said as their father roared with laughter over his daughter’s antics.

“I’m not crowing. This is my victory look,” she said, fluttering her eyelashes.

God, he wanted that woman, but could he take a chance and go after what he wanted? Anthony had always believed himself broken, but lately he’d wondered if Evie was the one to put him back together.

“Hello!”

Anthony found his aunts approaching, and behind them his sister, Harriet. He was moving in seconds. Reaching her, he hugged her close.

“Hello, Harry.”

“Hello, big brother.” She kissed his cheek.

“I thought I was coming to see you?” He gripped her shoulders.

“You think I would wait another day to meet your fiancée?”

She was shorter than he, and slender, but he stared into his eyes when he looked at her. Her hair was a shade darker, but there was little doubting she was his sister.

“Hello, Harry.”

“Toby, Jamie!”

He released her, and she hugged his friends.

“Now, I want to meet your fiancée,” Harriet demanded.

Anthony met Jamie’s eyes, and he shook his head to indicate Harriet did not know, like his aunts, about his engagement being fake. He then took his sister to where Evangeline stood with her family. She was nervous, he could see it in her face, but smiling as they approached.

After the introductions, Harriet took Evie’s hands in hers.

“Hello. I’m so very pleased to meet the woman my brother is finally marrying,” Harriet said. “I don’t envy you the task, and I will add, good luck?”

“Thank you, and I love you too, sister dear,” Anthony drawled.

“Be quiet. I wish to talk to my future sister-in-law,” Harriet said dismissing him.

The look on Evangeline’s face told him Harriet’s words surprised her.

“My sister does not fear me, Evangeline, like others.”

“Ah, I did wonder,” she said with a small smile.

“She really is the perfect woman for you,” Jamie said minutes later as they made their way back to the house and afternoon tea.

“And why is that?”

“She will not allow you to have your way and is not intimidated by your reputation.”

“There is that.”

Jamie was quiet for a few seconds and then said, “Which means what?”

“Which means mind your business, or I shall start my aunts on a hunt for your future bride.”

He heard Jamie’s teeth snap together and laughed, something he’d done a great deal of since Evie had arrived at the house party.

They spent the day eating and drinking in the sun, while his sister and aunts talked with Evangeline and Prudence. Anthony stole Harriet away for a walk before she and their aunts were to leave.

“I hear I am to be an uncle,” he said wandering beside her, away from the other guests. “Congratulations, Harry, I could not be happier for you and Simon. Is he excited?”

“Ridiculously so,” she said pink-cheeked. “He would have come but had estate business to attend to today.”

“I will call in and see him when I leave,” Anthony said.

“She has changed you,” Harry said, slipping her arm through his. “You have lost that cynical air you brought home from Blackwood Hall all those years ago.”

Anthony wasn’t sure what to say to that.

“I never knew what happened to you there, as no one would tell me, but I saw the change in you, Anthony—”

“Harry—”

“I should have spoken years ago,” she continued. “I tried, but you shut me out of your life. You’d changed. The gambling and everything else. It was like you were trying to outrun something, but never quite managed it.”

That was exactly what he’d been doing, but Anthony hadn’t known his sister had seen that.

“I’m sorry, Harry. You’re right, it was hell at Blackwood Hall, and doing what I did was the only way for me to cope,” he said. “I told myself it was better you didn’t know.”

“I’m sorry you suffered, brother, but glad that now you have found Evangeline you can find the happiness you deserve.”

“I’ve been happy, Harry. Don’t be dramatic.” He tried to make her smile.

“I’m not being dramatic. I’m being honest. I like her. She’s funny and intelligent. Plus, I doubt she will simply acquiesce to your every wish.”

“She’s unlike any woman I’ve ever known,” Anthony said, and it was the truth. There would only ever be one Evangeline Spencer.

“Well then,” Harry said. “Be happy, Anthony.”

He walked her to the carriage where his aunts waited and then helped them all inside.

“Look after my niece or nephew, sister.”

“I will, and you be nice to Evangeline, brother.” She kissed his cheek again. “I love you,” she said, like she always did when they parted. Anthony had never said it back…until now.

“As I love you… all of you,” he said looking around her to the three women shamelessly listening to every word of his conversation with his sister.

He closed the door on their surprise and watched the carriage roll away.

Smiling, he walked back inside to find Evangeline.