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E vie was tired and hungry, but for all that, she was now safe and could return to her family.

Anthony had saved her, and she would always be grateful to him and his friends for that. But Evie was in no fit state to stay and face the man who had said what he had to her last night. The man who had taken her innocence and then sent her away.

She was tired and felt weepy, and there was no way she wanted to do that all over him.

When it was possible, he would apologize to her for his behavior but still tell her he had no wish to marry her.

If he actually wanted to talk to her, that was.

No, it was better she returned to the house party and saw him when she felt stronger.

“That’s a mighty sigh,” Mr. Greggor said from beside her.

He’d offered to take her back to the Hampton house party. She’d refused as surely it was too far. He’d said nothing was too far for the woman who brought his daughter back to him. So here she was, seated beside him on his cart, while he sang softly.

“It has been a long day.”

“I’m sure, but you’re safe now and will soon be with your family.”

He started to sing a ballad that Evie knew so she joined in. Unlike Mr. Greggor who could hold a tune, she sounded like a cat whose tail someone had stood on. But he was polite enough not to mention that fact.

“You have a lovely voice, Mr. Greggor,” Evie said when the song was finished.

“Mrs. Greggor likes me to sing to her of an evening.” His craggy face split into a smile.

“You love your wife very much?” She wasn’t sure why that came out of her mouth, but it had.

“Oh, aye. She’s my reason for smiling.”

Evie sniffed loudly as tears clogged her throat.

“And you, Miss Spencer. Do you love that man who carried you before him on his horse into the village?”

“What? No,” she lied. “Why would you say such a thing?”

“I know the look of a man in love, and he had it.” He started singing again then. This time she did not join in.

Anthony didn’t know how to love her, but she wasn’t telling Mr. Greggor that. She found herself lulled into sleeping on his shoulder as he sang softly. It was the thud of an approaching horse’s hooves that roused her.

“Well now, it seems I was right about him,” Mr. Greggor said, pulling his cart to a stop as Anthony halted beside them. His face looked like it had been carved in granite.

Evie watched him dismount and stalk to where she sat beside the driver.

“What the hell are you about, Evangeline?” he demanded.

“I’m going back to my family,” she said in a cool voice.

“You were just abducted, put through hell, and now you’re traveling alone,” he snapped.

“I am not alone, as you can see. I have Mr. Greggor with me. He has been kind enough to sing to me.” She wasn’t sure why she’d said that.

“Good day to you, my lord,” Mr. Greggor said raising his cap.

Anthony nodded but kept his eyes on Evie. He then reached up and grabbed her, lifting her off the seat.

“What are you doing? Let me go at once!”

“Thank you, you can leave now. I will see Miss Spencer to her family safely, Mr. Greggor.”

“You will not—” He put his hand over her mouth, stopping Evie from speaking.

“Very well,” Mr. Greggor said. “I know you’re Lord Hamilton and have helped today in getting our girls back, so I know you’ll see Miss Spencer home safe.”

Evie tried to push the hand aside, but it didn’t budge. She then watched Mr. Greggor turn his cart and roll away. Opening her mouth, she bit him.

“Ouch!” Anthony shook his hand, releasing her.

Evie started walking.

“Evie, wait!”

“I don’t want to wait. I want to go back to my family, but you sent my ride a-away.” She could hear the hysteria in her voice. Evie needed sleep to be at her best; she was not that now.

She’d had a night of utter bliss with this man, and then he’d sent her away with harsh words to be kidnapped. There was only so much she could take before she broke down, and Evie was fast reaching her limit.

“I’m sorry.” His hand touched her shoulder lightly. “Please, Evie, stay and listen to me.”

The words had her stopping, but she didn’t look at him.

“I have no right to ask you to do this considering what you’ve been through and that some of the blame for that lies at my feet.”

“If they had not taken me last night, then they would have tried again, my lord. You are not to blame for what happened to me. What you said before I was kidnapped, however, I lay entirely at your feet.” She addressed her words to the road before her.

“You were taken because Cavendish and I have a past.”

She said nothing to that. He was so close now, she could feel him behind her, just inches separating them. All it would take was for her to lean back, and she could rest on that solid chest, and she knew he would hold her… but no, she would not weaken now.

“You were right. I was a coward, Evie. It terrified me when I realized I’d hurt you. What I could have done to you.”

“But you did not.”

“Evie, please look at me.”

She took a deep steadying breath and released it before turning.

“My life was hell at Blackwood Hall. Cavendish, Calthorpe, Greville, and the housemaster abused and tormented me, Jamie, and Toby. There were others, but those were the ones who seemed hell-bent on bullying us.

The look in his eyes told her his scars from that time ran deep. Evie’s heart ached for the young boy who had suffered and the man who still carried the pain, but she didn’t speak. He needed to tell her the whole of it if they were to make a life together.

“My aunts saved us. One day when they visited, I broke down and told them everything that was going on. So they confronted our housemaster and told him they would return every week from that day onward. If their nephew and his friends suffered anymore, there would be hell to pay.”

“How lucky you were to have them,” Evie said. “They must love you very much to do what they did.”

“I would do anything for them. The years preceding that had been the worst of my life.”

He stood there solemn-faced, no hat, amber eyes locked on her, and she could do nothing to stop the flood of love she felt for this man.

“I have nightmares, Evie. That was what happened last night.”

“I understand,” she said.

He closed the space between them and took her hands in his. “Can you forgive me for what I said after we made love? I reacted and hurt you, something I will never forgive myself for.”

“Thank you for telling me why.”

This time it was he who exhaled. “I thought I suffered back then, but knowing you were out there somewhere and I could not reach you has been the worst day of my life, Evie. I realized that if I did not find you, I would spend my life in hell.”

She found a smile at that. “Perhaps that’s a little dramatic—”

“It’s not,” he said, matching her smile, “because I love you, Miss Evangeline Spencer, to the depths of my soul.”

“Really?” She could do nothing to halt the tears now.

“Really. I love your determination. I love your fiery nature, but most of all I just love you.”

“I have to be honest and warn you that my managing ways may annoy you, Anthony.”

“Possibly, but I will never stop loving you, Evie.”

“I love you so much too, Anthony.”

His smile grew, and then she was in his arms exactly where she wanted to be.

“Be my wife, sweetheart.”

“Yes, but I’m not letting you win at archery just because it bruises your ego when I do.”

He snorted into her hair. “God, woman, I love you. And now we need to return to your family and allay their fears.”

“Which I could have done with Mr. Greggor’s lovely voice accompanying me, but now I must do so on your uncomfortable horse, clasped in your arms.”

“Exactly.”