Page 90 of Never his Duchess

That was over. Let him think her foolish. Let him think her rash. She didn’t care what he thought anymore.

Nathaniel had hurt her for the last time.

She left the letter where it had landed, the red seal stark against the white paper like a warning bell.

Good. He’d see it the moment he entered—likely before he saw the destruction she had wrought.

Jaw clenched, nostrils flared, Evelyn turned and marched out of the room, down the hall, and into the waiting carriage.

She leaned back and closed her eyes. Her entire body was taut, tight with despair, anger, betrayal, and heartbreak.

Only once they had turned onto the main road did the tears fall.

And as they slipped silently down her cheeks, she vowed that these would be the last tears she ever shed for Nathaniel.

CHAPTER 37

“Have you seen my wife?” Nathaniel asked a little while later, after he headed back inside.

“No, Your Grace,” the hostess said. “But I saw her go outside into the gardens earlier.”

“But not since then?”

“I did not,” she said, frowning.

He caught up to Julian. “Did you see Evelyn in the gardens?”

“No. Why would I?”

“Because apparently that is where she went. I can’t find her anywhere.”

“Your Grace,” A familiar voice said.

“Lord Pendelton?”

Nathaniel said, momentarily taken aback—for this was the very first time he had seen Lord Pendleton since he had crawled his way out of Nathaniel’s pond, covered in sea grass and trailing several puddles’ worth of water behind him. He looked rather more dignified this day.

“Lord Pendleton? I trust you have been well?”

“Much better than the last time we saw one another,” he said, and cleared his throat. “I have been staying away from bodies of water.”

Nathaniel had to suppress a grin, despite the worry nagging at the back of his head.

“You were out looking for your wife? I overheard you.”

“I was, yes. Have you seen her?” he asked. Something about Pendleton’s tone set off an internal alarm bell.

“A little while ago. She came from the gardens looking rather distressed and left immediately. Perhaps I ought to also let you know that I saw her speaking to Lord Halston earlier.”

“Halston was here?” Nathaniel said.

Pendleton nodded. “Yes. I recall that there was some bad blood between the two of you, and not long ago, he made some disparaging remarks about you and your wife. I thought you ought?—”

“Thank you, Pendleton. But, pray, what did he say?”

Pendleton shrugged and waved an arm vaguely in the air. “Oh, that. Nothing you haven’t heard before. Although he did mention that it would serve both of you right if your marriage—‘built on lies,’ as he called it—would implode. I did not take him seriously. He has always been a dreadful bird-brained fool.”

Nathaniel smiled. He had been wrong about Pendleton. He might be a bore with a rather too keen an interest in all things fish-related, but he was a decent man. “Thank you, Pendleton. Perhaps the two of us could take dinner together sometime.”