Page 3 of The Odyssean Duke
“The ton will be merciless,” Maria said. “Do you truly wish to make such an arrangement? You would be barred from all society’s events once everyone learned about it.”
“You will be my support and invite me to your events,” Evelina said, “and I will still have the Corset Chronicles Club.”
“But Evelina—” Evelina cut off Maria with a wave of her hand.
“I would like to remind you of how supportive I was when you were found in thephantom duke’s bed and forced to marry him,” Evelina said.
Maria’s face pinkened. “Be that as it may…”
“And when Anna staged a fake funeral,” Evelina added. “She is not here, but I am certain we all remember that outlandish episode.”
The women nodded.
“I was also rather kind when you were concocting your love experiments,” Evelina said, turning her attention to Theodora. “Remember?”
“Yes,” Theodora said breezily.
Evelina waited in case there was further opposition, but no one else spoke. She nodded, satisfied that she had convinced them not to protest further, at least for the moment. “I know that not all women are suited to be families,” she continued softly. “But that is all I have ever wanted. I was married once and could not fulfill that desire. My husband would not even consummate our marriage and denied me the chance to bear a child. He shared himself with his courtesans and did not spare a thought for me. When he drank himself to death, I wasfreebut with my dreams in tatters.”
Maria’s face softened. “My dear Evelina.”
Evelina took a shuddering breath of air and forced herself to be calm. “I know that I can be a good mother. It is what I ammeantto be, and I cannot bear spending any longer not doing what I am meant to do. I cannot.”
Her eyes burned with threatening tears, but she forced them back, feeling a little foolish. When Evelina had imagined herself sharing the plan with her friends, she had envisioned herself as a brave, resolute heroine who would not surrender to her emotions, but saying everything that she had held within her breast for so long left her feeling raw and exposed.
“It will have to be a duke,” Theodora said.
Evelina blinked, startled. “Why?”
“You cannot settle for less,” Theodora explained. “Maria, Anna, and I all married dukes. Your child must, at least, be a duke.”
“He does not have to be the best duke,” Maria added, her lips twitching. “Not the one most admired by the ton.”
“Maybe a rakish duke,” Theodora said. “He would be content to live apart from you after the deed was done.”
“Or a devilish duke,” Maria said, grinning.
“A destitute duke!” Rosalind exclaimed.
Evelina laughed, her face warming as she basked in the love and support of her friends. “That is unnecessary. I have been doing research in secret, and I have already determined the best man to bear a child with.”
Maria’s eyes widened. Rosalind was too late to stifle a gasp.
Theodora propped herself up on her elbow and pulled herself up a little. “What kind of research?”
“In taverns,” Evelina said.
Ofcourse, Theodora would be excited at the prospect of research, no matter the subject.
“I have determined that my child’s father need be neither a lord nor a duke,” Evelina said. “No, I must find someone who will have no care for societal expectations. And more pertinently, someone who will have no power over either my child or me.”
Her friends’ eyes widened, forthataspect of her plan was even more scandalous than her proposed marriage arrangement. She had spent a considerable amount of time and effort on this plan, and it would be simply perfect.
CHAPTER 2
“You are not my grandson.”
The words hung in the air like a challenge between Stephan Burke, the recently named Duke of Rothbury, and his grandmother, the ever imperious Dowager Duchess. Stephan had expected this kind of greeting and had already steeled himself against it. Once—when he was young and foolish—he might have been wounded by his grandmother’s proclamation. Now, he only felt a strange satisfaction, like a man who had been proved right yet again about some trivial matter.
