Page 78 of The Odyssean Duke

“Did you dissuade her?” asked Murrayton.

Stephan sighed deeply. That was the crux of the matter, wasn’t it? “No,” Stephan said begrudgingly. “I let her do as she pleased.”

Murrayton shrugged. “Then, I fail to see how any of this is Evelina’s fault. How was Evelina supposed to know that you would be so vexed by her actions if you did not tell her?”

Stephan shook his head. “I am not trying to imply that it is Evelina’s fault. It is not. Well, not herfault, but…”

“But?” Murrayton prompted.

“But she crossed boundaries!” Stephan exclaimed, unable to contain himself any longer. “She agreed to our arrangement. We were supposed to be a marriage of convenience, and she wanted to be something more than that! She insisted on—on learning about my life and me. She even…she even baked me a cake. How absurd is that?”

Murrayton snorted, his lips curving into a smile. “That is very odd.”

“Agreed,” Stephan said. “And she—she wanted to—she started talking about trying to free me from those accursed conditions my father created for me. Evelina was just…she started to care too much about me.”

With a start, Stephan realized that he had crossed boundaries, too. He had offered Evelina pleasure when they were not even attempting to produce an heir. He had stayed at her bedside when she was ill, had spent long hours talking to her about nothing of consequence, and he had foolishly thought to himself that he was only doing what any decent man would do. Maybe that was so, but Stephan knew that many husbands would not have done the same. He could have asked her lady’s maid to remain with her instead. He could have made his visits with her shorter.

Murrayton laughed, and Stephan cast him a sharp, vexed look. “I am glad to see that you find my plight so amusing.”

“How can I not?” Murrayton asked. “You have always been a man who feels everything so strongly. You called meromanticandyoungfor falling in love with Amelia at first sight, but you have been more foolish than I. Did you truly believe that you, a man who feels and thinks too much, would not grow close to Evelina? You created this impossibly strict contract stating that Evelina would live in your house until an heir was born, and you truly did not foresee that you were doomed to fail from that start.”

Stephan toyed with the tankard of ale. When Murrayton laid everything out like that, Stephan had to admit that he did sound foolish.

“Besides,” Murrayton continued. “You liked her from the start. You camealivewhen you talked about her. I knew you would fall in love with her.”

“I did not say I love her.”

“But you clearly do, or you think you do,” Murrayton said. “If not, we would not even be conversing about her.”

Stephan grimaced. “You might have warned me,” he muttered.

“If I had warned you, you would have decided to find another woman,” Murrayton pointed out.

Stephan knew he was right.

“And I thought falling in love would be good for you,” Murrayton said. “You are a good man, and you deserve happiness in your life.”

“I was happy.”

“You were surviving,” Murrayton said. “Do you believe that men are meant to live only for war? For traveling?”

Stephan frowned and swallowed another mouthful of ale. “No.”

“I think that the marriage gave you something else to devote your energies to,” Murrayton said gently. “For the first time in years, you had something in your life that was not war or the sea. You were frustrated by the idea of marriage, as any man in your situation would be, but I also think you wanted it.”

Silence fell between them. Stephan absentmindedly drank his ale, while Murrayton ran his finger around the rim of his own tankard, seemingly content to wait for Stephan to speak.

At last, Stephan heaved a deep sigh and crossed his arms. “You are right,” he admitted. “I did. I…enjoy spending time with her and being her husband.”

“A happy ending,” Murrayton said, “but you are looking at me as if your world has just collapsed around you.”

“It has,” replied Stephan. “You know that I never wanted to come back.”

“And you know that was inevitable,” Murrayton pointed out. “You took on the mantle of the Duke of Rothbury when you could have refused it.”

“Mostly to beat Her Grace at her own game,” Stephan said. “I could not let the dukedom go to her.”

Murrayton shook his head. “You realize that there is nothing wrong with wanting a home, don’t you?”