Page 124 of Outrageous

Dru shrugged. “Well, it’s better than a broken marriage.”

Eva supposed that was true. “Do you know how miserable it is going to be, breaking this news to everyone? Especially my parents?”

“Oh, pooh. You and Tommy were the only two who didn’t seem to understand what was happening. I’ve been here less than a day, and the two of you are so nervous around each other it is enough to make a person jump out of their skin.”

Well, Eva couldn’t disagree with that.

Dru pushed herself out of the chair. “I can’t wait to tell Gabriel.”

Eva rolled her eyes. “Please, don’t let me keep you from your enjoyment.”

Dru laughed. “Lady Exley has planned a picnic down by the folly—will you come?”

“Is that now? I thought it was tomorrow.”

“Yes, Eva. It is now—the time of day when people generally have picnics.”

“Yes,” she said absently, wondering if her parents had already gone down to the lake. “I’ll be down after a while.”

“See that you are,” Dru scolded. “If I know you, you’re likely to hide in the stables all day.”

Eva blushed at her friend’s accurate prediction. “I’ll be there,” she promised again.

After Dru left, Eva headed to her father’s study. Mia was likely already marshalling the troops, but her father was not as enthusiastically social, so she wasn’t surprised when she found him seated at his desk, his head bent as he studied something closely.

“Father?”

He glanced up, his powerful gaze hidden by the glint from the spectacles he wore to read. Eva thought it was odd how adding that covering to his gaze somehow made him appear almost vulnerable.

Unfortunately, he removed the spectacles and set them on the desk. “Come in and sit.”

Eva clasped her hands in front of her. “Actually, Papa, what I have to say won’t take long.”

“You’ve ended your betrothal to Byer.”

Eva stomped her foot before she could stop herself, the action drawing her father’s gaze to her filthy top boots. “How is it that everyone knows?”

“Does everyone know?”

“Well, Dru suspected, and I don’t think Tommy was surprised, either.”

The marquess made that low humming sound that always made Eva think of a big jungle cat, not that she’d ever seen a real one.

“I suppose I should make some sort of announcement?”

“Oh?”

Eva sighed heavily. “Unless you would rather do it.”

“Rather?” he repeated.

“Would you please make some sort of announcement, Father?”

He nodded slowly, picked up his glasses, and put them back on. “Was that all?”

Eva would never be able to predict what the man would do if she lived to be a thousand years old. “Yes, Father.”

He turned back to studying whatever it was that so engrossed him, and Eva fled.