Page 100 of More or Less a Countess
“I’m coming with you.”
Finn’s smile faded as he glanced back up the stairs. “No, Iris. Go back to bed—”
“IsaidI’m coming with you. You will wait right there for me to dress, Lord Dare, andyou, Lord Huntington.” Iris gave her husband a cool look. “You may stay or go as you please, but Iwillaccompany Lord Dare, with or without your approval.”
Finn shook his head, but his lip quirked again, and after a moment he threw his hands up in the air. “To Lady Chase’s, then.”
* * * *
“Well, Lord Dare. Here you are, and I can’t say I’m surprised to see you.” Lady Chase looked him up and down, her lips pinched together with disapproval. “Already made a mess of it, have you? Not as charming a husband as you were a suitor, eh?”
Nick hardly noticed the insult. It was clear Lady Chase had been expecting him, and that meant Violet must be here. It took all of his restraint not to nudge the old lady aside and tear the house apart until he found his wife, but manhandling her grandmother wouldn’t improve his chances with Violet, so he offered Lady Chase a hasty bow instead. “I beg your pardon, my lady, but—”
“Yes, yes. I know all about it. Fools, the both of you.” Lady Chase stood aside and gestured Nick into the entryway. “And here are Lord and Lady Huntington, too. I suppose you dragged them from their beds first. Well, well, come in, then.”
“My wife? Where—”
“She’s in the old schoolroom, on the third floor.” Hyacinth Somerset stood at the bottom of the staircase, her arms crossed over her chest. She gestured with her chin toward the stairs, but she made no move to step aside when Nick approached. “You promised you wouldn’t hurt her, Lord Dare.”
Nick had had quite a few hours on his return journey to London to think about his behavior toward Violet over the past weeks, and he’d already concluded he’d been a brute and a scoundrel, but never was he more ashamed of himself than when he looked into Hyacinth Somerset’s reproachful eyes.
“If I could take away her hurt—take it into myself—I would. I can’t, but I vow to you, Miss Hyacinth, I’ll never hurt her again.”
“You failed to keep that vow once. Why should I believe you’ll keep it now?”
“Because I’d rather die than hurt her. Because I love her.”
The quiet words came straight from Nick’s heart, and Hyacinth must have understood that, because after a brief hesitation, she stepped aside.
Nick bounded up the four flights of stairs, but when he reached the door to the schoolroom and saw Violet he stopped, his breath heaving in and out of his lungs.
She was sitting in an old leather chair, staring straight ahead. She turned at the sound of Nick’s boots on the wooden floor, and he crossed the room until he was standing in front of her. He pulled his hat from his head and stood there silently, twisting the brim between his hands.
Violet looked up into his face, and her breath left her lungs in a quiet sigh.
And that sigh undid him. The grief of it, the exhaustion and despair—that tiny sigh sliced through his heart. He slid to his knees before her and buried his face in her lap. “Would you leave me, Violet? Would you abandon me, and break my heart?”
She was quiet for a long moment, and when she did speak, her voice was the softest whisper. “I left you before you could leave me. I broke your heart before you could break mine.”
He wrapped his arms tighter around her legs and pressed his face against her belly. “No. I won’t leave you, Violet. Not ever.”
She stiffened. “I saw the letter. The lease, Nick, and the…the letter to—”
Nick had to close his eyes against the pain in her voice. “I never sent them.”
“But you must have thought you would, eventually. Why else would you keep them, hidden away in your desk?”
He didn’t release her, but he raised his face to hers. “Listen to me, Violet. It was a moment’s madness only. The lease, and the letter…I was hurt and confused, but the ink hadn’t even dried on the page before I knew I could never leave you. I shoved the papers in my desk and never thought of them again.”
She drew in a shaky breath, but she didn’t speak, and she didn’t touch him.
Nick grabbed her hand and pressed it to his cheek. “Please, Violet. Italy, Catalina—the moment I met you, they ceased to exist for me.” He dragged her hand down to his chest and pressed her palm against his heart. “You must know how much I love you. So much that breaking your heart would be the same as breaking my own.”
She’d kept very still since he touched her, but a tremor passed through her at his words, then slowly, so slowly he thought his heart would cease beating, a tremulous smile lit her face. “You love me?”
Nick wrapped his hands around her waist and eased her from the chair into his arms. “Madly. How could I not? I’ve loved you since the day you took me to the burial grounds and demanded I hand over my walking stick so you could dig for bones.”
That made her smile, but it faded quickly, and Violet hid her face against his chest. “I—I’m sorry, Nick. I shouldn’t have left Ashdown Park without speaking to you first. I thought…well, it doesn’t matter now.” She let out a ragged sigh and wrapped her arms around his neck.
