Page 30 of More or Less a Countess
Violet hesitated. Dear God, what a tangle. Still, she’d made up her mind on the carriage ride home to tell Hyacinth the whole of it, after she’d sworn her to secrecy, of course. It wouldn’t do for Iris’s husband Finn to discover what she was about. He was the protective sort, and likely to overreact about a tiny, inconsequential thing like a clandestine courtship. In truth, Violet didn’t even want Hyacinth to know about it, but she had to tell her, because she needed her sister’s cooperation for her scheme to work.
“There’s no ruination. He’s…well, he’s courting me, except he thinks—”
“Courting you? But how can he be courting you? You’ve never even been introduced to him!”
Violet opened her mouth to object, but then it occurred to her Hyacinth was right—shehadn’tever been formally introduced to Lord Dare. It was a rather sudden courtship, and a decidedly odd one, now she thought of it. Lord Dare couldn’t have any honorable reason for such a determined pursuit of a lady he hardly knew, but Violet didn’t much care what his reasons were. She wasn’t going to marry him. A lady didn’t marry a gentleman who mistook her for her sister, and she certainly didn’t marry one who’d make such shameless use of a private library at a perfectly respectable dinner party.
No matter how entertaining it had been.
But she might encourage his courtship for reasons of her own—reasons that hadn’t a thing to do with marriage—particularly if he was a large, strong, and imposing man who’d make an ideal escort for a lady who might occasionally find a need to venture into the less, ah…ladylike parts of London.
Of course, any lady who would consider doing such an underhanded thing must be very, very wicked, and Violet didn’t like to think of herself as a villainess. An adventuress, yes, but lying, sneaking about and betraying her family’s trust, toying with a gentleman’s affections…
Except therewereno affections in this case. It wasn’t as if Lord Dare were in love with her, or even with Hyacinth, for that matter. No gentleman who was truly in love mistook his beloved for her sister, no matter how alike they were. No, he had his own reasons for insisting on this courtship, just as she did, and if she chose to make the most of her opportunities, well, she was no worse than he was, was she?
And it wasn’t as if she hadn’t tried to dissuade him. Shehad—she’d even dragged him to a burial ground and made him stand about in the rain while she dug about in a plague pit for bones, for goodness’ sake! Why, she’d done everything she could think of to get rid of him.
Well, notquiteeverything…
She hadn’t told him she wasn’t Hyacinth.
But if he knew the truth he might take it into his head to turn his attentions to her sister, and Violet couldn’t risk that happening. Lord Dare might be a rake, but he was also an earl, and one never knew what Lady Chase might do if an earl should decide to court Hyacinth. There was a chance their grandmother might approve of Lord Dare as a suitor, and Hyacinth could end up countess to a wicked debaucher who’d nearly concussed Lady Uplands.
No, it wouldn’t do. Violet was much better equipped to handle an arrogant earl like Lord Dare than her younger sister was.
“I insist upon knowing what you’re up to, Violet. Tell me this instant, or I’m going to tell Iris Lord Dare brought you home in his carriage tonight, and then she’ll write to Grandmother, and Iris will tell Finn, too, and then Finn will challenge Lord Dare to a duel and shoot him between the eyes, and—”
“Hush, will you?” Violet put her hand to her forehead and tried to think. “I’m going to tell you. I’m just trying to find the best way to put it.”
Hyacinth’s face fell. “Oh, no. If you have to think so carefully about it, it means you’re about to do something you know very well you shouldn’t.”
“No, but I grant you it’s a bit complicated.” Perhaps the best thing to do was to just say it and get it over with. Violet sucked in a deep breath, threw her shoulders back, and met her sister’s gaze.
“Very well. If you must know, it’s just this: Lord Dare intended to courtyou, only he mistook me for you at Lord and Lady Derrick’s supper party, and he hasn’t yet figured out his error, so even though he thinks he’s courting you, he’s really been courting me instead, by mistake. So you see, it’s nothing so shocking, when you think about it. Just a little misunderstanding, and we do look quite a lot alike, after all.”
But Hyacinth appeared to find it shocking, indeed, because her face paled and her mouth fell open. “B-but this doesn’t make any sense. Why should he want to courtme? I don’t even know him! I’m not sure I’d even r-recognize him again if I saw him, and how do you know he’s mistaken the two of us?”
Violet sighed. Hyacinth wasn’t taking this at all well. “Because the night of the dinner party he accosted me in Lord Derrick’s drawing room to compliment me on my pianoforte performance. Have you ever heardanyonecompliment me on my playing, Hyacinth?”
“Well, no, but—”
“He said something about the Haydn. Did you play Haydn that night?”
“Yes, but—”
“He heard you play, admired you, and waited for you in the drawing room afterwards to compliment you, but you’d left with Iris and Finn by then. Honora told me you’d forgotten your wrap, so I went back into the drawing room to fetch it after you left, and Lord Dare was still there. He thought I was you, paid his compliments, and what do you think? He called the very next day. As luck would have it, you were out with Grandmother at the time. He doesn’t know you have an unmarried elder sister, so he asked for Miss Somerset, not Miss Hyacinth, and naturally Eddesley brought me to him.”
Hyacinth looked dazed. “Goodness, that’s an odd series of mishaps, isn’t it? But why didn’t you simply explain to him he’d mistaken one sister for the other when he called? It was very wrong of you not to do so at once, Violet.”
Violet shrugged. “I didn’t see the point. I made it clear to him I didn’t choose to accept his calls. Naturally I thought he’d abide by my wishes and that would be the end of it, but I tell you, Hyacinth, the man refuses to be discouraged. He’s like an insect that persists in buzzing about no matter how many times you swat at it.”
“Hmm. It sounds to me as if he’s enamored of you. Why else would he be so persistent?”
“Enamored?” Violet snorted. “Hardly. I’d sooner call it intolerable arrogance, but then he’s terribly handsome, and charming, too, and no doubt he believes he can change your—that is,mymind. Whatever his reasons—and I doubt they’re honorable ones—he’s determined to have you as his bride.”
Hyacinth reached behind her with a shaking hand, grasped the newel post, and lowered herself to the bottom stair. “B-bu-but I don’t want to marry Lord Dare!”
Violet squeezed onto the stair beside Hyacinth and took her hand. “Of course you don’t, dear. No lady wants to marry a man like that. He’s an utter rogue. But you won’t have to, don’t you see? After a few weeks of courting me he’ll lose interest, give up the chase, and move on to some other lady.”
