Page 64 of More or Less a Countess
Iris shot to her feet, caught Violet by the arm, and offered a gracious smile to the rest of the company. “Please do excuse us. We’ll just take Lady Dare upstairs and ready her for her journey to West Sussex.”
Once they reached Violet’s bedchamber, Lily closed the door and folded Violet into her arms. When she drew away, her lips were curved in a determined smile. “Well, Violet, that was just…lovely.”
“Lovely!” Iris, who’d thrown herself onto the bed in a full sprawl the moment they entered the room, struggled up onto her elbows to glower at Lily. “For pity’s sake, Lily. I’ve attended funerals more joyous than that.”
“Hush, will you, Iris?” Hyacinth hurried across the room to Violet, who was staring at herself in the dressing-table mirror with a lost expression. “Lily’s right. It was a perfectly lovely wedding.” She wrapped an arm around Violet’s shoulders. “Lord Dare is so handsome, and I’ve never seen you look lovelier, Violet.”
Violet gazed at her reflection without answering.
She did look lovely, in her silver tissue gown with the puffed Belgian lace sleeves and the tiny embroidered violets scattered about the bodice and hem. Her sisters had insisted on dressing her hair themselves, and they’d taken great care to weave handfuls of dark purple violets into her heavy curls in a graceful, artistic manner.
She did look lovely. Lovely, and unlike herself.
But then she wasn’t herself anymore, was she? She was the Countess of Dare now, wife to a man who’d had to force himself to look at her when he’d said his vows this morning.
She loved him. Dear God, shelovedhim, and he didn’t love her, and she was terrified.
“What do I…I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now.”
Even her voice sounded strange, so dazed and forlorn, so unlike the Violet she’d been a fortnight ago, when she’d been so certain no one would be hurt by her deception.
“Oh, my dear.” Delia crossed the room and urged Violet to sit in the chair in front of the dressing-table. “It looks rather grim now, I confess, but it will sort itself out, I promise you.”
“Of course it will.” Lily knelt to take both of Violet’s hands in hers. “It’s not the courtship that matters, but the marriage. It will come right in the end. You’ll see.”
“Courtships are dreadful things. You witnessed my courtship with Finn, Violet—it was an utter misery, but you see how happy we are now.” Iris rose from the bed to press her cheek against Violet’s, smiling at her in the mirror.
“They are dreadful, aren’t they? Robyn’s idea of a proper courtship was to risk taking a ball between his eyes in a duel.” Lily shook her head. “Once I was certain he was safe, I nearly shot him myself.”
Delia laughed. “Alec was no better. He chased me on horseback from London halfway to Surrey in the midst of a dreadful downpour. By the time he caught up to me at last and dragged me from the carriage he was covered in mud, and utterly furious. I thought he was a highwayman! Come to think of it, Ihopedhe was a highwayman. A villain with a pistol would have been easier to manage than Alec at that moment.”
“Gentlemen are impossible when they’re in love, especially possessive, imperious gentlemen, which seem, alas, to be the sort of gentlemen the Somerset ladies are fated to fall in love with. Indeed, each one of our successive husbands is more high-handed than the last.” Iris gave Hyacinth a sly grin. “Well, my dear, I wish you luck withthat.”
“I daresay you’re right.” Violet forced herself to smile at her sisters, but inside her chest her heart was sinking. Her elder sisters’ courtships hadn’t been smooth, no, but they were nothing like her situation with Lord Dare. Alec, Robyn, and Finn were in love with her sisters, and had been from the start, before the duel, and before the carriage chase.
Lord Dare didn’t love her. Why should he? She was a bluestocking who’d been destined for spinsterhood. She wasn’t suited to be a wife, especially not the wife of a man like him, who could have had London’s most celebrated belle for the asking. She’d only become Lady Dare because she’d cheated fate with a lie.
He didn’t love her, and now her heart was his to break.
“All you can do now is beg Lord Dare’s pardon, Violet.” Delia rested a cool palm against her cheek. “Once you’ve done that, simply take every day as it comes. Lord Dare can’t hold a grudge forever, after all, and I’m certain you’ll find a way to make it up to him.”
“Oh, yes. I can think of any number of ways she could do so, particularly in the bedchamber.” Iris’s lips quirked in a grin. “For example, she could try—”
“Iris! For pity’s sake!” Delia tilted her head toward Hyacinth. “Do we need to have this discussionnow?”
“I don’t see why not. Hyacinth’s bound to end up with the most demanding husband of us all, so she’ll have to hear it sooner or later. But not to worry, Hyacinth.” Iris squeezed her youngest sister’s hand. “I have some books for you to read that will explain all you need to know about the bedchamber.”
Hyacinth’s face went pink. “Yes, ah…well, perhaps another time, as I’m certain Lord Dare is anxious to set off for West Sussex. Fetch Violet’s traveling dress, won’t you, Iris? And her cloak as well, Delia? Lily, will you run to the attic and see that Violet hasn’t left any of her papers there? I’ll help Violet out of her gown.”
Once their three elder sisters were gone, Hyacinth stepped behind Violet and began to loosen her buttons, and their eyes met in the mirror. “I should never have agreed to deceive Lord Dare, Violet. I knew it was wrong, but I went along with it instead of stopping you as I should have, because I was afraid of…” Hyacinth blew out a breath. “I don’t even know what I was afraid of, but I seem to always be afraid of something, and look what’s come of my cowardice this time.”
Violet spun on her chair, wrapped her arms around her sister’s waist, and laid her head against Hyacinth’s stomach. “You’renota coward, and this isn’t your fault. You tried to dissuade me from my foolish scheme, but I wouldn’t listen, and now here we are.”
Hyacinth shook her head, but she didn’t argue. She only sighed and stroked Violet’s hair.
“I’m sure it won’t be as awful as I imagine.” Violet turned to face the mirror again, her eyes pleading, and it occurred to her she was trying to convince herself. “Lord Dare isn’t a wicked man, or an ill-tempered one. Indeed, in the short time I’ve known him, he’s been…”
Everything an honorable gentleman should be.
