Page 96 of More or Less a Countess
A journey to the Continent? Italian villas, and Italian mistresses?
Nick laughed, but he shifted restlessly beneath her as if he wished to be away. “It’s nothing you need worry about, but I’m afraid it will take me to London tomorrow. I intend to leave at first light so I can be back at Ashdown Park the same evening.”
He tried to ease her head off his chest, but panic made Violet cling to him like a burr. “London? But…it’s so sudden. You never said a word about it until…”
Until I told you I was with child.
“…until now.”
“I know, sweet. I’m sorry, but it can’t be helped, and I won’t be gone long—just a single day.”
Violet’s head had gone dizzy with fear, but she pulled herself from his arms and struggled to a sitting position so she could see his face. “Take me with you.”
Nick looked startled at this abrupt request. “I don’t think that’s a good—”
“I’d welcome the chance to see my grandmother and sisters, even if just for an afternoon,” Violet added, trying to control the note of hysteria in her voice.
He shook his head and laid a tender hand on her belly. “No, sweet. It will be a cold, wet journey, and I don’t like for you to exhaust yourself when your health is delicate. It’s best if you stay here and rest.”
His tone was kind, but Violet heard the finality in his voice, and she gave him a weak nod. It was nothing, after all—just a quick journey to London. She was foolish to get so upset over what was no doubt a simple errand.
It wasn’t as if…
It wasn’t as if he’d leave tomorrow and never return.
“Violet?” Nick took her chin in his hand with a frown and turned her face up to his. “Why are you so distressed? It’s only for a day. I’ll be back before you even realize I’ve gone.”
“I—it’s just that I’ll miss you dreadfully.”
His face softened, and he trailed the back of his fingers over her cheek. “I’ll miss you, too. Rest now, and I’ll be back before long to check on you, all right?” He pressed a kiss to her forehead, and Violet, who hadn’t any idea what else she could do, let him ease her back against the pillows.
He did come back and check on her, much later, but he seemed distracted, and Violet fancied he avoided meeting her eyes. She suffered another bout of nausea in the evening and was forced to leave him on his own for dinner. She took a tray in her room, bathed, retired to her bed, and waited for him to come to her.
Waited, and waited, and waited…
After hours spent staring at the canopy above her, she at last crept through the connecting door into Nick’s bedchamber, only to find it cold and empty.
He wasn’t there, and he never came to her that night. For the first time since they’d made love, her husband left her alone and untouched in her bed.
It was hours before Violet succumbed to a troubled sleep, and when she woke the next morning, Nick was gone.
Chapter Twenty-three
The sun was struggling to shine through a heavy bank of clouds, and the normally cheery breakfast parlor was dull and dreary.
“Won’t you take a bit more sustenance, my dear?” Lady Westcott cast a worried glance at Violet from the opposite side of the table.
The entire house was dull and dreary, and Violet was the dullest and dreariest thing in it.
It would have saved everyone a great deal of trouble if she’d given in to her initial impulse to stay in bed, but she’d forced herself to rise, wash, dress, and join Lady Westcott for breakfast, despite the nausea churning in her stomach and the heavy depression that hung over her spirits.
No wonder Nick had left her for his mistress.
His mistress would be beautiful, of course—mistresses always were, especially the Italian ones. Beautiful and sensual, and…accommodating. A lush, dark-eyed enchantress who didn’t burst into tears at the slightest provocation, or cast up her accounts at the dinner table—
“Violet?” Lady Westcott’s brow creased in a frown as she took in the dried crumbs on Violet’s plate. “Surely you can manage a bit more than a few bites of toast?”
Violet sighed. She was being absurd. Nick had promised he’d return this evening, and she had no reason to doubt him. “Perhaps a bit later, my lady. I believe I’ll retire to my rooms and rest for a while.”
