Page 61 of More or Less a Countess
Lady Westcott studied her for longer than was polite, her gray gaze cool, but just when Violet was ready to sink to her knees in the middle of the sitting room, Lady Westcott reached out and took her hand, her grip strong enough to be remarkable in a lady of her advanced years. “Miss Somerset. You have your grandmother’s blue eyes.”
“Yes, my lady, and your nephew has your gray ones.”
A brief silence followed this statement, and Violet’s cheeks heated. It wasn’t what she’d meant to say at all, and she couldn’t have explained why she said it, except Lord Dare’s unusual silver-gray eyes were the first of his features she’d admired, and it was comforting, somehow, to know at least this one truth about him.
He’d inherited his aunt’s extraordinary gray eyes.
Lady Westcott blinked in surprise, but she didn’t look displeased, and after a moment she inclined her head. “Yes, he does, and so did my brother, his father. Gray eyes are a Dare family trait.” She lowered her voice so only Lord Dare and Violet could hear her. “But perhaps one day soon you’ll find that out for yourself, Miss Somerset.”
Violet’s mouth fell open. No, surely her ladyship didn’t mean—
“I’m waiting for you to explain yourself, Dare.” Finn had been standing beside the fireplace, watching the proceedings with narrowed eyes, but now he strode across the room to face off with Lord Dare, his arms folded over his massive chest.
Lord Dare eyed his accuser without flinching. “Oh, I think Miss Somerset—that is,VioletSomerset—can explain it more clearly than I can, Huntington.”
Finn’s scowl deepened. “You expect an innocent young lady to explain why I found the two of you alone in a dark library with your arms wrapped around each other?”
“Violet!” Lady Chase let out a despairing moan. “How could you?”
“It’s plain enough what happened, Lady Chase.” Finn hadn’t taken his hard gaze off Lord Dare. “Dare here is a rake. He lured a naive young lady into an indiscretion, and now he’s going to see it set to rights.”
Lady Westcott drew herself up. “If my nephew has done something he ought not to have done, Lord Huntington, you will not need to threaten him to make it right. He’s an honorable gentleman.”
“Forgive me, Lady Westcott, but if he was an honorable gentleman, he never would have lured Miss Somerset into the library at all.”
Lord Dare, who’d remained silent during this exchange, his gaze fixed on Violet, now took a threatening step toward Finn. “What you witnessed in the library was a single, isolated moment, and hardly the whole story of my friendship with Miss Somerset. Before you fling any more accusations about, Huntington, perhaps you’d care to hear the rest of it.”
“I know enough—”
“No you don’t, Finn,” Violet whispered. “Lord Dare did nothing wrong. This is my fault, not his.”
A shocked silence fell, but then Finn, Lady Westcott, and Lady Chase all began to shout at once.
“Yourfault? You’re an innocent, Violet. You couldn’t have known what a debaucher like Dare was about—”
“Howdareyou? My nephew is not a debaucher—”
“I can well believe you’re at fault, Violet! You’ve always been a headstrong, foolish chit—”
Only Hyacinth and Iris, who knew the whole truth, remained silent. Hyacinth buried her face in her hands, but Iris, who must have recognized the enraged look on her husband’s face, leapt to her feet and hurried across the room to him. “Calm down, my lord, and let Violet speak. Indeed, she’s…well, she never meant any harm, but she’s notquiteas innocent in this as you imagine.”
“Just how would you know that, Lady Huntington?” Finn stared at Iris for a moment, but when she only bit her lip in answer, he threw his hands into the air. “Don’t tell me Violet had your approval for whatever she did.”
“Not my approval, exactly.” Iris flushed guiltily. “But I, ah—well, I did know about it.”
Finn pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. “For God’s sake, Iris.”
“Well, what did you expect me to do? She’s my sister, and she’s been in terribly low spirits ever since that business with Lord Derrick. I only thought to cheer her—”
“Whatbusiness with Lord Derrick?”
Hyacinth was weeping, Lady Chase was scolding, Iris and Finn were arguing, and Lady Westcott was proclaiming her nephew’s innocence to all who would listen, but all of them fell silent as Lord Dare’s furious shout rose above the commotion.
He turned on Violet and closed his hands around her upper arms. “What business with Lord Derrick, Miss Somerset?”
Violet stared up into his face, horrified and riveted by him at once. His eyes had gone a strangely mesmerizing silvery-black, and they burned in his pale face. She’d never seen him so angry, not even when he’d struck down the footpad who’d attacked her and pummeled him into a blubbering heap on the cobblestones.
All this fuss over Lord Derrick, who’d hardly crossed Violet’s mind once in at least a fortnight, and who hadn’t a blessed thing to do with any of it. She tried to squirm out of Lord Dare’s grasp, suddenly sick to death of this entire mess, and ready to have it over with.
