Page 48 of Only a Mistress Will Do

“Why indeed?” He grasped the neck of the decanter, squeezing somewhat harder than absolutely necessary. His knuckles showed white as bones.

She would have dearly loved a drink at this moment. Sparring with him in this manner kept her on edge, to be sure, however, she’d appreciate a moment to just relax in his presence. “Let me ring for tea.” Violet pulled the bell mechanically, needing to do something. She couldn’t simply sit here in the parlor with its genteel furnishings and do nothing but ring the bell. Nor could she continue to look at her lap.

“Yes, Miss Carlton?” Susan appeared, fixing Tris with a gimlet eye that took no quarter.

“Bring tea please, Susan. My special blend.” A wink at the maid as she prayed the girl understood to add a healthy dollop of brandy to the beverage.

“Right away, miss.” Raised eyebrows, but no other indication Susan had understood the signal.

Violet turned back to Tristan, who hovered just behind her. “Please be seated, Lord Trevor. You make me nervous hanging about so.”

“Far be it from me to discommode a lady.” He smirked, but came around the end of the sofa, drink in hand, and sat in the Queen Anne companion chair. His face, set in harsh lines, had laid grooves about his mouth. So forbidding he scarcely seemed her Tris at all.

Because he was not her Tris and never had been. Asking him to sit had been a mistake. They had nothing to say to one another save for the one subject that kept them silent. If she brought it out in the open, would it break this hideous stalemate between them? Like ripping a bandage off a wound to make it bleed—and begin to heal.

Gathering her courage, she faced him again although she could not bring herself to look directly into his eyes. “Tris.”

He tensed, his hand frozen with the glass before his mouth. His dark gaze shot straight to her face. “Yes?”

“I am sorry—”

“Lord Manning, miss,” Thomas announced the earl.

Violet jumped as the servant made a hasty retreat.

Manning strode into the room and headed directly for the fireplace. “Bitter cold out this morning.” With a shiver, he held his hands out to the well-laid blaze. “The wind chilled me to the bone just coming from the carriage.” He looked up from the flames and stopped, his gaze flitting from her face to Tris’s.

Violet turned her head sharply, afraid her face would reveal more than she cared to tell the earl.

“So what brings you here, Manning?” Tris rose and sauntered toward the younger man. “And more particularly, why was I summoned?” He sipped his brandy, although his gaze narrowed keenly on the earl. “I am leaving town as soon as this business is concluded.”

Rubbing his hands, Manning nodded toward the sideboard. “May I?”

“Of course.” Tris swept his hand outward, in a broad circle that took in the whole room before coming to rest at Violet. “What is mine is yours.”

“Hardly.” Manning chuckled. “Still, many thanks. This should warm me up nicely.” He poured a tumbler half full and took a gulp. A shudder ran through him as the fiery liquid hit. Then his shoulders relaxed.

“Good morning, my lord.” Uncomfortably aware of Tris’s gaze on her, Violet rose and nodded to the earl. “I received your note, but couldn’t help wondering if you’d encountered a difficulty with the wedding plans.” She strove to keep eagerness out of her voice, though it was devilishly hard to do.

Manning stared at her for a moment, then swirled the remaining brandy in the glass. “You are very perceptive, Miss Carlton. That is indeed the reason for my visit. I have discovered an impediment to our plans.”

“Impediment?” The word raised a hope in Violet’s heart.

“Impediment?” Tris set his glass down with a dull thud. “You have found a blood connection between your family and Miss Carlton’s?”

“No. At least, I have not heard of such.” Gazing at the tumbler in his hand, Manning rubbed his thumb across the cut-crystal stars. “Rather I have found when I asked Miss Carlton to marry me I was unaware I was not free to do so.” He up-ended the glass, gulping the brandy until he’d drained it.

“Not free?” Tris’s brows lowered almost to his nose. “What the devil do you mean, Manning?”

“I mean that for reasons I discovered only last night, I must withdraw my offer of marriage to Miss Carlton.” Quietly, he placed his glass precisely in the center of the white linen runner covering the sideboard.

Violet clutched her chest, her heartbeat thundering in her ears. Salvation.

“I have obligations that prohibit me from marrying Miss Carlton.” The earl drew himself up, squaring off with Tris. “This is the reason I summoned you here, Trevor. You have been acting as Miss Carlton’s protector and as such it is your right, should you wish, to challenge me for this insult.”

Chapter 20

“No!” Violet’s heart leaped like a wild thing. “There will be no such challenge offered on my behalf.” Dear God, from salvation to damnation in the blink of an eye.