“You are a feisty one, aren’t you?” Farrell purred. “I wish I had more women like you around here. We’d get a lot more done, what with all the men being too deep in their cups half the time.”
Violet gave him a cool look. “I would never help you. I’ve seen what happens to the dogs you cast aside. What you do is vicious and cruel. No creature should be treated that way—even a dog.”
“So you still have the soft heart of a woman,” Farrell noted, shaking his head. “That’s too bad.” He looked at James, and his expression darkened. “What exactly is it that you want,Your Grace?And I suggest you tell me yourself, instead of allowing your woman to do it for you.”
“You will refer to the Duchess as Her Grace!” James roared, and for a moment, he looked so dangerous that even Violet felt afraid.
Farrell must have felt it, too, because he took a step back, and for a moment, fear flashed across his face.
“Very well,” he muttered, righting himself. “I will address her by her title if you kindly tell me exactly what it is you want.”
“I want you to leave my duchy once and for all,” James said, without a moment of hesitation. “I want you to cease all your operations and never come back. Or else, as Her Grace said, I will come for you with everything I have, until I have ruined your business and you are left in shambles.” He smiled maliciously. “In fact, I almost hope that happens, as it will ensure that you cannot carry on these despicable activities anywhere else.”
Farrell’s eyes narrowed. “And what of your people? They want me here. I make them a ton of money.”
“Let me worry about my people,” James snapped.
“I am merely pointing out that they are the ones you have to win over,” Farrell argued. “You can push me out if you want, but if your people revolt against you, that will cost you more money than you have.”
Violet felt a ball of dread settle in her stomach. There was truth to his words. He might leave, but if the tenants were unhappy, then they would either make James’s life hell or they would pick up where Farrell had left off.
James, however, looked unconvinced. “You have twenty-four hours to think about what we have said,” he warned. “Tomorrow, we will meet back here, at the same hour, and you will give me your answer—either get out or face my wrath.”
He turned on his heel and, with a nod of his head, bade her to follow him. Violet risked one backward glance as she, her sister, and her mother followed James out, flanked by their guards. What she saw only heightened her uneasiness—Farrell was watching her, a small smile playing on his lips.
Chapter Eleven
“Never again will you disobey my orders!” James shouted for what felt like the hundredth time as his wife sat across from him in the dining room of the inn, which was blissfully empty except for the two of them. “Never again will you put all of our lives in jeopardy like that!”
“I had to say something!” Violet snapped back, her expression haughty and defiant.
Several hours had passed since they had returned from their meeting with Farrell, and they had not stopped fighting the entire time. James couldn’t calm his anger, and she refused to back down.
“You were losing your temper, and that wasn’t going to get us anywhere.”
For once, she had lost some of her cool—her face was now red, and her eyes were blazing.
James didn’t care. She could be as angry as she wanted, it would still be nothing compared to the fury and fear that were currently coursing through his veins.
“I don’t think you realize what you have done,” he said, gripping the edges of his chair so hard that his knuckles turned white. “Not only did you undermine me and my authority, but you made it clear to that thug that I am eager to protect you.”
“Why wouldn’t he think you eager to protect me?” she asked, cocking her head. “I am your wife. Most husbands are eager to protect their wives.”
“That’s not what I mean, and you know it.” James ground his teeth together. “After your performance today, Farrell will assuredly suspect that I am overly fond of you and will go to great lengths to keep you safe. That gives him leverage over me.”
At this, Violet laughed out loud, which irritated James even more.
“Overly fond of me?” she scoffed. “Well, I can assure him that none of that is true—no one here is under any delusions! He can ask anyone, and they will tell him that ours is a marriage of convenience. There is no tenderness or affection between us.”
It hurt him more than he cared to admit to hear his wife describe their marriage in such terms, and he had to remind himself that he was the one who had decreed they wouldn’t live as proper man and wife. She was right—theirs was not an affectionate marriage.
Except he saw the look on your face, a small voice whispered in the back of his head.When he called Violet feisty, he saw you turn purple with rage and fear.
James still wasn’t sure what had been going through his head as he’d seen the gang boss lean close to Violet and murmur those words—full of innuendo—in her ear. All he’d known for certain was that he’d wanted to challenge the man to a duel right then and there.
“Anyway, it worked, didn’t it?” Violet continued when James didn’t say anything. “He seemed to at least consider what I said. Which he wouldn’t have done if you had kept going on about how you don’t respect him.”
“Maybe,” James conceded. “But what did it really do? I will probably still have to use force to drive him out of the duchy.”
