“She is home, Your Grace,” his butler said, unable to disguise the look of surprise on his face at the beaming smile on his master’s face.
James was not prone to smiling like a happy fool when he got home, ever. Most of his servants feared him, he’d heard, as they all read the scandal sheets and believed him to be devilish.
“Well then, tell her to meet me in my study! And hurry! This is of the utmost importance!”
“Yes, Your Grace…”
The butler looked confused but a little pleased nonetheless as he turned on his heels and disappeared up the stairs. James,meanwhile, whistled as he walked to his study and poured himself a finger of whiskey. Then he thought better of it and put the glass back on the side table.
I want to be sober for this conversation.
A thrill went through him, like an electric shock, and his heart began to pound.
This conversation is going to change my whole life. I can already feel it!
He was restless and nervous, and he had started to sweat. His nerves were getting to him. He removed his jacket so that he was just in his waistcoat and shirtsleeves, and then sat behind his desk. This proved too stationary, though, and soon he was back on his feet, pacing back and forth, a million questions racing through his mind.
What if she doesn’t believe me? What if she says it’s too late? Or what if, worst of all, she has changed her mind and doesn’t want a real marriage anymore?
But he had to push these thoughts away. This was just his fear of rejection talking if Nathan could be believed.
Nathan had said to wait until after the ‘romantic dinner’ to talk to Violet, but as James paced anxiously around the study, he knew he couldn’t wait.
“I need to tell her now,” he said out loud to the room.
After weeks of not telling her, of letting her slip away, he suddenly felt such a strong sense of urgency that he couldn’t even wait for a few more hours.
“I have to tell her before it’s too late.”
His words echoed Nathan’s, and they only strengthened his resolve.
At last, after what felt like an hour, a knock sounded at the door.
“Come in,” he said. But his voice came out higher and more nervous-sounding than he would have liked, so he cleared his throat and tried again. “Come in.”
Much better. Much deeper and more authoritative.
James rolled his eyes at himself.
Why are you so nervous?!
The door to the study opened, and Violet appeared in the doorway. To his surprise, she was dressed for traveling, not for dinner. She had rawhide kid gloves on and a cloak around her shoulders. Her hair had also been pinned up into a tight braid as if to keep it from becoming tangled on the journey.
She still looked lovely, though, as she always did. And perhaps more so than ever, because as he gazed at her now, he finally allowed himself to feel all of the emotions he had always suppressed around her.
“You wanted to see me, Your Grace?” she asked.
He frowned slightly at the honorific. “Violet,” he said. “Please, come in. Sit down.”
She hesitated, then walked further into the study, closing the door behind her. She had a briefcase with her, he was surprised to see, and as she put it on his desk, he noticed that her hands were shaking.
“Are you all right?” he asked, stepping closer to her.
He wondered for a moment if it would be all right to take her hands, but then decided he didn’t care.
Her eyes widened as he took her hands in his, and he held them close to his chest. “Did you get my flowers this morning? And the note?”
“Y-yes,” she stammered.
