“You will tell her?” he asked, the uncertainty in his voice betraying his fear.
“Of course, I will!” she snorted contemptuously. “I have already told her to stay as far away from you as possible.”
“Then I will tell your father that one of the conditions of this marriage is that you must tell your sister nothing!” he snapped, his face reddening with indignation.
“Do you really think you have so much leverage over my father?” Violet raised a skeptical eyebrow. “He said that your family oweshim a lot of money. You are lucky that he hasn’t had one of you murdered yet for failing to pay him back. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
Mr. Cain went from red to white in seconds, and she knew that she had hit a nerve—Mr. Cain might work for her father, but he was also deeply afraid of him.
“Please, Your Grace, don’t do this…” he trailed off.
A horrible thought occurred to Violet then.
“Do you actually plan to keep seeing her?” she asked.
Mr. Cain frowned and looked away, out the carriage window.
“Do you?” Violet pressed. “Do you plan to court her?”
“I don’t see why not!” he snapped, turning back around to face her, his expression venomous. “Miss Rosalie is a beautiful, interesting, passionate young lady, and any man who has spent time with her wouldn’t want to lose the opportunity to court her.”
“But you are working with my father!” Violet said, disgust and fury coursing through her. “You were hiding in her bedroom, ready to kidnap her and force her to marry a disgusting, lecherous old man if I did not agree to the annulment! You would have harmed her if my father had asked you to.”
Mr. Cain’s face twisted with anger. “I had to do as your father instructed. If I didn’t, my family could have faced imprisonment, scandal, and even death. But once this is over—once you are married to Redfield—then he will consider our debt paid. Then, I don’t see any reason why I may not court Miss Rosalie as any gentleman would.”
“Because you do not deserve her!” Violet shouted.
She wanted to reach across the carriage and hit him, but only her fear for her safety stopped her.
“You are helping to ruin my life! You were willing to harm my sister! You will never go near her again, Mr. Cain! That is one of the conditions that my father agreed to—that you, he, and any of his other associates would never go near my family again.”
“And who will enforce that once your father is gone?” Mr. Cain sneered. “He will be in America, and you will be Lord Redfield’s problem. There will be no one to keep me from marrying your sister.”
Violet was so angry that she wanted to scream. Instead, she sat very still, trying to slow her breathing. She just needed to think.Think!Find a way out of this. Find a way to use the situation to her advantage.
Don’t let him get a rise out of you. That will only make him more determined to get his way.
And for the first time in her life, Violet found herself wondering what her father would have done in this situation.
If we really are alike, then please, let me use his cunning to help myself and my sister. Think, Violet. You can do this. What would Father do?
“Mr. Cain,” she began slowly, “am I to understand that you genuinely care for my sister?”
Mr. Cain’s face softened at once, and he nodded. “I do. Although we just met, Miss Rosalie has captivated me with her free spirit, her romanticism, and her openness to others. She exudes love. I can sense that she loves people intensely, and I can only imagine what an honor it would be to be loved by someone like her.”
Violet forced herself to smile, although she thought it more likely to get sick all over him. “Yes, Rosalie is special. She is a dreamer and a reader, and she would do anything for the people she loves.”
“I can tell,” Mr. Cain said at once. “She is loyal and good.”
“Yes, she is.” Violet took a deep breath.This has to work.“Which is why I know that she would never forgive you, or agree to become your wife, if she were to discover that you were part of the plot to marry me off to Lord Redfield,” she said neutrally.
Mr. Cain’s eyes narrowed for a moment, as if he were trying to tell whether she was still threatening him. But then he seemed to sense she was about to offer him a solution because he nodded.
“Yes, I can see that,” he admitted.
“But I am willing not to tell her of your involvement, and even to swear that you tried to help me, if you will do something for me.”
Mr. Cain looked suspicious but also curious. His lips twitched, and for a minute, he seemed to be at war with himself about whether or not to consider her proposal.
