Did she want this house because she wanted the child that came with it?
And if she really did want a child to raise, why had she never had one? How did that align with Nathaniel’s perception of her as an avowed spinster, someone who would never marry if she had the choice? Had Nathaniel been wrong, or was there more to the story?
And why was he suddenly so captivated by that story? Why did he want to know the answers to all these questions that hadn’t even entered his mind until a few minutes ago?
She was glaring at him, which recaptured his focus. “You know,” she said angrily, “I may not be willing to answer all your questions, but at least I have a heart.”
“Excuse me?” He raised an eyebrow.
“You heard me,” she said sharply. “The way you behave—the way you treat Noah—it’s so apparent to me that you don’t care for anyone or anything. I don’t even think this house matters to you, except as a financial investment.”
“That’s not true,” Jonathan said before he could stop himself.
She crossed her arms. “I don’t believe you,” she said. “If you cared about this place, you wouldn’t have been willing to sell it back to me if I’d had the money to give you.”
He had no answer for that. What could he possibly say, other than that he had known the dowager viscountess well enough to realize she would want him to say yes to that request? He had been relieved, though, when it had turned out that Lady Violet hadn’t had the money to give. He had not wanted to sell the place back to her, and he was relieved now to know that he wasn’t going to have to do so.
“The house does matter to me,” he told her—it was all he could think to say.
“I don’t believe you,” she said sharply. “I think the only thing that matters to you is keeping the house away fromme. You don’t want this place, and you certainly don’t want Noah. You just want to win whatever little game it is you think we’re playing here.”
She turned on her heel and stalked away from him, back into the library, before he could respond to that.
Jonathan watched her go, his head spinning.
This had been a new side of Lady Violet, to be sure, and one he had rather enjoyed seeing. It made him wonder whether he dared try to agitate her again in the future, whether it might not be fun to wake this slumbering dragon.
But at the same time, he wasn’t certain of exactly what he had done to cause her such upset, and there was a pang of remorse, though he didn’t like it, for that fact.
And then there was the boy.
Was Lady Violet right? Did he owe that child something more than he was going to be able to give? He wanted this house, and he wanted to stand by his duties. Maybe she had a point about the idea that she should be given care of the boy.
Maybe.
It wasn’t something he could decide about right now. For now, he would return to his work and try to put this conversation as far from his mind as he was able.
But as he walked away from the library, the sound of their voices echoing down the hall after him, he knew that forgetting the conversation he had just had with Lady Violet would not be easy.
CHAPTER 9
When he came down to breakfast the following morning, he found Lady Violet still in the dining room.
It would be their first time eating together, Jonathan observed as he made his way in and sat down, and it was not something he had planned on. He had gotten into the habit of coming to the table late in the morning and early in the evening, picking up on her pattern and ensuring that their paths did not cross. But he must have made a mistake on his timing today, for there she was, sitting in front of a plate of eggs and sausages, with Noah sitting opposite her.and ensuring that their paths did not cross. But he must have made a mistake on his timing today, for there she was, sitting in front of a plate of eggs and sausages, with Noah sitting opposite her.
She looked up in surprise as he came in and even jumped slightly, obviously startled by her presence. Well, that was fine; he was startled by hers, too. At least he wasn’t alone in that.
“May I sit?” he asked, indicating one of the empty chairs.
“I think you will, no matter what I say about it,” she said. The words were outstandingly rude, but her tone was even and well-mannered enough, as though she didn’t actually take any exception to his presence. He decided to operate on the belief that that was the true way of things, even though any fool knew that it wasn’t. He sat down and nodded his thanks to the man who began to pour him out a cup of coffee.
Lady Violet adjusted herself in her seat and said nothing at all, and Jonathan wondered whether this would be a meal taken in complete silence. That would be awkward, but even so, he was unwilling to turn away from what he had started now that he was here. He picked up a piece of bread and started to butter it.
It was Noah who broke the silence. “You don’t usually have breakfast with us,” he said frankly.
“Noah,” Lady Violet said. “If you speak to the duke, you must call himYour Grace.”
“But why must I?” Noah asked. “Since we all live in the same house, can’t I just call him by his name? That was what Madam Margaret said. She told me I didn’t need to call her anything fancy, that just her name would do fine, and in fact she would prefer it. I was the one who started calling her Madam, even though she said I didn’t need to do that. In the end, she decided it was sweet, but it was more like a nickname between us than anything Ihadto say.”
