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But with his ship sailing so soon, he’d have had to have worked quickly to make the necessary arrangements that would settle them both in order to ease his conscience.
Max inclined his head. “I think that really depends upon Violet’s wishes. Certainly, she may choose to stay with you, though I wouldn’t begin to speculate why she would wish to do so. That is between the two of you, and I am not privy to her feelings for you. However, regardless of what you are offering Violet, and in case you didn’t quite understand what I thought was very clear, I have come here, with Emily, to recompense you for the expense you have already outlaid and to make Violet a counteroffer.”
Lord Bainbridge’s eyes bulged. Max’s reasonable tone was doing nothing to soothe his ruffled sensibilities.
He squared his shoulders. “You are sailing for Cape Town tomorrow, as everyone knows. Shirking your responsibilities to go adventuring. Seeking your fortune in a new frontier.” He shrugged. “Am I to understand you want a doxy to keep you warm at night and wash your shirts by day?” He snorted. “What can you possibly offer Violet? Certainly not the comforts, the clothes, the jewels that I can.”
Violet raised one eyebrow. They meant nothing to her compared with her freedom. Nevertheless, she held her words. It was a tense moment between the two men, and she didn’t want to force Max to play his hand earlier than he intended. He’d know very well she’d place a higher value on liberty than on material things, yet she had to eat—and right now the only way she could manage that was through the protection of a man.
Lord Bainbridge was her official protector, and Max had not yet made any firm proposition other than saying he’
d paid for Violet’s release so she could look after her sister. She assumed that’s what he meant.
But Emily’s declaration that he’d invited her to Africa and Max’s vague affirmation that she was welcome to come was confusing. She doubted he’d offer her something truly demeaning, but until she knew exactly what it was, she would wait.
Nevertheless, her fingers and toes tingled with excitement. If Max wanted her to take her chances and accompany him to South Africa, he’d have come upon some ingenious way to enable her to find employment so she’d not be far away.
Her sister’s light, hurried footsteps sounded in the passage and the door burst open. A wave of sisterly love washed over her at the sight of her pretty, earnest sister, importantly and carefully bearing a tray with four steaming mugs.
For so long, she’d believed Emily dead. She still couldn’t believe her grandmother had told her such lies.
Now Max was facilitating a way for Violet to keep her sister close. That was all that was important.
Her excitement drained away. Perhaps Max’s counteroffer was to send Emily to school. It would be a kind and generous act when he had no obligation, but he’d know Violet would be resistant. Perhaps that’s why he’d not yet put his counteroffer into words.
“So, Emily, would you like me to take you both back to your grandmother’s?” Max turned to elicit the young girl’s thoughts with a smile. “Perhaps she’d be overjoyed to discover that Violet isn’t dead.”
Emily’s eyes widened, and her skin blanched. Silently she shook her head, and the mugs on the tray rattled perilously as she set it down on the sideboard. “No! Grandmama said Violet was dead! She said she wished I was too when she threw the knife at me.”
“A flesh wound, yet deep enough.” Max spoke matter-of-factly to both Violet and Lord Bainbridge. “I had it dressed when we stopped for dry clothes along the way. Yes, the last few hours in the carriage have been very illuminating. Emily’s grandmother was once quite respected in her local district. But rumours of her madness appear to be growing, according to the pharmacist who sold me bandages and liniment. Violent, too, it would appear. Increasingly so. No, I would not send Emily back there, and I would not send Violet back, either.” He made a gesture of confusion with his hands. “It resulted in quite a conundrum for me. Emily was so very believable and quite engaging, once she’d got herself warm and dry and decided I wasn’t a proxy for her wicked grandmother. Indeed, she made a very convincing case for rescuing a damsel in distress.” His forehead puckered. “Yes, very convincing. Yet how could this be reconciled by a man who, for the past three weeks, has been counting the days until he can exercise his freedom from all the constraints that make England such a stifling place to be right now.”
Emily hurried to his side and looked up at him. “But I told you, Max, that I’d help you. I’m very good at polishing. Grandmama makes me polish all the silver cutlery every week, so I can polish your boots and help you put them on. I have to help dress Grandmama so I’m sure I could help dress—”
“That’s very sweet of you!” Violet interrupted quickly, hurrying over to take Emily’s hand. “You always were the most biddable of sisters.”
“Except when I’m angry! Then, I’m Grandmama’s despair,” Emily told them all and looking quite proud about it. “But that’s better than being timid if I’m going to have to shoot lions, isn’t it, Max?”
Violet blinked. Max seemed to have made a very positive impression on her little sister in a few short hours.
“It certainly is, Emily. And that’s what decided me. In fact, it was when you angrily told the innkeeper that he’d overcharged me for the mutton roast we both so much enjoyed. His wife had quoted me a shilling, you see,” he told the others for their elucidation, “but the innkeeper saw easy coin when he looked at the cut of my gib. At least, that’s how Emily phrased it, having, I suspect, lifted the phrase from the pirate novel she’d been reading.”
Violet nodded. “Emily is a voracious reader,” she murmured. “She loves her adventure stories.”
“And I think taking her to Africa to live out a real live adventure rather than having to read about them or make them up would be just the thing.”
“You’d have to take me to Africa?” Emily worried at her lip. “You want to take me away? I thought we’d go to…the zoo.” She looked from Max to Violet, as if torn.
“I don’t mean take just you to Africa,” Max reassured her with a laugh. “I meant take you and Violet to Africa. That’s if Violet agrees to go. It’s rather a big decision for her to make considering the boat sails tomorrow.”
Lord Bainbridge looked at Violet. “No doubt Violet would have been better swayed had your proposition come from the heart,” he said. “Your boat was to have sailed yesterday but was delayed by bad weather. Rather serendipitous the way matters have unfolded, and rather curious, I can’t help feeling. I wonder what other considerations you have neglected to inform my mistress.”
Violet glared at him. She was more offended by his use of the term in front of Emily than by his casual demeaning of her.
Max, however, seemed highly affronted on her behalf. “How dare you insult the woman I love. It’s true I was to have left yesterday, though thank God for whipping up a storm and giving me the time I needed to reflect. Thank God for Emily here, who’s helped me understand what I really want. Not adventure and the unshackled freedom I’d thought I did.”
He put up a hand for silence, as Lord Bainbridge and Violet both opened their mouths to speak.
Lord Bainbridge spoke anyway. “You are really so puffed up with your own arrogance that you believe your charm will win Violet over so you can drag her across the seas with you as your—”
