AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 29
With the intensity of Lord Northrive’s gaze on hers, Violette realised just how much she had missed him in the two days that she had been away. She longed for him again. He seemed to have no intention of taking his gaze away from hers, making her body freeze.
Had he come to betray her secret to her father? Or perhaps he had come to accuse her of betraying him by pretending to be something she was not?
None of it particularly mattered when he was looking at her in this way. It was perhaps the first time she had felt she was truly seen by him. Not as Mr Victor Blake, but as Lady Violette Blay.
“My lord, well, this is a surprise,” Lord Brunlow said with good humour and clapped his hands together. Lord Northrive flicked his eyes away from Lady Violette toward her father, urging her to do the same. It amazed her how well-mannered her father could sound to others when he bothered to wear a front. “I take it you are here to discuss our business again? Though it is rather early to be calling.”
“I apologise for the earliness of the hour, but I had to come without a moment’s delay,” Lord Northrive said and strode further into the room. “I have not come about business, my lord, but about your daughter.”
The words made Violette drop the embroidery to the floor.
“My daughter?” Lord Brunlow said in surprise, snapping his gaze to hers. She could see the fury well enough that was barely hidden there. He was concerned that where she had been hiding all summer had something to do with Lord Northrive after all.
She sent a silent prayer, begging Lord Northrive would not reveal where she had been hiding. Rowena hurried to pick up the embroidery from the floor.
“What about my daughter?” Lord Brunlow said, clearing his throat and turning his focus back to Lord Northrive.
“I have come to ask for her hand in marriage.”
The words were spoken so abruptly that Violette was certain for a moment she hadn’t heard him correctly. She ignored her father and the exclamations of surprise he uttered and set her complete focus on Lord Northrive instead. He was looking back at her, with a kind of determination in his features that she had often seen when playing sport, cricket in particular. She had never been the focus of that determination before.
“You wish to marry me?” she asked, cutting across her father’s surprise. She felt a lurch in her stomach, thinking back to the kiss and how he had stepped away from her after it. Was it even possible he could love her as she loved him?
“I do,” Lord Northrive said, never looking away from her.
Violette felt an overwhelming happiness take hold of her. He loved her after all, and it was possible to find a life away from here, at the side of someone who made her happy. She felt the flicker of a smile take hold of her cheeks, just as he smiled too. She took a step forward, intent on crossing the distance between them to reach his side, when she felt a hand on her arm.
“Father—” she said in surprise, but she was quickly cut off.
“This is highly irregular, my lord,” Lord Brunlow said, setting his gaze on Lord Northrive. “My daughter has not even had her debut yet. How can I accept a proposal for her now?”
Violette opened her mouth to argue though no words came. She couldn’t understand why her father was ready to turn down this proposal when not ten minutes ago, he had been saying it was imperative they found someone for her to marry as soon as possible. It seemed his insistence on propriety was going to outweigh everything else.
“You have only met my daughter once,” Lord Brunlow said with a confused tone. The hold he had on Violette’s arm was stopping her from crossing the room. She tried to prise her wrist out of his grasp, but it didn’t work and only ended up causing a burning feeling on her skin. Lord Northrive evidently saw it, for he stepped forward, his face convulsed with worry. “Why would you wish to marry my daughter after just one meeting?”
“Well, let us say that it is perhaps not the only meeting we have had,” Lord Northrive said, holding Violette’s gaze with his own. She winced, for the words were out there now. Her father would suspect she had been up to all sorts this summer now.
“I beg your pardon?” Lord Brunlow said, his voice becoming louder. The grasp he had on Violette’s arm he used to push her back firmly behind him, where she collided with a chair before her mother reached out, taking her arm to balance her. “Do you mean to say that my daughter has been hiding with you all this time that she has been gone?”
“That is not what I said,” Lord Northrive said hurriedly, evidently seeing the trouble had gotten her into with these words. “I mean, we have met more than once.”
“Violette, what did you do?” Lord Burnlow said, turning to her with horror on his face.
“I…” She trailed off, uncertain what to say. Even if she claimed it was all proper when she had seen Lord Northrive, her father was not likely to believe her.
“Have you been living in this gentleman’s household? Have you become his mistress?”
“Mistress? Father!” she said in outrage.
“No, she has not!” Lord Northrive took on a new volume that Violette had not heard from him before. He stepped forward, with his tone so loud that Lord Brunlow snapped his gaze back toward him.
“Then why would you come to ask for my daughter’s hand unless you wished to brush over some transgression? Hmm?” Lord Brunlow asked, waving madly in her direction.
“I came to ask for her hand because I have fallen in love with your daughter,” Lord Northrive said, silencing Lord Brunlow with the words.
Violette tried to move past her father to reach Lord Northrive as the words made a heat start to rise up her body. He loved her after all. He loved her as she loved him, and it was possible for them to be together.
