Page 20 of The Heiress Gets a Duke
“I really do think this is unnecessary, Mother.” Violet finally spoke.
“We are heading into the high point of the Season, and there will likely be scheduling conflicts. Since I am certain you and August will not bother yourselves to wait for one of us to be available, this step is necessary. Besides, I am under the impression that the contacts of the women I have in mind will be as beneficial as the actual duties the woman will provide. To that end, I have a list of names of perfectly respectable ladies ready to offer their services. We can go over them in the morning.” With a gentle smile, she stepped forward and kissed them both on the cheek, but she gave August a look she knew all too well. It always came with a gentle shake of her head, and it meant—Why can’t you be like your sister? Why can’t you be different?
August shifted under the familiar weight of the look, feeling exactly as she had as a gangly fourteen-year-old more interested in her father’s ledgers than her mother’s fashion plates. She had no answers for those questions. Giving August’s hand a gentle squeeze, Mother told them both good night and left.
All of the strength seemed to leave August’s legs, and she sank down onto the sofa. Violet sank down beside her, and this time she was the one offering support. Violet’s reassuring presence was so calming and antithetical to herown state of mind that it was almost abrasive. When she spoke, August’s words were harsher than she intended. “Why are you not more upset about this? You met him. Do you really want to marry him?”
“No, I do not want to marry him, and I don’t intend to,” Violet said calmly.
“Then how do you plan to stop it? You can see they’re not being reasonable.”
Violet raised a brow and shook her head as if August were the difficult one. “They’re not reasonable people. You can’t make rational arguments with them and get anywhere. You of all people should know that by now. You heard them in the carriage.”
There was sound logic in Violet’s words, and it only served to further depress August’s mood. “Yes. I don’t think they can be swayed. Then what do you plan?”
Violet shrugged, and worry creased her brow. “I don’t know yet, but I do know that only I will be charged with speaking vows to him, and if I don’t do it, then there can be no marriage.”
The first genuine smile of the night curved August’s lips. Violet was difficult to rile, but once it happened, she was the most stubborn person August knew. “So that’s it? You’ll simply stand there and refuse to repeat your vows?” She could already see it now. Mother would be livid, and Papa would offer her a pony to say them. The scene had her letting out a small laugh.
Violet didn’t seem as amused. “I hope to stop it before it goes that far. I telegrammed both Max and Teddy but haven’t heard back yet. Do you think they’re holding on to the response?”
“I didn’t even think of that possibility. “August groaned and leaned to the side until her head rested on the back of the sofa, but then she sat back up almost immediately. “I haven’t tried reaching Maxwell yet. I naively—and absurdly, it seems—believed that we could get past this ourselves. I’ll also send him one in the morning. Perhaps if he contacts Papa, he can set things to rights again. If not, then perhaps he can come to London, and we have to simplyhold off a wedding until he can get here.” But just in case, she would come up with some other way to dissuade the duke. She had no idea how yet, but there was still time.
They were both silent as the enormity of the situation settled over them. After a moment, Violet spoke as she pulled off her gloves, revealing the near-constant ink stains that marred her fingers. “I overheard you and the duke in the garden.”
That explained Violet’s silence in the carriage. August wracked her brain to remember if she had mentioned the kiss aloud. How awkward it would be if the man she had properly kissed turned out to be her sister’s fiancé.
“What happened between you... at the fight?”
“I fell and landed near the roped-off section where they were brawling. He caught me before I could hit the ground, thankfully.”
Violet watched her with knowing eyes. Sometimes she saw far too much. “And then?” she prodded when August fell silent.
Unable and unwilling to lie to her sister, August said, “We kissed. It was very brief, I assure you, and not an experience I plan to repeat.” She fell silent as she waited for Violet’s judgment.
Her sister fell silent, as well, and she got that pensive look she would sometimes get. August could never figure out if it was disappointment or some other sign of distress, so she babbled to fill the silence. “I am sorry. I swear to you that I had no idea who he was. It happened so fast that I barely had time to think about it.”
“August, you have no need to apologize. I don’t want him. I only...” A crease formed between her brows, and she stared at August as if she were the older one and August the younger. “You’ve never been so reckless. I know you’ve kissed men at a dance or dinner, but never a stranger.”
All of those thoughts had tumbled over and over in August’s mind ever since that night. It was why she had tried so hard to make herself forget him, and she’d come close to succeeding. Oh, she had relived the pleasure of the kiss more than she wanted to admit, but guilt had alwaysfollowed. He could have been anyone that night. Married. The leader of a street gang.
A duke.
“I don’t know how it happened.” She glanced down at her hands folded in her lap, because she could not meet her sister’s questioning gaze. “I still can’t explain why I did it. He asked me to and so I did.” It sounded inane and impulsive, which was so unlike her.
But when she looked up, the hint of a smile curved Violet’s lips. “And you liked it.”
It wasn’t a question. Apparently, it was obvious. She had kissed the duke and had liked it. What was happening to her?
“A little.” August stood, preferring not to dwell on that. “It hardly matters. I’m allowed to take leave of my senses every now and then, aren’t I?”
“Of course,” said Violet, but humor lurked in the depths of her eyes.
“So you don’t hate me? Even if you end up engaged to him?”
“I don’t hate you, and I will not end up engaged to him.”
“Good. Then I’m going to go to bed. It’s been an exhausting evening, and I need to telegram Max in the morning.”
