Page 42 of A Proposition for the Comte
Chapter Seven
When she finally got dressed and went downstairs at lunchtime, Violet was surprised to find Amaryllis gazing out the windows, all the curtains drawn back.
‘I think Charles Mountford must have employed guards to stand out at the front of our house. I sent the butler out to enquire about them and he relayed a message that the men would accompany us on any outings we were to make. They are big men, too, Violet. Take a look.’
Three strangers stood before the town house, each well proportioned and serious. She was certain that they would have carried weapons and also certain that any orders given to them would be well and properly obeyed.
The plot had thickened, then, and Charles obviously did not suspect that the man arrested yesterday in the park was working alone and neither did Aurelian. He had implied that the one who had paid to have her killed was a powerful foe.
Any thoughts of the delights of the night past were suddenly overtaken with the dread of what might come next.
They were now, Violet thought, essentially prisoners in their own home. Swallowing away alarm, she turned to Amaryllis.
‘Have you had any further thoughts about going on holiday to Rome?’
‘I have. This morning I sent word to Charles Mountford to ask for passages for myself and the boys to Italy. I wish you would come but...well...’ She blushed then, giving Violet a good idea of what she was alluding to even before she spoke. ‘The French Comte was here last night? With you?’
She should have known that nothing could be kept a secret. ‘He was. I asked him to help provide safety.’
‘My maid implied that there might have been more to it than simply that, Violet?’
‘I made love with him, Amara, and I do not regret it one little bit.’
Her sister-in-law’s hands went to her mouth, the shock in her eyes almost comical.
‘What if you become pregnant?’
‘I am barren. Surely you heard Harland say that often enough?’
‘Perhaps it was a problem related only to my brother?’
‘No. He had two children out of wedlock with his favourite mistress in London. He held their portraits in his pocket and made it his duty to show me each time I saw him.’
‘I still hate him, you know. Even after everything that happened.’ Amara stopped.
‘Hate is a hard emotion to keep feeding. I did it for almost all of our marriage.’
‘How did you stop, then?’
‘I let it go when Harland died and then I withdrew from the memories.’
‘And last night you began other memories all of your own. How on earth will this end, Violet?’
‘Aurelian de la Tomber is not here this morning on bended knees pleading for my hand in marriage, I am well aware of that. But, his offer of protection for now is enough.’
‘Enough?’
Violet laughed and faced her sister-in-law directly. ‘You loved your husband, Amaryllis. When he died you mourned him solidly for two years. You are still sad. I, on the other hand, found myself wishing that Harland might have died in the night every day that I awoke while he lived here. When he hit you, Amaryllis, so soon after you arrived at Addington, I understood exactly what sort of a man he was and how none of it was my fault or yours. I never forgave him, but I am trying to forget him.’
‘Yet he still haunts us?’
‘Well, don’t let him do so. Live your life and smile again. Go to Italy and laugh.’
‘He may be beautiful, this French Count, and I have never seen you look as fetching as you do this morning, but people are talking of him and it is not all flattering.’
The footman knocked at the door just as Amara finished speaking, announcing that the Minister Mountford had come to call. Violet felt a slight sense of relief that the conversation between them could now be at an end.
Charles looked older this morning than she had ever seen him, his hair a little untidy and the lines under his eyes deep.
