Page 70 of Untaming Lady Violet
“Correct you?” Tristan’s jaw tightened. “The hell he will.”
Violet nibbled at her bottom lip. “Let’s not tangle ourselves in that argument again, Tristan.”
“Kitten.” Increasing the pressure on her neck, Tristan tilted her head back until their gazes locked. “Biting your lip like that distracts me. Now, I concede the discussion on your possible marriage; however, you will tell me what I want to know.”
When she stubbornly remained silent, Tristan sighed and tugged her closer.
“Tell me because I’m asking you.” His lips brushed her forehead. “Not because I demand it.”
Chapter 28
“You will not remember the event the same way that I do,” Violet said in a small voice. “If you remember it at all.”
“Go on.” Tristan noted Violet’s cheeks were now stained pink. “What happened?”
“I’ve never told anyone about that day.”
She bit her lip again, then thought better of it when his intense stare drifted to her mouth.
“I’d just turned fourteen that year, and you were home with friends you’d known at school. At first, I thought they were much like yourself. Young, handsome, so very charming. While I worshipped you from afar, the three of you made merry that week.”
“I recall that particular spring. We’d all graduated the university and were feeling rather pompous.” Tristan grinned widely. “Lord Trentham and the Earl of Granger were always up to some sort of mischief.”
“Yes, mischief.” Violet’s full pink lips tightened. “They thrived on it. Sought it out, in fact. The morning of the fox chase, you were all in high spirits as everyone readied to ride, including Lord Trentham’s sister, Miss Ellen. I’d been given one of the slowest hunters in your father’s stables. He was a steady animal and gentle, which was fortunate as I am a novice when it comes to horsemanship. Mother does not believe it is a skill I must excel at. Why ride when one can always travel by coach or carriage?”
“But you have obtained a rudimentary grasp of what is involved, correct?”
“Yes, thanks to Celia. She insisted I learn the basics. And so, I did. Not for her sake but for yours. I swallowed my fear and learned to stay atop a horse simply so that when I visited Darby Woods every spring, I could ride in the Darby Fox Chase, too.”
Tristan’s heart squeezed painfully at the thought of this lovely girl adoring him from a distance. She did not care he was unworthy of that devotion. Then or now.
His pulse quickened, however, wondering how those two friends, admittedly rather wild and impulsive in those days, fit into the events as she relayed them.
“I hung back from the rest of the group. You were all so eager to begin, and your horses were just as excited. I remember how they pawed and snorted. And I was so fixated on you—” Her smile was sad as she said this. “So worried that you enjoyed Lady Ellen’s company, that I hardly noticed Lord Trentham and Lord Granger circling back. When the fox was set free and everyone else burst into action, your friends did not follow. Instead, they moved in, their horses rearing and prancing so close they jostled mine. Lord Granger’s mount was particularly vicious. It swung its rear toward my horse and began furiously kicking.”
“I remember that mare of his,” Tristan mused. “Granger always said she was slightly mad, but none could beat her on open ground. She ran like a fiend, to the point of collapse if he allowed it.”
“When they circled me, my gelding reared, desperate to get away. I could hardly retain my seat.”
Tristan sat up straight, tense with the realization she might have been harmed.
“They laughed at me. And when I saw Ellen riding beside you, and she smiled as though pleased, I became so angry. I wanted to snatch her down from her horse by her hair, but of course, I could not do that. Lord Trentham told me you did not want me following you as I had that entire week. That you wished to be alone with his sister, and as your friend, he was helping you to that end.”
“His sister was a little flirt who would have done anything to land a husband,” Tristan stated grimly.
He recalled the lengths Ellen had gone in her attempts at wrangling him into a romantic situation. When he proved resistant to her advances, she moved on, trapping Granger in marriage instead the following year. Now a countess, the gossip mill reported Lady Granger was just as miserable as her carousing husband.
Violet frowned as if Tristan’s statement troubled her. “Lord Granger’s horse was so wild, and I was so afraid, but my poor gelding was terrified. He finally bolted when the other horse bumped him one too many times.”
“Oh, kitten,” Tristan murmured, his arms tightening around her. “Were you injured?”
“I tried hanging on. It knocked the very breath from me when I landed, and the thought of being trampled was terrifying. One never truly realizes how very large a horse’s hoof actually is until it is stomping the ground next to your ear. Before riding off, Lord Trentham said that unless I wished the incident repeated, I was not to follow you. By then, with my horse already galloping back to the stables, I had no choice. Besides, I was so bruised from the fall, I could hardly lift my arm. My lip was bloody, and there was a nasty scrape on my knee. Later, Celia asked what happened, but I told her and my parents the same story. That I was thrown because of my own inexperience. I was ashamed your friends were tasked with keeping me away as though I were a bothersome pest.”
Tristan sighed and pulled Violet closer. She resisted for a second before allowing him to press her head over the spot where his heart beat. Neither moved nor spoke until Tristan broke the silence.
“That was very cruel of them, Violet, to lie with such audacity and fail to offer assistance when you were injured. Had I been aware of their actions, I would have beaten the hell out of the pair of them. Even if I was a rakehell myself, I would not have condoned such behavior. And I never had any interest in Lady Ellen. I tolerated her because of my friendship with her brother. I have a feeling it was she who orchestrated the event. She pulled a similar stunt later that year which resulted in her marriage to George. Oh, darling, I’m sorry you were subjected to their malice.”
“I believed you directed the actions of your friends. I should have known you would not be so heartless,” Violet said in a muffled voice. Then, a tiny laugh escaped her. “There’s a distressing abundance of women willing to go to great lengths just to be part of your life.”
