Page 50 of The Honorable Texan
Violet sat downat her desk, somber and quiet on the following Monday morning.Her demeanor made her co-workers nervous.Especially when she started cleaning out her desk.
Blake walked in the door, smiling.
Violet looked up at him with an expression he couldn’t comprehend.
“What are you doing?”he asked suddenly, when he realized she was putting her things into a cardboard box.
“I’m going back to work for Duke Wright,” she said quietly.
He stood completely still, his mind not working at all as he stared at her, uncomprehending.“You’re quitting, again?”he exclaimed.
She glared at him.“Yes, I’m quitting!”
Mabel and Libby exchanged glances and rose at the same time from their desks.“We’re going over to the bakery for bear claws!”they announced, and ran for it.
“You just came back to work here!”Blake burst out, barely noticing the front door close behind the two women.
“And I’m just leaving!”she said, slamming down a stapler on the desk.
“Why?”
“Why?”she exclaimed.“How can you ask me that?You’re only marrying me because you know about the baby!”
His indrawn breath was all the confirmation she needed.
“Yes,” she said coldly, her anguish in her blue eyes as she looked up at him.“I know, Blake.I heard you talking on the phone.”
Talking on the phone.Talking… His mouth opened as he met her sad eyes.Dusky color tinted his high cheekbones and his teeth clenched.Damn fate for letting her overhear that indelicate conversation with Dr.Lou Coltrain.Why, why, hadn’t he closed the door?
Violet felt her last hope fly away as she saw his guilty expression.He had meant what he said, she thought.He was only marrying her to give their child a name and keep her mother from having a fatal stroke from the shame.
“A lot of marriages start with less than we have,” he said after a minute, choosing his words carefully.
“But we’d have been starting without what matters most, Blake,” she told him.“Love.”
He almost blurted out that she loved him and he knew it.But that would put the last nail in his coffin.He didn’t dare say it.
He drew in a long breath.“I won’t try to stop you,” he said quietly.“If this is what you really want.But I wish you’d reconsider.”
She shook her head.“I don’t want to stay here with you feeling sorry for me and everybody speculating on why.”
“If you leave, you’ll hear plenty of speculating,” he replied with visible impatience.
She turned back to her desk, feeling empty inside.“I can’t stay.”
“Well, don’t expect me to try to stop you,” he replied furiously.“If you’d rather go out there and tell the whole planet that you’re pregnant and you won’t marry the father of your child, be my guest!”
“And that lovely sentiment is exactly why I’m leaving!”she raged.“You aren’t concerned about me, you’re concerned about what people think!Your reputation might be ruined, isn’t that it?You might lose clients!”
His eyes blazed at her.“What about your mother, Violet?”he shot back, seeing the point hit home as she winced.“How is she going to feel when she finds out?”
She bit her lip.“Mama will understand.”
“Think so?”he replied sarcastically.“How about Duke Wright?”
“Excuse me?”
“When you start showing, what is he going to think?And his employees, not to mention his ex-wife!”He glowered at her numb expression.“They’ll think it’s his!”
