Page 87 of The Duke of Ice
A loud sigh drew them both to turn. Chalke had come back to the hall. Her gaze had gone limpid, and her mouth curved into a half smile. “That is so romantic.”
Lavery scoffed. “It’s cracked is what it is.”
Violet had to agree it was romantic. And so like the Nick she’d met. Was he still in there?
Of course he was. He was just buried beneath fear and sadness and the inability to cope.
“Are you going to let him in?” Chalke asked.
For a brief moment, Violet considered it. “No.” She wasn’t sure she believed he’d come back every day for eternity, but decided it might be fun to find out.
Three days later, she decided he wasn’t going anywhere. It had snowed a couple of inches that first night, then the temperature had dipped. Through the cold and the snow swirling around his boots, Nick had spent two full days huddled across from the house. Yesterday, he’d worn a blanket draped around his shoulders, and Lavery had reported that someone had brought him something to drink. Something hot, he’d said, given the way Nick had cupped the mug and held it close to his face.
As she stood in front of the sitting room window, Violet decided that she had to put an end to this farce. She turned to Chalke, who’d come into the room a few moments ago. “Bring me my cape, my hat, and my gloves.”
Chalke’s brow creased, and she clasped her hands together. “You don’t need to go outside. That can’t be good for you.”
“I wasn’t ill; I injured my head.”
Lavery came into the sitting room, his face awash with surprise. “You can’t mean to speak with him?”
“I think I must, don’t you? I won’t be responsible for him catching cold. And, honestly, I worry the neighbors may complain soon.”
Chalke stared at her in confusion. “About a duke standing in front of their house?”
That did sound rather absurd.
“Mrs. Blevins tried to invite him inside earlier,” Lavery said.
Violet winced. Mrs. Blevins lived a few houses down the street with her five little dogs and an indeterminate number of cats. She dearly loved visitors, and once inside, you were captive for hours because she rarely stopped talking. “Oh dear, well then, at the very least, I need to warn him away from her.”
Against her judgment, Chalke wrapped Violet up tight. Before letting her outside, she made Violet promise to return within ten minutes.
After swearing she would only be gonefive, Violet went outside and nearly lost her hat to the biting wind. Clamping her hand on the top of her head to keep the accessory from flying away, she walked down the steps. Before she could get to the sidewalk, Nick was in front of her.
“You shouldn’t be out here,” he said.
She stared at him from beneath her wrinkled brow. “Wasn’t your intent to lure me outside?”
“No, I was hoping you’d invite me in.”
“I thought it might be nice to get out.” Now that she was standing in the wind, she had to admit that thought was ill-advised. She blinked up at him. “I can’t believe you’ve endured this for two and a half days.”
“I would endure it forever if it meant I could see you.”
“Justseeme?”
He looked at her intently. “I’ll take what I can get.”
“Why aren’t you marrying Diana?”
“Because I love you.”
The words she’d ached to hear for so long made her knees weak and her chest tighten. She pressed her lips together and glowered at him. “You didn’t realize that before you proposed?”
His gaze turned sheepish. “I did—I’ve always known it, no matter how much I tried to fight it.”
Violet crossed her arms over her chest and hugged herself tight against the cold. “Is that what you’ve been doing all this time—fighting it?”
