Page 17 of The Duke of Ice
“Don’t move,” he said, breathing heavily. After a moment, he wriggled from beneath her. “We need to even our weight across the skiff. Can you move to that end?” He gestured to the front, where she was facing.
“Yes.” Feeling as though she was draped in armor, she slowly worked her way forward to the front of the boat.
“That’s it. Wonderful.” With his encouragement, she made it all the way, then turned her head. He was at the back and had already picked up the oars. “And away we go,” he said cheerfully, as if she hadn’t just fallen from a boat and wasn’t shivering so badly, she feared her teeth might fall out.
The duke rowed them to the dock, where a footman grasped the side of the boat and another one helped Violet step out. She was quickly bundled into a blanket, and Hannah rushed toward her. Her friend’s face was stricken. “Are you all right?”
“I-I-I’ll be f-f-fine,” Violet managed. As she stepped from the dock onto the path, she saw Miss Kingman wrapped in a blanket between her parents, who were ushering her toward the house.
“What a disaster,” Hannah cried softly. “I do hope you and Miss Kingman don’t catch cold.” She glanced up at the bright sky. “I’m grateful yesterday’s storm has given way to fairer weather today. Even so, we need to get you to the house.”
Violet wondered what had become of Nick. She turned her head and saw him standing about twenty feet away, his gaze locked on her. His features were impassive, but in the lake, she’d seen the concern in his eyes. Was there any chance he might still feel something for her? Something other than animosity? He’d been so cold last night, but today, he’d come to her rescue. Hope fluttered in her chest, and she smiled.
He turned abruptly and started toward the house, his long legs devouring the uneven earth as he skirted the path. Another chill swept over Violet, and she shuddered.
“Come, let’s get you to the house,” Hannah said.
“You sh-should stay with your g-guests,” Violet said with a weak smile. “I’ll find my way.”
“I should be happy to accompany you,” the Duke of Romsey offered. “I’d give you my arm, but I daresay you should keep yourself as covered with that blanket as possible.”
“Yes, probably.” Violet took in her friend’s expression of distress. She truly looked as though she might cry. “Everything will be fine, Hannah. This will be an amusing story, you’ll see.”
Hannah nodded but didn’t appear entirely convinced.
Violet started up the path alongside the duke. “Thank you for r-r-rescuing me.”
“It was my pleasure. Indeed, perhaps this will improve my reputation at last.”
She looked at him askance and saw that he was grinning. Plus, she’d heard the self-deprecation in his voice that said he was no stranger to being maligned. “I hope so. I’m afraid I can’t believe the rumors about you. You seem far too kind.”
“Rumors, I’ve found, are usually based on at least a kernel of truth.”
It was an enigmatic statement, but she wasn’t sure she had the courage to ask what he meant. Was he trying to say he had somehow been involved in his wife’s death? Violet was saved from a response of any kind when he continued.
“Take Nick—Kilve, I mean. He’s the Duke of Ice, and it’s not a wrong description. He is as cold and unemotional as they come.”
Now.Violet barely recognized this Nick.
“He wasn’t always like this—I’ve known him since we were at Oxford together. Longer than you, I think.”
She snapped her head to look at him. “He told you about me?”
“A bit.”
Those two strained words hinted at things she didn’t want to revisit—not just now. “No, he wasn’t always like this. Nor was he a duke. How did that happen?”
“A series of misfortunes befell his family. He inherited from his uncle.”
“I take it his brother died?” Though their affair had lasted only a fortnight, Violet had learned many things about him. Still, there was so much she didn’t know. And likely never would.
“At Badajoz, fighting alongside Nick, actually.”
She looked over at the duke. “Nick served in the army?” She hadn’t known what happened to him after she’d left. Her parents had removed her from Bath as quickly as possible and nearly as quickly had married her off to Pendleton. She hadn’t looked back, despite wondering what had happened to Nick. She’d decided it was too painful to hold on to something—someone—she couldn’t have.
“His uncle bought him a commission.”
She imagined him going off to war. Would he have done that if she hadn’t left? She recalled that his older brother had been a soldier. “Did he go because of his brother?”
