Page 34 of The Duke of Ice
“He wasn’t a duke then.”
Hannah watched her as they walked, her arm curled comfortingly through Violet’s. “You think you’re the reason he’s the way he is? How well were you acquainted?”
Violet walked more slowly until there was a good distance between them and the next people in front of them. “As you know, my parents sent me to Bath to prepare for my first Season. I stayed with my aunt and uncle.” She’d spent summers with them throughout her childhood. With no children of their own, they’d doted on Violet and her brother. “I met Nick at the Sydney Hotel. He was Mr. Nicholas Bateman then. He was so handsome and so witty. I was smitten immediately.”
And he’d been too. “Over the course of a fortnight, we arranged to see each other as much as possible.”
“You were in love,” Hannah said softly, her voice tinged with awe.
“Helplessly. He asked me to marry him.”
Hannah gasped. “What happened?”
“My parents arrived, and when I told them I’d fallen in love with Nick, they took me away immediately. A mister wasn’t good enough, not when I was pretty and dowried enough to snag a title. In fact, they already had an interested party.”
“Clifford?”
Violet nodded. “Rather than wait until the next spring, my father arranged the union, and we were wed a month later.”
“You never saw Nick again?”
“No.” Her stomach clenched, and she felt sick, as she had so many times in the intervening years. “We’d planned to meet that evening. There was a revel at the park. We’d discussed the imminent arrival of my parents, and I’d warned him that they might not be in favor of our marriage. He assured me he would win them over. I didn’t doubt it—he was so charming.” For a moment, she recalled him as he’d been—joyful and teeming with hope for the future. The duke she’d met this week was a stranger, a shadow of that young man. How she wished she could go back and do what he’d suggested. “He’d joked that if he failed, we could always elope. We should have.”
“Oh, Violet.” Hannah clasped her free hand with Violet’s, giving her a squeeze. “I know your marriage wasn’t happy—how could it have been when you were married to such a philanderer—but having loved and lost… I wish I’d known.” She shook her head and withdrew her hand from Violet’s to swipe a finger beneath her eye.
“I promised my parents I would never speak of it.”
Plus, Clifford had forbidden her from talking about it. After their wedding night, when he’d learned she wasn’t a virgin, he’d been apoplectic. That was the only time he’d touched her in anger, shoving her so hard, she’d fallen into the armoire. She’d earned a massive bump and a subsequent day of dizziness and a crushing headache. It had set a precedent for the darkness of their marriage. He hadn’t touched her again until he was certain she wasn’t carrying Nick’s bastard. Then he’d used her as a broodmare without care or consideration. When she’d failed to carry a child, he’d declared her utterly without value. But that meant, thankfully, that he’d left her alone the last year before he’d taken ill and died.
“It was also easier to banish the past,” she continued, hating how the vile memory of Clifford made her want to crawl out of her skin. “For a long time, I pretended Nick was just a dream. I think I’d convinced myself of that until I saw him here.”
“I had no idea. I never would’ve invited him if I’d known it would cause you distress.”
“It doesn’t.” On the contrary, she welcomed the ability to remember that he was real. She was fairly certain he felt the opposite, however. “I’m not sure he would’ve come if he’d known I was here. He hated me—and rightfully so—for abandoning him without a word.” She didn’t mention writing a letter. Since he hadn’t received her explanation, it was as good as if she’d never written it.
“You still love him.”
“Always.”
“Have you told him?”
They were almost to the house. Violet stopped and turned toward Hannah. “No, and you mustn’t either. No one can know. It’s the distant past.”
“It isn’t. Not when you love him now, and he’s here.”
He also didn’t want anything to do with her—save helping Simon. That was assuming he still wanted to do that. After his behavior today, she wasn’t sure. “Promise me you’ll leave it alone. I’m fine. I’ve made my peace with loving him.”
Hannah frowned. “I think it’s a mistake. Fate brought you together.”
Violet laughed, but it sounded a bit hollow. “Youbrought us together.”
“I’m happy to help destiny,” Hannah said with a smile. “I just want you to be happy, Violet. You deserve it more than anyone I know.”
“I am happy,” Violet assured her. She turned toward the house, ready to put this conversation and all the uncomfortable memories it had aroused behind her. “What I’d like to do is make sure Nick is happy too, and I’m fairly certain that doesn’t involve me.”
Chapter 8
Nick sufferedthrough the victory luncheon, and every time his attention drifted toward Violet, he steeled himself and took a drink of wine. As a result, he was feeling far more relaxed—and pleasant—than he had been at the archery field.
