“I would advise you to be swift in your decision,” he prompted softly. “I imagine your brothers already do not think too well of me, and they might break down the door if I was to keep you in here a second longer.”
He took another step closer to her. It made her heart jump again.
“I….” Her voice trembled. She swallowed hard, trying to steady herself. “I… I accept.”
A faint flicker of relief passed over his features, so brief she almost doubted she’d seen it. He inclined his head. “Wise choice. The arrangements will be made immediately.”
Violet felt a strange sense of emptiness at his response. There was no triumph, nor was there any excitement. Fromeitherof them. Surely, this was not how things were meant to work.
He turned to leave, but before he reached the door, he paused and glanced back at her. His expression was unreadable, but his voice was tinged with something that almost sounded like regret.
“And one last thing,” he said. Violet’s ears perked up immediately. “This will be a marriage of convenience, Lady Violet. Nothing more.”
“Yes, of course. What else could it be?” she replied hurriedly. But inside, there was a pang in her chest. His words rang with an air of finality. Like he wanted to make it absolutely clear that he lacked all interest in her.
It stung much more than she would have liked to admit out loud.
And as he disappeared toward the doorway—where she heard her brothers crowd him, likely to discuss the details of their wedding—she knew that her life had forever changed.
She was to no longer be Violet Kingsman, maiden, free-spirited. She was to become the new Duchess of Bernight.
CHAPTER 4
“ADuchess?You are going to be the Duchess of Bernight?”
Isadora did not bother to hide the surprise in her voice. She stared at her friend in disbelief. Violet could hardly blame her, for it hardly seemed real to her either.
“Are you saying this in jest?” Daphne asked, her tone much more measured. Violet had called her two best friends at urgent notice to deliver the news.
“Look at me, Daphne,” Violet sighed. She had barely managed to get a wink of sleep the night before, and her skin looked even paler than usual—all the color having been drained out of it. “Does it appear to you that I am pulling some sort of a jest on the both of you?”
Daphne and Isadora exchanged a concerning glance. “No, it is not like her to do this. It must mean that…” Isadora’s mouth formed the shaped of an “O”. “… it must be true.”
Violet lowered the sheet of paper she had been clutching. The words written on it, details of the hurried arrangements for her wedding, seemed to blur before her eyes. She had read them many times after having received them just this morning.
“I am to marry the duke.” Her tone was weary. “In three days, no less.”
“Three days?” Daphne lost her composure for a split second but was quick to conceal it. “Oh… my. Well, it seems that Nicholas is wasting no time, is he?”
“He got a special license,” Violet explained, frustrated. “Apparently, he could not wait to make my life miserable.”
“Do not say it like that,” Isadora retorted immediately, reaching out to touch her friend’s hand.
“Howelsewould you wish for me to put it?” she replied. “Never in my life did I imagine myself to be matched with him.”
Isadora nodded, frowning. “He does not seem to be the best match for you, considering all that we have heard about him. Are you certain there is nothing that you can do about it?”
Violet shook her head. She hated how helpless she was in the matter.
“Then maybe it would be best to look on the bright side.”
“There isnobright side,” Violet said through gritted teeth.
“I do not know if I agree with that. There is always a bright side to things. Maybe it does not have to be so miserable. If anything, it’s… well… you’re about to become a duchess.”
“I don’t want to be a duchess,” Violet muttered, dropping the paper onto the table. “No offense to you, Daphne, but the life that I envisioned for myself was much… quieter.”
Violet had wanted a calm, quiet life. A sweet, bookish husband. Nothim.Anyone but him.
