“I think I have to,” Henry said with a quick glance in Viola’s direction. Her attention was completely focused on the man with whom she was speaking, instilling a strange combination of envy and admiration in the pit of his stomach. Shaking it off, he told Steadford, “Florian has dedicated his career and an ample amount of his recently acquired fortune to this hospital. If he were here, he would offer the duchess his unwavering support.” Henry would not share the additional fact that he wanted to hold on tight to every excuse he could find to spend time with Viola. Not only because he needed a wife and he thought her to be the best option, but because he liked her and cared about her well-being. She mattered to him more and more with each passing second, which meant he could not stand idly by and watch her lose everything she held dear.
Steadford’s gaze sharpened. “Do you know how much he has invested?”
“No.” Henry felt his brow pucker beneath a curious frown. “Why do you ask?”
“Because there could be something there that we ought to investigate further.”
Steadford had no chance to elaborate because Viola joined them at that exact second. The way her lips tilted the moment her eyes met his made Henry suck in a breath. Hell, involving himself in Viola’s affairs and offering to help had just as much to do with his clandestine courtship of her as it did with the duty he felt toward safeguarding Florian’s interests. More so, if he was being perfectly honest.
“Allow me to assist you,” he said when they reached his carriage. Her hand settled neatly in his palm, sending a frisson of energy straight up his arm. Heat arced through him, jolting his heart and leaving him momentarily out of sorts.
Behind him, Steadford cleared his throat, and when Henry turned to glance at him, he realized that the barrister saw straight through him, his one eyebrow raised with mocking censure.
“What?” Henry asked in challenge.
Steadford studied him for a second, then leaned a bit closer and said, “Be careful, Lowell. She doesn’t strike me as the sort of woman who wants a man to come to her rescue.”
Bristling, Henry merely responded with a curt nod before climbing up into the carriage and dropping down onto the bench across from Viola. She was the very embodiment of true independence, living in her own house, running her own business and going about her own routine. Convincing her to give that up for a husband with legal authority over her would not be easy. And yet, the more time Henry spent in her company and the more he got to know her, the more certain he was that she was the woman he wanted to marry.
Caught up in the challenge he faced, he drummed his fingers restlessly against his thigh. What he’d felt before as he’d handed her up into the carriage went both ways. He was certain of it, considering the numerous times she’d blushed in his presence and the trouble she’d taken with her hair today. It couldn’t be for Steadford’s benefit or for Tremaine’s, which had to mean she’d thought of him when she’d chosen to style it so prettily.
Giving her a swift examination, he admired the loose strands of hair curling almost seductively next to her temples. He wanted to run them between his fingers. He also wanted to run the pad of his thumb across the bridge of her nose and trace the freckles cascading onto her cheeks. He wanted to do a lot of things. Most of which she wouldn’t allow just yet.
But there was almost something reassuring about that—about knowing that when he finally kissed her, it would be because he’d truly earned it.
Because if there was one thing he could say with certainty, it was that Viola Cartwright was not the sort of woman to take kissing lightly. When he kissed her, it would mean something to her, which meant thathewould mean something to her. And that piece of knowledge was like a comforting balm surrounding his heart.
It did not, however, help in the slightest when Henry entered Robert’s study fifteen minutes later and informed him that he would be helping her.
“I never expected you to be my Brutus, Lowell,” Robert said with an unmistakable note of contempt. “It surprises me to discover that our friendship means so little to you that you would knowingly support that”—he swiped a hand in Viola’s direction—“lying charlatan in her effort to steal what is rightfully mine, when you ought to be backing me up.”
“I regret you see it that way,” Henry replied, affecting the calmest tone he could muster. “In truth, this has nothing to do with our friendship or my acquaintanceship with Her Grace. It relates to the fact that I believe you are in the wrong.”
“Shall we sit?” Mr. Hayes interjected as if Robert did not look as though he might have an apoplectic fit. A vein pulsed dangerously next to his left eye and his jaw was clenched as if holding back a torrent of expletives. It reminded Henry of how easy it was to enrage him and made him wonder for the first time if Robert’s account of his wife’s passing was accurate. It sounded more like a fabricated tale than fact.
He managed a curt nod and gestured toward the available chairs. “Please.”
Henry waited for Viola to sit and then claimed the seat directly beside her. “Just remember,” he whispered while leaning slightly toward her, “there is an end to this. It will not last forever.”
Her eyes, filled with worry, met his. “Thank you, Mr. Lowell. I will try not to forget that.”
Looking down at her hands neatly folded in her lap, he wished he could cover them with his own and offer additional reassurance. But to do so would not be appropriate or helpful since it would reveal the true reason for his involvement to Robert. And since Henry still didn’t know the specifics regarding Viola’s history with him, he preferred not to agitate the situation any further.
“Let us first address the purpose of my client’s legal action against Her Grace, the Duchess of Tremaine, so there is no confusion,” Hayes said. He regarded Viola with an assessing look as if sizing her up. “She was the daughter of the late duke’s physician, a young woman fifty-one years her husband’s junior and without the sort of pedigree one might expect from a duchess.” He droned on, outlining all the facts in the most monotonous way possible, before asking, “What seventy-year-old gentleman would not happily encourage the attentions of a young, energetic woman? And when one considers the benefits marriage will give a man, I daresay the former duke might have been too tempted to resist.”
Before Henry could leap to Viola’s defense, she was on her feet, forcing the men to rise as well. Henry desperately wanted to soothe her but wasn’t sure how to do so without pulling her into his arms.
“Viola,” he tried, but she seemed not to hear him.
Her entire focus was on Hayes, who stood like a pillar of supreme stubbornness, with no hint of offering any apology for what he’d just said. “You overstep,” she finally managed, her voice trembling just enough to convey how upsetting Hayes’s words had been.
She raised her chin and then stepped toward Robert. “How can you imply that I married your father for selfish reasons?” She leaned back, and suddenly there was only deep sorrow clinging to her slender form. “You’ve known me most of my life. You know the sort of person I am and that I would never do such a thing.” Her voice lowered and she quietly murmured, so softly Henry had to strain in order to hear, “Considering what was once between us—”
“There was nothing,” Robert hissed, and Viola retreated, sinking back onto her seat in painful defeat.
Henry’s heart struggled to keep on beating.Considering what was once between us. The words kept playing in his mind, taunting him until his muscles grew tight and he realized he was clutching the armrest so hard his knuckles had whitened. It was a whole new experience, this unpleasant wave of possessiveness coursing through him. He’d never felt like this on account of any other woman before, and he decided he did not like it in the least. He also didn’t care for the ease with which Robert had reduced Viola to a shadow of the woman she’d been one minute earlier. Or how the many questions and concerns now flooding his brain prevented him from offering her the comfort she surely needed.
“Since Tremaine hired me, I have taken the liberty of doing some research,” Hayes said, as if everyone was getting along splendidly. “It appears you are also funding a new project.” He peered at Viola, whose face had turned ashen.
