Chapter 4

There was no way that Violet could ignore the intense anxiety crossing her brother"s face as they sat at the breakfast table. But it was hard for her to focus on him when William was there too. There was something intense and overwhelming about William"s presence and Violet did not know what to do when he was around. She did not know how to act.

It was not just Violet that he overwhelmed though. Clearly, Paul was struggling to look at him too. He was different around William, cowardly almost. His behavior was very strange. If Violet did not know better, then she would assume that he was on his best behavior, as if he was frightened of upsetting the Duke of Hoskins.

"It is a lovely day," William declared, as if he were not at all aware of the tension flooding the room. Or perhaps he did know, and he was getting some kind of cheap thrill from it. "There is a lot of light in this room. I think I will utilize that when I redecorate."

Yes, he was definitely enjoying this. William was doing his best to wind up Paul, but the words were hard for Violet to swallow as well. There was so much pressure weighing down on her shoulders. So little time for her to find a suitable husband…

"I might hang some of my personal art collection on the walls since it is very bare in here. This room could certainly use some color, and some ornaments as well, to give visitors something to look at. Once they have explored the gardens of course." William grinned from ear to ear. "I have some very big plans for the gardens."

He rose to his feet before anyone could ask him what he intended to do with the sprawling landscape that surrounded the manor. Not that Violet was going to ask him a thing, and Paul seemed to have his lips very tightly squeezed together.

Perhaps her brother was scared to speak in case everything came spilling out all at once. All the emotions that he had been trying his hardest to keep inside.

"Anyway, that was a wonderful breakfast, but I do think I might have to bring some of my staff with me. I am already missing Anne"s cooking. She is quite the chef, you will see." He paused thoughtfully, still treating this as a game, which made Violet"s heart ache. "Perhaps some of my house maids as well, since there is a lot that needs to be done here."

Violet pressed her hand to her head, convinced that she was starting to get a headache. Did William not understand how hard she and Ivy worked to keep this manor looking nice? It was not the easiest task in the world when the family had fewer possessions by the day, but they did what they could.

If William continued, she could feel herself about to burst. The only problem with exploding would be her and Paul out on the streets. They were the ones who would suffer, and William knew that. She was going to have to keep her wits about her if she did not want to fall into one of his carefully laid out traps.

It was a relief when William left the room, taking the thick, unbearable tension with him. Violet started to let out a sigh of relief, but soon halted when she saw the angry glint in Paul"s eye. A rant was about to come out of his mouth, no doubt about it. Violet only hoped that he would keep it quiet, so William did not overhear them.

"I am already sick of him," Paul hissed. "Acting like he owns the place. Acting like Eagleton Manor just belongs to him now."

Violet resisted the temptation to remind Paul that their home did in fact belong to William because of his silly actions and gambling. But there was no need to make this worse.

"He cannot talk about redecorating while we are still here, Violet. It is obscene. He is acting terribly, making a mockery of me, and thoroughly enjoying every moment of tormenting me. I ought to give him a piece of my mind."

But they both knew he was not going to do that. They had to keep William on side while they found somewhere else for them to live. Violet had no choice but to brush him off.

"We need to focus on getting out of here, Paul," she hissed back, trying her hardest to remind him of what was really important. "We have to make a plan for what is next. We cannot worry about what His Grace is saying. Do you have any ideas?"

Paul shot her a look. He was clearly not impressed with anything that Violet was saying, which was quite frankly ridiculous. It was as if she was the only one with her head screwed on.

"I am going out," Paul muttered, much to Violet"s frustration.

"Where are you going, Paul? You need to stay here and sort this out with me. We must come up with a plan…"

"That is none of your business. Quite frankly I would appreciate it if you kept out of my life. I can do as I please. You know that. And do not say that I am not doing anything to help, because I am."

"But it is doing as you please which has left us here. Gambling more will not help."

There was no point in Violet saying a word. Paul had already stormed past her and out of the house, leaving her stewing in her emotions.

What on earth was she going to do? She was torn between these two men who were acting like fools as they took everything away from her. It was utterly ridiculous, but of course she did not have any choice in the matter. She was going to have to focus on herself on how she was going to survive this.

* * *

"Miss Violet, please is there anything that I can do to help you?"

Violet had not realized quite how much of herself she had thrown into the housework until Ivy caught her attention with a concerned looking expression playing on her face.

"Erm, no I think this is fine." Violet rested her hands on her hips and surveyed the bathroom. "I do not think I need any help. I appreciate it though. I can come and help you in another room if that is what you need?"

As Violet continued to study her house maid, she started to realize that Ivy might be worried about a lot more than just how much Violet was stressing herself out. Housework was likely the last thing on her mind when her future was up in the air.

"Ivy, sit with me." Violet perched on the edge of the perfectly made bed, choosing not to worry about the rumpled sheets. "I think it is time that we have a talk."

Ivy parted her lips, as if she were about to argue that she had far too much work to do, she did not have the time to sit around talking, but she appeared to think better of it at the last moment. With a sharp nod, she took a seat beside Violet.

It was unnerving to see how worried poor Ivy was. The way that she twisted her hands around nervously, and could hardly keep her leg still, it was terribly sad. It made Violet realize that she should have talked to Ivy much sooner about this.

"I know that everything is changing at Eagleton Manor at the moment," she started, with regret lacing her tone. "And it is hard for me to know what is happening next, but I would like to reassure you, Ivy, that I will not let you go without a job. I will make sure that you stay with me, no matter what happens. I will not lose you."

She was only making things a lot harder for herself. Violet knew that it was going to be a challenge to find a man who wanted to marry her within a month, but then to ensure that she was bringing her maid with her… well, that could complicate things.

But the last thing she wanted to do was let Ivy go. Ivy was the one member of staff who had stayed with the family, even as their finances were ruined. She did not want to leave her out on the streets, even if Paul was not thinking about her.

Paul was not thinking about anyone else other than himself. He never did.

"His Grace might want to keep you here, of course," Violet continued with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "And that would be wonderful for you because you know Eagleton Manor so well and you have always done such an amazing job of looking after it."

Violet was not expecting tears to well up at that moment, but it had just truly hit her how much everything was about to change. How much of her life her brother had ruined. Her cheeks soaked as it hit her that her life was about to be turned on its head.

"Oh, Miss Violet, I am terribly sorry…"

Violet was supposed to be reassuring Ivy here. She had wanted to make sure that her house maid was not too worried about being out on the streets. Yet it was Ivy embracing her, and doing everything that she could to stop Violet from weeping.

She should have prepared herself for this.

She should have known this was coming.

Her father had spent too much money and time gambling, and Paul was obviously a lot worse. It was never going to end well. But Violet could never have prepared herself for this moment. It was still a massive shock to the system.

Violet had read the scandal sheets in the past, she had seen other families lose everything as the men sent them to financial ruin. But then she never heard what happened to these families afterwards. The ton did not concern themselves with people who were no longer worthwhile.

It seemed that Violet was finally about to find out what happened next.

"You are a wonderful lady, Miss Violet," Ivy said softly, stroking her hair, just like she used to when Violet was a child. "Any man would be lucky to marry you and to have you living in his home. This might all work out for the best…"

Perhaps it would. There may even be a time when all of this was far behind her, and she did not even think about it anymore. But right now, she was lost. Drowning in the ocean with no one throwing a life raft her way.

Maybe Violet needed to spend less time being upset about the situation that she found herself in, and more time being proactive. She was not going to find herself a husband here.

"I do need to write a letter to a match maker," she said as she did what she could to sniff her tears away. "So I can get this process started. That is something I chould possibly do today."

"Yes, you do that, Miss Violet. I will get everything finished in here. You need to focus on the future for the moment. I will take over the housework as best as I can. It is my job anyway."

Violet shook her head. "I will be back to help you as soon as I have this letter written. You know I cannot simply sit around and do nothing. I will end up driving myself insane."

She liked to act, to be doing something, especially when her head was spinning nervously. She did not like to be left alone with her thoughts, it was a dangerous place to be, and Violet had a feeling that today would be more dangerous than ever.

* * *

The air was thick. The tension was almost unbearable. Violet had suffered some difficult dinners in her time, never quite knowing how to act around her father"s business associates and her brother"s friends.

But this had to be the strangest dinner she had ever eaten.

"So, what do you think of the food?" William asked, smiling through the tension like it was not even there. "I told you, my chef is wonderful."

Violet could barely manage a smile and a nod. "Yes, the food is lovely."

It was. To be fair, it was the nicest meal that Violet had been lucky enough to consume in a long time, but the atmosphere was making it hard to enjoy.

"It is a shame that your brother is not here to enjoy this with us." William glanced knowingly at Violet. "Where is Lord Eagleton?"

"I… I do not know."

It was a pointless fa?ade when it was likely William knew, just as much as she did, that Paul was more than likely drinking in some gambling house somewhere in the city. Trying to "fix things" in his own silly way.

It was a waste of time, but Violet was so used to trying to protect the reputation of those around her, that the lie fell off her tongue without her even needing to think about it.

"I see." William smirked. "Well, I am happy that it is just me and you. Since it is just the two of us here, I would love to learn more about you."

Those words struck Violet cold. It had been a long time since anyone had asked her to talk about herself, and she was not quite sure what to say. It was not like she needed to impress William, but she still did not want to sound like a fool.

"What would you like to know?"

"How many of the books in the library have you read?"

A smile spread across Violet"s face. The books had not been touched by the collectors, thank goodness. No matter what was happening in her life, she still had them… for now.

Of course, with everything changing, there was a chance that would as well. But for the time being, Violet did not want to think about that.

"I might not have much time to read at the moment," she replied cautiously, trying not to alert William to the fact that she spent most of her days doing the housework. He might have already seen her, but if she could avoid that, she would. "But I have read most of the books in the library, yes."

Many a day would be spent lost in a novel when she did not want to deal with the real world, she loved the plot lines and the worlds that she could lose herself in. But reading was not something that she usually got to talk about with people, so this was strange.

"Do you have a favorite book in the library?" William cocked his head to one side, looking curious, as if he really wanted to know the answer. "Because when I first read Faust by Goethe I was captivated. That book sparked my true love of reading."

"I enjoy that play as well," Violet got a little carried away with herself with her enthusiastic response. "But I have to admit the author that sparked my love of literature has to be Shakespear."

"I see," William chuckled. "I never had you down as the lirical type."

Violet jutted her chin out angrily. "You have made assumptions about me? Whilst barely knowing anything about me? That hardly seems fair."

"Well I can only assume you did the same." William cocked a knowing eyebrow. "And I would love to hear some of your assumptions."

Usually, this was not the sort of conversation that she would allow herself to get dragged in to, for fear of being rude. But it was just her and William in the room and she could not resist.

"I made the assumption that you are a heartless monster. A strict, stoic man who takes great pleasure out of the misery of others."

William did not look offended. He merely laughed.

"Well, I thought that you were uptight and a little prissy." His eyes twinkled with a naughtiness that brought a heat up Violet"s neck. "But I am starting to see that you are a lot more exciting than I first thought."

What did he mean by that?

What did Violet want him to mean by that?

She was not sure she wanted to know, so it was a relief when William pulled back and started to talk about books some more.

The conversation started to flow much easier from there. Any chance to talk about novels really brought Violet out of her shell, even with William. He might have been the person that she was supposed to be most wary of at the moment, especially since he was constantly trying to wind up Paul, but she could not resist chatting to him and enjoying herself.

Even after dinner was finished. Neither of them seemed keen to leave the table, to head back to their evenings alone. Violet was certainly not keen to head to her bed chambers because she knew that she would spend the whole night long thinking about this conversation and what every single statement meant.

It was not just books that they discussed, but poetry and art too. Just because the paintings were no longer in the house, did not mean Violet had lost the love for them. She was surprised to learn that William enjoyed a lot of the same artists as she did.

Paul had always mocked her when she trying to talk about enjoying creativity and art. He said it was a waste of time because it was not productive and did not make any money. As if Violet was allowed to have work that made money.

He did not understand her, and it seemed like he never would.

But sitting here with William and having him listen to her and understand her was wonderful. She could not get enough of this feeling, it was utterly intoxicating.

As was staring into his eyes.

The hazel-colored eyes that seemed to pierce right through her soul, sending a power shiver of excitement tearing down her spine which was a strange feeling that she did not know what to do with. It did not help that he seemed to have a fire in his eyes as well.