She nodded and rose. He watched her move toward the door.
“Violet.”
She turned.
He had not meant to say anything, but now that she was looking at him expectantly, he found himself asking, “Are you miserable here?”
She blinked. “No. Why would you say that?”
“I don’t expect happiness from you. I am aware of what you gave up. I would prefer it if you were not miserable on top of it. I could perhaps accept dissatisfied or even discontented."
She regarded him with that concentrated attention of hers. “I am not miserable, Henry.”
He nodded. “When are you expecting your courses?”
The colour that rose in her face was becoming. “A week, I should think.”
“I want to arrange protection for you. Until we know whether you have conceived, I am not prepared to leave it to chance.”
“I don’t want strangers following me about.”
He understood. “Have you someone in mind?”
“Kit.”
“Absolutely not.”
She straightened. “Why?”
“He is unmarried. I watched him watch you very closely all three times I saw him. His feelings for you are not difficult to read.”
Her fists clenched. “He is like family.”
“He is not family. That is the issue.” He felt his shoulders tense. “My men can become your family. Give them time.”
“Kit would lay down his life for me. Can you say the same with certainty about your hired men?”
Henry leaned back in his chair. She had a point. He could say they were reliable. He could say they were well compensated and dependable. He could not say if they would stand between his wife and a bullet.
“Very well,” he said. “At all times.”
“Of course.”
“I mean it, Violet.”
“Understood. I will speak to Kit when I see him tomorrow.”
He watched her go, the candlelight going with her, until the door closed and he was alone with the dark.
Chapter twenty-one
The Bonnets
Violet
The Thornwick House was unchanged from the street, which surprised her. She had expected some visible alteration, but the iron gate still needed paint, and the front step wore its old concavity.
Her mother opened the door herself. Her face moved through delight before settling into the watchful softness she always wore. “Violet. What a wonderful surprise,” she said, opening the door wider.