“You will…what?”
“Marry her,” he said, the words almost offhand. “If I fail. I do not intend to fail, of course. So, there should be no trouble, but still, as a reassurance.”
As a reassurance.She did not know what was worse. Trapping Peter into a marriage with him, or agreeing to be with someone as a reassurance.
“Why would you even offer that?” Violet demanded. “You are proposing to play matchmaker?”
“I am proposing to dispose of a difficulty I helped create.”
“Hm.” Violet folded her arms. “And if your… efforts… fail?”
“Then I will do the thing you suggested a moment ago.” He met Maria’s eyes when he said it. “I will marry you.”
“You cannot mean it,” Maria finally spoke.
“I do.” He did not soften it with charm. “I give my word.”
“You give your word as if it costs you nothing,” she said.
He looked at her as if she had struck him.
“It costs me a great deal,” he said. He turned to Violet. “Will you accept my terms?”
Violet studied him for a moment. She was showing up as the older, protective sister that Maria had never had the privilege of having. But in this moment, she could only be grateful.
“A week,” she repeated. “And in that week, you will… audition husbands.”
“I will draw the right men near, keep the wrong men away, and teach Miss Havenford to look as if gentlemen do not terrify her.” His glance flicked to Maria with the faintest edge of amusement. “By the end of the week, she will be perfectly suited to make a good wife for any gentleman.”
“You will do this without ruining her further?” Violet asked, her protective side coming out again.
“As I have already mentioned, my sins do not include ruining women who do not wish it.” He added, “You might also note, Your Grace, that I could have allowed the footman who paused outside this door a minute ago to collect a scene. I did not.”
“There was…?”
“Yes.” He angled his head toward the corridor. “He hesitated, but he went on. He will remember nothing if nothing is presented for him to remember.”
Violet looked at the door, then she exhaled. “Very well. I accept your terms. A week.”
Maria found the hem of her sleeve between her fingers and worried at it.
“I…thank you.”
“You will thank me by obeying,” Stephen said, “I have neither the time nor the patience to coax you if you decide to be contrary.”
“I am not contrary,” she said, stung. Is that the opinion he had of her?
“You are terrified,” he returned simply. “And terrified women make perverse choices. For a week, you will do only what I ask of you.”
Violet looked between them and suddenly pressed a hand to her forehead with a breath.
“If, at the end of this week, you have not found a man worth Maria and you must keep your word, do it without the show you wear for other people. You will marry her quietly, with respect.”
The tiny knot at the corner of Stephen’s mouth smoothed.
“You have my promise.”
Violet nodded once. “We will keep this from Nicholas, for now.”