“The duke called on me early,” Nicholas said. “He… proposed.”
Maria blinked.
“To whom?”
“To you,” Nicholas said helplessly.
Her mouth opened. Nothing came out. But she had found herself a husband already.
Violet set a glass of water on the table beside Maria’s hand and left her fingers there until Maria took it.
Nicholas kept going, not looking in her direction even once. “He said there was a…compromising situation the other night. He said he would explain it to my satisfaction if needed, but that the explanation didn’t change the fact of the thing. He said we hadguests, and that he would rather spare you any whisper at all than argue about degrees. He was… Maria, he was very certain.”
“He told you,” Maria found her voice.
“He told me,” Nicholas nodded, carefully.
“How much?”
“That you were found in his room. That Violet walked in.” Nicholas looked at Violet with apology and gratitude at once. “That there may have been a footman in the corridor who paused at an unlucky moment, and that the details don’t matter once the wrong pair of ears are involved.”
Maria felt heat climb her face, and then shame.
Which then turned to anger. The three of them had decided that this news would not leave them. He had just betrayed her in a way.
“He had no right to…”
“Stop.” Violet’s tone was soft, but it landed. “He did not give me away. I told Nicholas last night.”
Maria swung to her, shocked.
“You did?”
“I did,” Violet said. “Because the secret was not keeping you safe. It was only making me lie to my husband.” She did not look away. “I decided I prefer us angry and honest to quiet and wrong.”
“I am not angry with you,” Maria swallowed hard.
“Good,” Violet murmured. “Because I am not angry with you, either. I am furious with circumstance.”
Nicholas rubbed a hand over his face.
“The duke said he has already spoken to the vicar. He called in a license at dawn. He asked me for the date. I told him two weeks because anything sooner will look like panic, and anything later will give people time to practice their curiosity.”
Maria stared at the edge of the desk.
“I don’t….” She couldn’t find the right sentence. The news had blindsided her entirely.
Nicholas crouched beside her.
“I don’t know how to do this,” he said plainly. “I have no idea how to be the kind of brother you needed when you were a girl. But I can be the kind you need now. So I will say the thing that might be wrong.” He took a breath.
“If you don’t want this, I will stop it. I will go to him and say no. I’ll fight him if I have to. I am not afraid of another duke; I am only afraid of you thinking I chose the easy path because it is easy.”
Maria looked down at her lap so they wouldn’t have to watch what her face did. When she spoke, her voice surprised her by being steady.
“You would cancel it.”
“Yes.”