his word, had promised that he would provide for her, and though she had plenty of money and servants enough to staff a large part of Boston, it was hardly what her father had intended.
And it certainly wasn’t what Violet wanted. She wanted a husband who loved her, a man she could count on. She wanted a family and children. She had played the fool once for Rule Dewar. Not again.
A faint, bitter smile lifted her lips. Rule was about to get his comeuppance. He would retain whatever sum her father had left him, but he was about to lose his half interest in Griffin Manufacturing.
Violet couldn’t wait to see the look on his handsome face when she told him she was there to obtain an annulment.
It seemed to take forever, but eventually Violet and her party arrived at Rule’s London residence, a narrow, four-story brick structure with a gabled slate roof. It sat among a row of similar residences, all of them situated around a small park planted with bright spring flowers enclosed by an ornate wrought-iron fence. Clearly, it was a very exclusive neighborhood, befitting Rule’s station as the brother of a duke.
The thought stirred a trickle of irritation. How ridiculous it was to marry a man for his noble bloodlines. Why, Rule Dewar hadn’t even had the integrity to keep his word!
Not like Jeffrey, she thought, his handsome image popping into her head. Blond hair and warm brown eyes, a nice, sincere smile. Jeffrey Burnett was twenty-eight, nine years Violet’s senior, a man of some means she had met six months ago at a party given by a friend of Aunt Harriet’s. Jeffrey was an attorney who worked a great deal in the shipping business. Since Griffin shipped armaments around the world, they had something in common.
They had become friends of a sort, and eventually Violet had confided the truth of her hasty, ill-considered marriage. A few weeks later, Jeffrey had revealed his very strong attraction to her and his interest in making her his wife.
Of course all of that was moot at the moment.
First she had to obtain an annulment, which would make possible her second reason for coming on such a long journey.
She wanted to sell Griffin Manufacturing.
The driver jumped down and pulled open the carriage door, jarring her back to the present.
“We’re ’ere, ladies.”
Mrs. Cummins gave the man one of her imperious looks. “You’ll need to wait, sir, while I make certain this is the correct address. If so, I shall be needing your services again.”
“Aye, madam.”
Mrs. Cummins would be leaving Violet and Caroline there, though there was a chance they would be turned away. She had no idea what Rule Dewar would do when she appeared uninvited on his doorstep.
As they reached the top of the brick stairs, Violet stood anxiously next to Caroline while Mrs. Cummins knocked on the ornate front door. A wispy, gray-haired man, apparently the butler, pulled it open. He looked down his long beak of a nose as if he couldn’t imagine what three women would be doing on his employer’s front porch.
“May I help you?”
Violet spoke up—she was, after all, Rule’s wife. “I am Mrs. Rule Dewar. I am here to see my husband.”
The butler was frowning, his bushy white eyebrows drawn nearly together. “I’m sorry, I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
“Then allow me to explain,” Mrs. Cummins said, thrusting her big bosom forward as she made her way closer to the door.
“This is Mrs. Dewar. She has crossed the ocean to see her husband. Now please go and find him and tell him that we are here.”
The man was shaking his head, opening and closing his mouth like a fish on dry land, when Violet stepped past him into the foyer.
“Where is he?” she asked firmly.
The butler looked helplessly around for assistance as the other two women followed her inside.
“I am afraid…I am sorry, but his lordship is not at home.”
His lordship? She thought his brother was the one with the title.
“When is he expected to return?” Caroline asked, speaking up for the first time.
“Sometime after supper. It could be quite late. Lord Rule rarely keeps me informed of his whereabouts.”
Violet shared a glance with Caroline, whose eyes had rounded at the reference to Rule as a lord. “My cousin and I will each need a room,” Violet said. “Please show us upstairs to our quarters, if you would.”
“B-but I can’t do that!”
Violet drilled him with a glare. “Why not?”
“Because I…because I…”
“Keep in mind that as his lordship’s wife, from now on you will also be answering to me. I hope you don’t mean for us to get off on a wrong foot.”
The old man’s pale eyes widened. For several long moments, he just stood there.
Caroline leaned toward her. “He doesn’t seem to know Dewar has a wife,” she whispered. This had not gone unnoticed by Violet.
“Which shall make an annulment all the easier,” she whispered back. “I am waiting,” Violet pressed.
The butler cleared his throat. “I’ll have Mrs. Digby, the housekeeper, show you both upstairs.”
Violet just smiled. She turned to their traveling companion. “You have done a very fine job, Mrs. Cummins. Caroline and I have both arrived safely, just as you promised. Which means your duties are ended.”
Reaching into her reticule, Violet pulled out the bank draft she’d had prepared to be given as final payment once they reached London.
The older woman looked uncertain. “I don’t know…You haven’t even spoken to your husband yet. And this man doesn’t seem to know who you are.”
Violet forced a smile. “My husband has always been a very private person. But you may rest assured he will be delighted to see me.” Now that was a bald-faced lie.
Mrs. Cummins reached out and tentatively took the bank draft Violet held out to her. “I could stay with you a few more days if you like.”
“No! I mean, that won’t be necessary. Caroline will be staying for the next several days until I am settled. Go and enjoy your family. That is the reason you traveled all the way to London, is it not?”
Mrs. Cummins smiled. “Well, if you’re certain…”
“I am quite certain. Thank you again for everything.”
“You have the address where I can be found, should you need me.”
Violet patted her reticule. “The information is right in here.”
“All right, then. I believe I shall do as you suggest. I am eager to see my mother
