Her face softened. "Thank you."
Payen blinked. Shook his head. "Excuse me?"
Violet came toward him, fists clenched loosely at her sides. "Thank you for doing what I didn't have the courage to do myself." She smiled ever so slightly—sweetly. "You always were my knight in shining armor."
And then the damnedest thing happened. Instead of demanding to know what she meant—why she hadn't wanted to marry Villiers (had the bastard been forcing her into marriage?)—Payen took a step forward, pushed by an invisible hand. Violet moved as well and then she was in his embrace, her arms wrapped around his shoulders, fingers in his hair as his mouth fastened over hers.
Christ, she tasted sweet. Her lips were so pliant, so lush beneath his as they opened for him without coaxing. Her tongue met his with a passion that shook him. No woman had ever responded to him like Violet—no woman had ever elicited such a response out of him. He was hard already, ready to take her right there, standing in the middle of his friend's study. He could do it too, support her full weight as she wrapped those strong legs around his waist, hold her as she slid down the length of his cock.
He groaned into the moist heat of her mouth, and wrapped his arms around her more tightly. She didn't struggle, didn't whimper in discomfort. In fact, she pulled at his hair, clutched at his shoulder, digging her fingers into the fabric of his coat until he felt the five points of pressure on his skin. So strong, his Violet.
He lifted his head just enough to nibble on her full lower lip. His fangs had partially extended, eager for a little nibble of their own. He ignored that hunger for now. At this moment, in Violet's intoxicating presence, he was more man than vampire.
"I missed you," he heard himself confess, breathless and hoarse against her lips. "Vi, I missed you so damn much."
She pulled back, smiling at him. For a second he thought she might echo the sentiment, but she didn't. Then he thought maybe she was going to shove her knee into his crotch, but she didn't do that either.
She might as well have, so surprising were her words, "You didn't come here because of Rupert and the Silver Palm."
"No?" He questioned dumbly, still thinking with an organ much lower than his brain.
Her smile grew. "That was just the excuse you needed to stop my marriage. Ask yourself, Payen, why you needed to do that. Then, maybe I'll forgive you for making me wait five years."
"Violet—"
She cut him off, shoved him away, and he let her. "Lie to yourself if you want to, but after all this time, don't you dare lie to me. You owe me that at the very least."
And then she left him standing there, hard and horny, feeling every inch the idiot.
Because she was right.
Payen Carr was in love with her, Violet was certain of this.
What wasn't so certain was if Payen himself knew it. Oh, he had reacted to her in all the right ways, but she had no doubt that in his mind, he had truly destroyed her wedding out of hatred for the Silver Palm.
"Bollocks," she said aloud, punctuating the silence as she set a prettily wrapped present in a pile of others to be returned.
Her friend, Sarah looked up in surprise. "What was that?"
They had been working all morning, affixing tags to gifts so that the footmen would know where to deliver them, and sorting them according to location. The London ones, and those farther abroad, would have to be delivered by post, of course.
"I said bollocks." Violet flashed a tight smile.
Sarah blinked, wide blue eyes bewildered. "Any particular reason why?"
"Because men are rubbish." She jotted down an address on a tag. "Do you know that Rupert actually got into a huff over Payen? It's fine for him to go to a brothel, but one indiscretion and I'm a slut."
Blond curls tilted as Sarah pondered the statement. "Bollocks," she chirped, drawing a chuckle from the both of them.
"Do you regret it?" Her friend asked after their laughter faded.
"Regret what? Kicking Rupert out?" Violet attached another tag. "No, I do not." She didn't either. She wasn't going to admit to having wanted a way out of the wedding, because that was too cold, and even as good a friend as Sarah might not understand, but she had no ill feelings about showing Rupert to the door after what he had said to her last night.
"No." Sarah leaned down, as though there was a chance of someone overhearing. "Do you regret being…intimate with Mr. Carr?" Of course she knew. Violet had cried on her shoulder after Payen left.
Violet stilled, considering the response that had leapt readily to her tongue. "Not at all." It felt good to admit it to someone other than herself. "I've tried to make myself think of it as a mistake, but now I think it was the only right thing I ever did. The only thing that was ever truly for myself, with no consideration given to anyone else."
Her friend sighed, resting her elbow on a large floral-wrapped gift as she tucked her chin into her hand. "Mr. Carr is so very lovely." She arched a fair brow. "Does he look as lovely naked?"
"Lovelier," Violet quipped and they laughed once more.
A few moments passed once more in comfortable silence as the two of them worked. Somewhere in the house a clock chimed out the hour.
"Ten o'clock." Violet lifted her head as the last note faded. "We would be at the church right now." Despite her certainty that it was good that her engagement had ended before this hour, she couldn't help feel a little twinge of sorrow for the loss of her wedding day.
And all these presents.
Sarah sniffed as she peered outside at the gray and misty morning. "Bah. It's not a very cheery day for a wedding. Although, it would have been much more romantic if Mr. Carr had barged in during the ceremony rather than the party last night."
It would have been much more illuminating as well, what with Payen bursting into flames in the daylight.
"I suppose, but then Payen would have humiliated me in front of Vicar Carlson and all those guests."
Sarah shot her a concerned gaze. "At least he waited until it was just the five of you to make such an announcement."
"Yes," she murmured, but she had no illusion as to what would have happened should the situation not have followed that particular direction. "Payen would have announced it in front of everyone if it meant keeping Rupert and myself from marrying."
Damn the man, she didn't know whether she wanted to kiss him or kill him.
A sigh drifted across the room. "He must love you very much."
Violet nodded. "I think so, but he'd deny it if I asked."
"Why?"
"He claims he stopped the marriage because of something he learned about Rupert."
Sarah's nose wrinkled. "I can't imagine Rupert ever doing anything as exciting as getting himself involved in scandal—until now, of course."
"Of course." Violet's lips curved. "I'm not at liberty to discuss the details—after all, I don't know that Payen's info rmation is true, and it's Rupert's concern, not mine. Not anymore."
"But still, Mr. Carr must care about you if he went to such lengths."
"I would hope so."
"Are you going to marry him?"
"He hasn't asked."
"But if he did?"
Smiling, Violet set yet another package aside. "If he asked, I would say yes."
An exuberant bark of laughter broke from Sarah's throat, brightening her eyes and cheeks as she clapped her hands in delight. "How wonderful! Do you think he will?"
Her smile faded. Violet tried very hard not to lie to herself and she wasn't about to start now. "No."
All the joy drained from Sarah's face. "Oh, Violet."
"Never fear, dear. I'm not too proud to ask him." That brought the light back to her friend's eyes. She didn't like seeing pity in Sarah's expression—not for her. Not when she had been raised by two wonderful sets of parents, had a fortune of her own and friends who loved her. Sarah didn't have nearly as many creature comforts as she, and yet she never complained. She never compared their circumstances. She had simply shown up on the doorstep one day when Violet first came to Hertford, and asked if Violet would be her friend. Violet had taken one look at the skinny little girl who was a head shorter than her and at least two stone lighter and thought that yes, she would.