Rule's Bride Read Free Page A

knew that it was so.
    Weaving their way through a small barrage of well-wishers, they made their way from the garden back inside the house. Rule kept her close at his side and she appreciated his effort to play the role of dutiful husband. As the afternoon progressed, she told herself that everything would work out. That her father’s judgment had never proved wrong before and she should trust that judgment now.
    The hours seemed to have no end but finally the guests departed, all except Rule, her father and Aunt Harriet, hermother’s sister and one of Violet’s few close relatives. As she stood next to Rule and the small group who remained, a wave of exhaustion hit her and she swayed on her feet.
    â€œAre you all right?” Rule asked, his hand going to her waist to steady her.
    Violet managed to smile. “I’m fine. A little tired, perhaps.”
    He glanced at the clock above the marble mantel in the drawing room. “The others have mostly gone and I’m afraid it’s time for me to leave, as well. I have some packing to finish before I head down to the ship.”
    Violet felt torn.
    She was married, but her husband was leaving. She wasn’t sure when she would see him again.
    On the other hand, she wasn’t ready to be a wife and she wasn’t sure how long it would take before she would be.
    â€œWe’ll walk you out to your carriage,” her father said, and the group made its way in that direction, ending up outside on the wide front veranda.
    â€œHave a safe voyage,” Violet said, not sure what sort of farewell was appropriate under the circumstances.
    Rule bowed over her hand, lightly pressed his lips against the back, and she could feel his warm breath through her glove. “Goodbye, Violet.”
    She watched him descend the steps and climb into his carriage, then, as if he had never been there, he was gone.
    Her father’s hand settled gently on her shoulder. “He’ll be good to you, dearest. He has given me his word he will see to your every need.”
    She only nodded. What about love? she thought. The word had never entered her mind until that very moment and certainly wasn’t part of any conversation she’d had with her father. Love wasn’t a necessary part of marriage, she knew, and yet…
    For some strange reason, as she watched Rule’s carriage depart, a lump formed in her throat.
    â€œRule will make you a very good husband,” her father confirmed. “When the time is right.”
    â€œI’m—I’m sure he will.” She watched Rule’s carriage disappear through the massive iron gates that bore the tall, golden image of a griffin—the body of a lion and the wings of an eagle—and felt oddly depressed.
    â€œCome inside, sweetheart,” said her aunt Harriet, a silver-haired woman in her fifties with an unshakable loyalty to her and her father. “You must be tired after such a trying day.”
    Violet just nodded. She felt drained and strangely bereft. She had a husband who wasn’t there and soon her father would also be gone.
    As they crossed the front porch and went inside the house, Violet clung to Griff’s arm, wishing things could be different and fighting not to weep.

One
    London, England
Three years later
    â€œR ule, how good of you to come!” His hostess for the evening, Lady Annabelle Greer, floated toward him across the elaborately decorated ballroom in the London mansion she shared with her husband, Travis. “And I see you have brought Lucas with you.”
    Her gaze shifted across the room to where his best friend, Lucas Barclay, made conversation with a delectable young widow he had only just recently met. Rule and Luke had attended Oxford together. Beyond that, they were shirt-sleeve relatives of a sort. Rule’s oldest brother, Royal, the Duke of Bransford, was married to a cousin of Luke’s brother’s wife.
    Rule returned his attention