How to Start a Scandal--USA Today Bestselling Author by Madeline Martin

Author:Madeline Martin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-05-06T19:20:05+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Seth drew in a deep, calming breath in anticipation of what he needed to say, what he’d been dreading to confess. ‘I am not the same man I was when I left for the military.’

‘I’m quite aware of that,’ Violet said it sweetly and he knew she misunderstood.

‘Yes, outside of all that.’ Seth looked out to the garden with the small lamps burning like golden globes in the distance. Half the moon’s face was hidden, obscuring the natural brilliance of its light. It looked like a night for wooing angels, not sharing demons.

The veranda behind them was empty, lit by the glow from the town-house windows. The muted sounds of laughter and music wafted from the closed double doors.

He and Violet were alone on the balcony, but for how long?

This was the ideal opportunity to tell her. Why, then, did it feel like ripping off a bandage that had become stuck to the wound?

‘I spent a lot of my time away fighting in battles,’ Seth said. ‘But none was as bad as Waterloo.’

Violet kept her attention fixed on him, her face illuminated by the half-moon, making her smooth skin appear creamy. ‘I imagine no battles are easy,’ she said softly.

He gave a mirthless chuckle. ‘They are not. I remember the first time I fought when I—’ His mother and Caroline had reacted poorly to the details of Brent’s death and he immediately staunched his words lest he cause offence.

‘When you...?’ Violet asked.

Seth shook his head. ‘Such things are not fit for a lady’s ears.’

Violet’s fingers curled around his hand and it was as if she had wrapped all of him in an embrace. She was comfort and peace and acceptance.

‘You needn’t worry about me,’ she said. ‘I am not prone to sensitivity. And I think speaking of it will do you good.’

He nodded. ‘My first battle—it was the first time I took a life.’ He swallowed around a ball of tension. ‘He was an older man with dark hair that had gone grey at the temples and wide brown eyes. I remember thinking of him afterwards, about his family. His sons and daughters, his wife. Maybe he didn’t have them, but I imagined he did and he would never come home to them because of me. It was a horrific realisation, but when you are in the thick of it, when it’s you or them...’

Violet’s free hand rested on his forearm. ‘I am glad it was not you.’

‘Sometimes I wonder about how I feel about that,’ Seth responded in truth.

Violet’s smooth brow crinkled and she opened her mouth to speak, but the doors to the ballroom opened. Quickly, she pulled her hands back.

The warmth she left behind cooled, but a subtle hum of her touch lingered. Through the layers of his gloves and his sleeves, he continued to detect that pleasant presence.

A gentleman passed them with a nod and slipped off into the garden where a woman’s soft laugh rose up from the distance.

The veranda went silent once more and Violet regarded Seth anew.

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