Violet gave a smug smile. “Those two years make all the difference.”
Clem tapped her fingers upon the back of her other hand. “It seems impossible. How can a man so rulebound ever love a Musgrave?”
“Perhaps you should ask him that.”
“He did...he did profess his love for me after...” Warmth flowed into Clem’s cheeks. “After we—”
“Oh no, I do not want to know.” Violet clapped hands over her ears. “Spare me any details of my baby sister engaging in anything other than innocent conversation with a man.”
“You were probing for details of our kiss not long ago! And I am not your baby sister. Technically, Ivy is.”
“A kiss is entirely different.” Violet removed her hands from her ears and smiled softly. “And you are all my baby sisters.”
“And you would do anything to protect us etcetera etcetera, we know.”
“I think I’ve changed my mind. I will be angry at him, and demand Lord Rochdale protect your reputation rather than thank him for saving your life.”
“It was a mutual decision...”
“And he was willing to forgo formalities and rules to demonstrate his love for you.” Violet lifted her shoulders. “Seems to me when it comes to you, Clem, he’s not so worried about what the world will think of him.”
Clem bit her bottom lip. Every time she asked him to bend the rules for her, he had, from spending time alone with her to encouraging her in her pursuits of an entirely unfeminine pursuit of investigative work. Window clambering, lock picking… Roman was not as rule bound as he liked to believe.
“It’s probably too late anyway. He’s probably engaged to lovely Miss Fisher by now.”
“Would you really resign the poor man to such a dull existence, as lovely as Miss Fisher is? He needs you, Clem. How else will he ever truly live without someone like you urging him on?”
“He wouldn’t even accept my recommendation for the letter.”
“What happened to it anyway?”
Stomped on it? Threw it off the nearest bridge? Tore it to tiny pieces? Whatever he did with it, she doubted it had survived his anger at her. “He probably burned it straight away, knowing him. The love of his ancestors is lost forever.”
“It’s only a letter.”
“It’s the definition of the differences between us.” Clem lifted a hand then let it flop onto her stomach.
“What is life if not a journey through the differences between all of us?”
Clem made a face. “What sort of nonsense is that?”
Violet laughed. “I’m not certain but it sounded good in my head.” She patted the back of Clem’s hand. “Whatever this is, Clem, you shall overcome it I am certain. You are the most resilient of us all.”
“I’m not certain about that. People call me fickle. I’ve heard them. Even Papa said it once.” Clem looked up at her sister who grimaced. “Hardly sounds like resilience, does it?”
“I think it does, actually. How I have envied your determination to seek out the next new thing, to always absorb new information and skills. I think that takes resilience.”
Looping her hands together, Clem sighed. If her sister was to be believed, Clem had all the skills to manage a man like Roman—to create a life together, even. She wasn’t convinced. The gulf between them felt too great and the situation too helpless. Even if she could change and compromise, she did not think Roman could.
∞∞∞
“Stop!”
Roman instinctively froze. He eyed Duke’s raised hand and scowled. When he inched a foot into the doorway of Duke’s office, his friend lifted his head and set down his quill.
“For such a rulebound man, you are turning into a rebel, Rochdale.” Duke nodded toward Roman’s boot, the leather tip barely over the threshold between entranceway and office.
“Pray tell, why am I not permitted entry?”