by Anna Macy
Robert wiped his leaking eyes on his sleeve, taking several heaving breaths. “You know, the worst part is that Mother only came to get me up because she had heard Marian sneak out. She fully believed we were on our way to discover her in your room, not Lady Juliet.” He began to laugh again, one arm across his belly as if the laughter were slowly killing him.
William rolled his eyes. He had wondered why Lady Catherine had been stalking the household at night, and now it made perfect sense. Even though it was Nicholas’ family house, she had a way of assuming control, and she would’ve seen it as a dastardly offense had her own daughter scandalized on her watch.
Nicholas was slowly recovering from his latest laughing fit and set his glass down on the table in front of them. Smiling easily at his brooding friend, Nicholas had to ask. “So, William, which is it? Did she ruin you? Or did you ruin her? Based on your story, I’m not truly sure.”
William narrowed his eyes. “Well, clearly it is my own reputation that is in danger here,” he said coyly, “Lady Juliet is all but a stranger to society. She may have gotten away with this had it not been for the clever timing of Lady Catherine. Or you know if she had gotten the rooms correct.” He winked at his friends. Robert rubbed the back of his neck, his ears a bright red.
Nicholas held up his hand, halting William’s speech. “She’s only a stranger to you, and maybe Robert. I met and danced with the lady several times this past summer. Just like you told me to Robert.”
Robert rolled his eyes, throwing back what was left of his bourbon with a grimace. “And you were only supposed to be dancing with her to make sure no one else was dancing with her. I asked you to make sure that no one else made a pass at my fiancée.”
“A lot of good that did. I may have danced with your finacée all summer, but it was William that welcomed her into his bed.” Nicholas’s smooth voice prodded Robert, obviously looking to tease the usually quiet tempered man into about.
William eased his glass down onto the table behind him, sharp eyes watching to see what came from this barb.
The words flew like arrows across the room, and William saw the moment they hit home with Robert. Maybe he had forgiven William for his part in the mistaken identity last night, but the hulking man did not enjoy being made a joke of. And Nicholas knew it. William could feel the charged air between the two as they stared each other down.
Robert was typically slow to anger, but today wasn’t exactly an ordinary day. And while Nicholas thrived on their verbal and sometimes physical bouts, William always had to be ready to put a stop to it. Nick had the unfortunate habit of starting things he couldn’t finish, at least alone.
William had lost count of the times he or Robert had been dragged into a brawl of some kind because of Nicholas' sharp tongue and penance for public displays.
Whistling softly, as if to himself, William rose to his feet, picked up his glass, as well as Roberts, and walked to the bar cart. Frustrated, he let the heavy class clank as he selected the decanter. By the time he handed Robert back his glass, Nicholas had sat back, his catty grin back in place.
His reputation, they all knew, was mostly unknown as well. While he’d been out in society for the past few years, he had made it a strict point of any conversation that he was not interested in matching-making mothers and their daughters, no matter how pretty, no matter how wealthy.
He had seen his own parents' horrible, arranged marriage and had no interest in that type of life. From his perspective, the moment that he’d been born a boy and fit to inherit the title, his parents had dropped him at boarding school and gone their separate lives until the Marquess’ death several years ago.
Even at the old Marquess’ funeral, his mother, Lady Claire Huntington of Mansfield Park, hadn’t shed a single tear for her husband. Sitting tall, her still handsome face turned up from the casket in a defiant, clenched stare. When they had crossed paths there, for the first time in years, she had curtseyed and uttered the chipped words, “My lord, Marquess,” before billowing by him in a flurry of black fabric.
They had not spoken since, but his steward kept him updated on his mother’s travels. She had recently acquired an apartment in Italy and seemed content there. William couldn’t help but be glad she was both happy and far away. She had never had a kind word for her only child anyway.
His throat suddenly felt dry, and he coughed a bit to clear it. There was one final thing William had to know. His cheeks heated simply thinking about saying it aloud.
“Please forgive me, but there is one thing I must know before I proceed with this wedding ordeal.” He looked down at his thighs, already feeling guilty for what he knew he had to ask.
“There’s no chance that she was pushing the wedding forward this year in order to cover up a past indiscretion?” William leaned forward, inclining his head in a way that he hoped his friends would understand. Robert immediately did, and the tanned man actually blushed, hard. Shaking his head, he caught William's eyes.
“None whatsoever. Lady Juliet is as pious and proper as they come, and those are my sister’s words. She would never lie to me,” Robert continued, “In fact, I think that she is most eager to get out from under Pinecrest’s roof. I’ve only met the man once, but he doesn’t strike me as the fatherly type.”
William settled a bit, thinking of the desperate look on Juliet’s face when she had tried to make him understand. Now he understood a bit more, but at the same time, at least her family cared enough to make the match to Robert, that had to show some level of care.
William had never even felt that degree of warmth from his parents. His father had passed away without so much as a note, other than an intricately worded will deeding everything in the family estate to his heir and only child. Those final wishes had conveyed more about the man than William had ever known while he was alive. He supposed he should be grateful for that, but it didn’t compare to having a flesh and blood family who cared for you.
Juliet’s apology may make sense now, but he wasn’t so sure it let her totally off the hook from her indiscretion.
The three of them stayed in the study a bit longer, drawing out the time before Nicholas would be called back to handle some crisis of the social variety. The ball was only days away, and he had been. They laughed, reminisced, and by the time William slipped back out, he was feeling infinitely better about the situation.
Was he getting married in a few weeks? Yes, it did appear that way. But at least he, or rather she had had the gall to at least pick a partner with a similar upbringing and far enough bloodlines that their children had a chance to be accepted members of society. And honestly, the more he thought about it, the more he was sure he could marry this girl and then plan to keep his distance.
Having a beautiful woman on his arm would defer more obnoxious women in his life, and it would satisfy a strange desire to see himself as a true Marquess. He knew without asking that his father would have wanted him to marry a lovely lady to have on his arm, to demonstrate once and for all that Mansfield Park was superior to all others.
In a long line of powerful men, William could not think of a single Huntington husband who had done right by his spouse. His family’s history was rife with mistresses, absentee wives, and lonely childhoods. William’s thoughts tumbled over each other as he wandered his way across the Lakeview Manor. Perhaps, it was better to marry her before she knew that. And then allow her to drift safely away, just as his mother had.
Finally making it back to his room, he yanked off his cravat, undid a few buttons, and collapsed into the first seating element he came to. Smiling to himself, William finally felt good about things with Juliet. He would marry someone that would make his title proud, he would be free to society’s eyes, and he was sure Juliet would be more than happy to oblige his plan to be as distant as possible. After all, according to Robert, she was only desperate to get out of her house, not into his.
***
Juliet was dressing for dinner, her thoughts consume
d with the confusing man she had all but agreed to marry. Not by words, obviously, but by choices. Getting the note from Lady Catherine earlier today had only made her future surer. She would not be Lord Robert’s wife, but more than likely Williams. And if not his, then probably no one.
As of this week, with the crowd that had slowly been arriving at Lakeview, there would be talk. Already most of the manor was alive with the buzzing of gossip. How had a wealthy but largely unknown girl from Greystone snagged the biggest catch in all of England? Everyone wanted to know.
Juliet lifted her arms as Amelia gently pulled her evening gown over her body. The pale rose number was a miracle of sewing and fabric, reminding Juliet of the delicate colors of the inside of the conch shells her father would bring home from his trips.
The dress was truly one of her favorites. When the dressmaker had brought it early this spring, along with numerous new frocks, to Greystone in preparation for her first season, Juliet had coveted it above all the rest, wanting it to be perseved for a special evening.
She hadn’t even had to say anything to Amelia; the woman had simply sensed how important tonight was. Juliet knew that dinner, and every evening to follow at Lakeview until the Summer ball, she would be under close examination doubly so if whispers of her shocking entanglement with Lord William made the rounds.
Juliet fixed an errant slip of lace before flattening her hands against her body, sliding them down and admiring the fine garment. While her stepfather had never been a giving man, he had made sure that she and her mother were outfitted in the most elegant fashions in London whenever in public. In his eyes, the family’s appearance was somewhere just below godliness and far above integrity in his priorities. Or at least that’s how Juliet imagined it.
“You are a Lady of Greystone, and you will present yourself with every elegance possible,” Marshall had snapped at his stepdaughter. “Or you will find yourself without a title to hide behind.”
Juliet looked down. She could remember every line on his powdered, pinched face, every inch of his sneer, and the black hatred that had filled both his eyes and her own. He was a miserable human. She pitied him as much as she despised him.
Amelia held up two necklace options for her, each gold with a twinkling of diamonds and precious stones intermixed. While Juliet barely paid any attention to the selection she made, she was thinking how grateful she was that this would be the last summer she would ever be under the thumb of that monster of a stepfather.
Her marriage meant a future, a real future, and no matter the circumstances under which she found her husband, she couldn’t wait. It had been the motivation behind her begging for a traditional season in town, and now it would be the reason she would win over William if that were even possible.
Their walkabout this morning had turned into an uncomfortable exchange of curt words, and Juliet had returned to the manor feeling less than optimistic that the man had emotions, let alone ones that resulted in love.
Juliet had to remind herself that love can grow and that mutual respect and understanding were most important. It didn’t hurt that the man kissed like the devil himself, and she had found herself thinking back to last night's embrace more than a few times during the day. Her cheeks flushed as she fingered the necklace’s metal links, so cool against her suddenly hot fair skin.
Stepping back at long last, Amelia beamed at her mistress, her kind eyes watery as she stroked one pink sleeve with tenderness.
“Oh, my lady, you look lovely. That marquess is a lucky man indeed.” Juliet’s jaw fell open as she looked down at her treasured maid. “Even if he doesn’t know it yet.” Amelia finished her compliment with a lusty wink.
When Juliet looked in the mirror again, her blush graced her cheekbones, a perfect match to the flowing gown that hugged her slender waist while emphasizing the fullness of her breasts.
Some might have been shocked by her low-cut bodice, as it did boast a wide neckline of exposed, delicate skin, but Juliet loved it. Her mother had always requested her to cover her voluptuous attributes, saying that she brought too much attention when they were out together.
But here, away from Greystone, Juliet knew that the truth was her mother wasn’t ready to compete with her daughter in looks. Perhaps, Juliet wondered why her mother rarely bothered to attend events with her, instead enlisting various aunts and companions to accompany her.
Yet this dress made her feel daring and wild. More like the girl who had charged into a man’s bedroom bound and determined to seduce him into a marriage. Less like Marshall Pinecrest’s hidden away bonus child.
Pursing her lips, Juliet raised her chin high like the lady she was. Nodding to Amelia she made her way to the hallway and prepared to join the small party of Lakeview’s guests for dinner.
CHAPTER SIX
William was standing with Marian and Robert, listening to Marian recall the story of when she had once locked him out of the Devonshire house and forced him to sleep in the barn. All because William had dipped her vibrant blonde curls in black ink.
He was laughing, head tilted back to the vaulted ceilings of Lakeview’s two-story foyer. It felt good, the laughter. After the year he had had every moment of laughter, a tiny bit of darkness crumbled from his heart.
When he looked back at Robert to serve the Wains siblings up an embarrassing story of his own, he noticed that both Robert and Marian were staring behind him, their nearly identical blue eyes opened wide. Marian wore a smug smile as she jerked her chin a bit, encouraging him to look as well.
William glanced around. The entire room seemed to have quieted, and most were staring at the main staircase directly behind him. Twisting around, he looked for the source of everyone’s attention.
Of course, it was her, William though, chastising himself. Juliet was halfway down the auburn carpeted staircase, one long-fingered, delicate hand placed on the railing, the other holding her pink skirts away from her descending feet. With each movement, the silken garment she wore shimmered, ivory, rose. Her dark hair was swept off her neck, and a coy smile played on her quirked lips.
She was enchanting, a vision in silk, and he couldn’t fill his eyes with enough of her. She had been beautiful in a simple nightgown but seeing her wrapped in this gown made his heart skip a beat. Juliet was making a habit of stunning him, and he would be damned if he ever admitted it, but it was enjoyable.
As if sensing William’s appraisal, she boldly met his eyes, as if daring him to keep looking. As it turns out, he did. After a moment, he tried valiantly not to stare more at the lovely sweep of her body or the breasts that begged to spill over the top of her bodice. It was useless to try, but he was a gentleman.
Or he was meant to be. Clearing his throat loudly and pointedly at Robert, who was suddenly looking more disappointed about his lack of wedding plans, William whispered. “I do believe that’s my cue. Excuse me.” Cutting across the tiled room, William hid a smile, listening to more than a few men being brought back to earth by saucy remarks and wary looking wives.
Reaching the bottom stair just as Juliet did, William held out his hand with a small flourish. Just for a moment, he saw her smug mask slip, and the shy, unsure girl underneath peeked out. His heart softened, and he offered her a hand to descend the last step, carefully tucking her hand into the crook of his elbow as they began to cross the marble floor together.
***
Grateful that only a few guests had arrived two days before the official ball, Juliet didn’t know what to do next. She had planned on leaning on Marian throughout the night, as they had planned this afternoon, but it had been William, not Marian, who met her on the stair. It had been William who Juliet couldn’t keep her eyes off of. As soon as she turned and began to walk down, she had seen him.
He was standing beside Marian and Robert like a somber shadow, his dark suit molded to his frame like a second skin. And when he had turned, a grin on his handsome face, she had seen a hint of the carefree man under the marquess’ costume. Her
knees had gone weak, her belly tight as she watched him come for her across the room, a predator to her flight filled prey.
As the gilded back across the foyer, he suddenly leaned down his lips just a breath from her ear to whisper to her. “You look lovely tonight, Juliet.”
A shiver flew down her spine, warming her entire body as it went. She turned to look up at the man towering beside her, his clean-shaven face a picture of aristocratic power, and his silver eyes glowing darkly, staring at her with open appreciation. Juliet let her gaze slide slowly over his handsome face, from the long straight nose to the full lips that were pulled back a little in a pouting half-smile.
He knew she was studying him, and it was as if he was enjoying it. She swallowed hard, suddenly wishing it were just them at this dinner, instead of the loud, chatty crowd that surrounded them. But at least in a crowd, Juliet would be distracted from the seductive man beside her.
Pulling her eyes from his face, she managed in a tight voice. “Thank you. You do as well.” And he did. His perfectly tailored jacket fit his form perfectly. Under her clenching fingers, Juliet could feel the swell of muscles as they crossed the space.