by Abigail Agar
He soothed, “Your family is going to be staying at my estate in the country. If you wish, you can reside at my family’s home here in London until things are calmer. I know you wish to be close, and that’s the best I can offer at present.”
Jules gave her mother a nod. “As long as my mother and sisters are okay, then I guess I owe you, Lord.”
“Then it is all settled. We will need to return to my London estate to prepare. I hope you ladies are amicable to that.” Gregory gave them all a bright smile. “I have a carriage waiting for us just outside.”
Tally jumped up. “Am I going to get to sleep in a real bed?”
“Yes,” Gregory replied in amusement. Tally gave a whoop of joy before being silenced by her mother’s stern look. “Shall we?” Gregory held the door open but came over to take the luggage from Jules as she sought to help her mother get it outside. Outside, a man leapt down off the carriage and took the luggage from Gregory before placing it on the rack of the carriage.
Georgie tugged on Jules shirt. She whispered, “Won’t you come with us to the country?”
“I promise that I will eventually. I just need to finish up a few things,” Jules said to her sister softly.
***
Jules had never seen such fine things as filled the home of this strange nobleman. Her mother and sisters had been whisked away at once to go find their rooms for the night by an overly happy maid. “Miss Kelley,” the nobleman appeared at her elbow causing Jules to jump.
“Forgive me for startling you,” he said with a smile. “I fear that I have not really introduced myself, and here you are giving me your family for safe keeping.”
“Well, I know you are a Duke and that your surname is St Claire. I know of only one family that fits that description so you would have to be the Duke of Thornton,” Jules said logically. She noted the look of genuine surprise on the man’s face. “I might not emulate The ton, but my father always said that it pays to know who your adversaries are.”
“I warrant being an adversary?” Gregory asked in wonderment. “Here I thought I was being quite charming.”
Jules countered, “Lots of things can appear quite different than they actually are, Your Grace.”
“True,” Gregory admitted. “I am the first-born son and therefore got the privilege of accepting the mantle of the family title. However, it gets tiresome with everyone calling me by inflated honorifics all the time. I prefer Gregory, to be honest.”
Jules mumbled, “Gregory.” She shook her head. “What will you tell your family about why we are here?”
“I will simply tell them the truth. I hired your mother to do housekeeping and to be a private seamstress for my mother. Lady St Claire has several gowns made per season, and it would be a decent wage,” Gregory said.
Jules nodded. She did not want to hurt the chances of her family getting helped by the man, but it seemed to her that he was just creating strife for himself. There was no real reason for him to get involved in their woe.
“You must be very serious about getting out of those balls you seem to hate so much,” Jules noted aloud to the man.
Gregory laughed and dipped his head. “Nothing gives me more pleasure than to thwart my mother’s never-ending attempts to set me up with eligible ladies.”
“And here my mother thought I was set against marriage.” Jules laughed softly.
Gregory eyed the young woman in amusement. She still had her cap in place and looked her part very much, but Gregory knew better now. It still caused him pause to hear a young lady talk so opinionatedly on subjects that most of the gentler set chose to avoid at all cost.
“We might want to see about getting you dressed appropriately. I doubt that my mother will approve of your attire.” Gregory waved a hand at Jules’ breeches and cap.
“I suppose I do look a bit scandalous if you know my true alignment,” Jules admitted. “I guess that means I won’t be staying here under the guise of a young apprentice or man-in-waiting.”
Gregory scoffed, “Dear me, no.”
Jules smirked at the reaction from the man. “I promise not to look,” she said with a laugh at the expression on Gregory’s face.
A maid appeared in the foyer and gave them a curtsey. Gregory nodded to Jules. “I need you to go see that Miss Kelley is appropriately dressed for dinner.”
The maid’s eyes cut over to Jules who gave the woman a friendly smile. The woman mumbled, “Yes, My Lord.” She spoke to Jules, “If you would follow me please.”
“Right behind you,” Jules said as she followed the maid up the stairs.
There were more rooms in the home of the Duke than she had ever seen. Her father would have wondered at the structure, and Jules found herself in awe at the architecture of the building. “When was this building erected?” she asked curiously.
“I am not sure that I know,” the maid said in confusion.
Jules just waved off the question. “It’s not important,” she said with a smile.
***
Once they were in a room that the maid called Jules’ room, the maid turned to stare at her. “Beg your pardon, Ma’am, but you are a very strange looking guest even for this household,” she said with genuine curiosity.
“I suppose I do look a trifle odd,” Jules agreed. She pulled off her cap and unbuttoned her blouse. It felt good to release the bindings around her quite sore breasts.
The maid’s eyes looked like they might bulge out of her head. “I’ll see if I can’t find you something to wear,” the maid said as she hurried off all flustered cheeks and scurrying feet.
The young woman was quickly out of the room leaving Jules to laugh quietly to herself. She bathed in the pan left under the vanity. It felt so odd to see her reflection without the bindings, let alone with a clean face.
The maid swiftly returned with bundles in each arm. “I think I have secured clothing for the evening,” she said proudly. “These should do nicely.” The maid stretched out the dresses on the bed and asked, “Do you wish to pick one, Ma’am?”
“Oh, I like the yellow one,” Jules said feeling positively foolish as she lifted the dress up in front of her.
The maid smiled. “It really sets off your eyes and hair, Ma’am. You’ll be splendidly beautiful for His Grace.”
Jules choked on the very air. “I don’t care one fig about what His Grace thinks of me. Why would you think that?”
“Well,” the confused maid said softly, “you are here as his guests. I heard his Lordship and the Lady St Claire discussing you, and it seemed to me that you were being presented as a potential match for His Grace.” The maid lowered her head in shame. “Please forgive me if I have slighted you in some way.”
Jules shook her head. “No harm is done to me, I assure you. You merely caught me by surprise.” Jules’ mind was whirling. Had she ever asked the Duke how he intended to explain her staying here? Jules groaned internally and let the maid help her into the dress she had picked out.
The mirror that hung in the corner of the room on its wooden supports showed Jules someone foreign to her. Surely, she was not that creature staring back at her. Had it been so long since she inhabited her own skin that she could not even recognize herself?
The maid said, “You look beautiful.”
Jules replied, “Thank you. I feel like a fish that just grew feet.”
The maid hid a laugh daintily behind her hand. “Well, you look like you were born in that dress. I think it suits you well. Do you wish me to plait your hair?”
“It has been so long since I have even contemplated leaving my hair out from under my hat; I don’t know. Do you think it would look nice that way?” Jules looked over at the girl who nodded.
Jules was directed to sit before the vanity in an ornate wooden chair with soft cushions. The maid set to work brushing out Jules’ long and mostly unkempt hair. “I didn’t get your name,” Jules said as she watched the maid work in the mirror.
The young woman smiled. Jules gues
sed she was even younger than herself. “My name is Sherry,” the maid said happily. “It’s so odd for anyone to ask my name.”
“I guess most of the upper class don’t bother with such things,” Jules said as she pursed out her lips and frowned.
Sherry shrugged. “Most don’t, but honestly I’ve worked here so long that everyone knows my name, and they rarely have long-term visitors that I need to worry over.”
Jules nodded. It was very relaxing having her hair braided. The rhythmic pull of the maids’ little hands lulled Jules into a drowsy stupor. When the young woman finally finished, she grinned at Jules in the mirror, “What do you think?”
“It’s marvellous,” Jules whispered as she took in the sight of her hair braided. The maid had pinned the braids up in a most fetching way. “You are miraculous, Sherry.”
The young woman waved off the comment. “It’s just a braid,” Sherry said happily. “Is there anything else that you’ll be needing?”
“I can’t think of a thing,” Jules said honestly.
Sherry nodded and clasped her hands together in front of her. “Then I’ll just go see how Tegan is doing getting the wee ones ready for the evening meal,” she said by way of taking her leave. With one last smile in the mirror at Jules, the young woman was gone, and Jules was left with silence.
Jules’ eyes slid over to the bed. She would surely mess up her lovely hair and dress if she tried to lie over on the bed, but it looked so inviting that it was sorely tempting. Jules sighed and sat in the cushioned chair sullenly.
***
An hour later, there was a knock at Jules’ door. When she answered it, Georgie and Tally burst in like a giggling tide of dark hair and ribbons. “Look at this dress!” “You look so pretty, Jules!” The girls began talking all at once.
Jules raised her hand for them to slow down. “I take it that you are enjoying yourselves?” Jules gave her sisters a smile at their eager faces.
Georgie howled, “They gave us these little crème drops!”
“They tasted funny,” Tally said as she wrinkled her nose. “But then they gave us dresses and fixed our hair. They are doing Mama’s hair now even if she did think it was foolish.”
Jules could just imagine that her mother did indeed think this all very foolish. “We are going to be guests at dinner, but we have to sit very quietly,” Georgie said with distaste. “No wonder the nobles are such sourpusses. Who wants to sit quietly all the time when you have all this to play in?”
“That does seem like it might be hard to resist, but you should try to persevere. After all, His Grace is being very generous to us right now,” Jules said with a gentle sternness that she had mastered over the years with the little girls. The girls nodded their heads and looked sheepish.
After a moment, Georgie giggled. “The maid said that you and the Duke were courting, and that’s why we have to go to dinner. Is that true?”
“No, it is not,” Jules said firmly. “I don’t know what ideas His Grace has, but until I am consulted, then it is a complete fabrication on his part.”
The girls’ faces drooped in disappointment. “Does that mean that he won’t help us then?” It was Tally’s small voice that asked the question.
Jules pulled the little girls to her. “Nonsense. The Duke offered to help, and I feel he’s probably a man of his word. He’s a bit odd, but a man of his word all the same. So far, everything he said he was going to do, he has done. So I don’t think you have any reason to doubt him,” Jules said as she stroked Tally’s back.
Georgie pushed Tally a bit, “Yeah. So stop being so weepy, or he’ll kick you out to the poor house.”
“Don’t say such things to your sister,” Jules scolded, and Georgie harrumphed with indignation. “Behave yourselves. There are strange rules to society at this level, and I do not want to run afoul of them just yet.”
Tally and Georgie nodded their agreement and sat down to wait for their mother. After a few long minutes, Mrs Kelley appeared at the door in a simple grey dress that was gathered in the back. “Don’t you all look a sullen mess,” Mrs Kelley remarked at her daughters.
“What is all this about me hearing of His Grace courting me?” Jules asked with a suspicious look at her mother.
Mrs Kelley said, “Well, he came to me and explained that he planned to tell people that you and he were betrothed.”
“What?” Jules’ mouth dropped open.
Mrs Kelley flipped her hand dismissively at her daughter. “You are overreacting again, darling. Besides all that, what’s so bad about being betrothed to a Duke?”
“For starters, I’m not a noble. It can lead to some very bad things,” Jules said pointedly.
Mrs Kelley nodded. “I concede that there is a certain prejudice against it in some circles, but it does happen,” she said reasonably.
“Yes, but … this doesn’t make any sense,” Jules said as she shook her head. “Why can’t I just stay here as one of the servants?”
“You would have to ask His Grace,” Mrs Kelley said simply.
Jules narrowed her eyes and replied, “Believe me, I will.”
The look in Jules’ eyes left no room for doubt that she would indeed be talking to the Duke. Mrs Kelley sighed at her daughter and shook her head. “Try not to get us all thrown in the jails, would you?” Mrs Kelley said with more bite than Jules had ever heard in her mother’s voice.
The tone of her mother’s voice was enough to make Jules pause, but the very thought of the man going behind her back made her blood boil. He had not even had the decency to tell her of his plans. They had been alone in the foyer. He very well could have spoken to Jules then. Jules fumed silently as her mother watched her with disapproving eyes.
Chapter 3
Dinner with the St Claire clan was a quiet affair. Lady St Claire asked an abundance of questions on things that kept Jules’ mother quite occupied.
Duke St Claire and his brother spoke to each other of affairs that somewhat held Jules’ interest, but she did not want to disrupt the conversation. Georgette and Tally were on their best behaviour to Jules’ surprise.
“Do you have any ambitions?” Lady St Claire asked. It took Jules a moment before she realized that the woman was talking to her.
Jules did not know quite how to answer that question. She had plenty of things she hoped to accomplish, but none of them seemed especially welcome over food and drink. Jules opened her mouth but found Duke St Claire already answering for her. He said, “She’s aiming to overthrow the King and put his head on a pike.”
Lady St Claire rolled her eyes at her son. “I asked the young lady, Gregory,” she reminded him.
Jules glanced around at her mother who just gave her a very slight shrug. Jules smiled at the blonde noblewoman and said, “I’m not sure.”
“She talks very commonly,” Lady St Claire whispered. “Did your family have you tutored, or did you go to school abroad?”
Jules shook her head. “I actually apprenticed with an artisan,” Jules said softly.
Lady St Claire gasped, “Really? And your mother and father approved of this?”
“Yes,” Jules said honestly. “Well, my mother wasn’t thrilled, but it actually was my father’s idea.”
The look of incredulity left Lady St Claire’s face. “That explains it all. Men have such strange notions of childrearing,” Lady St Claire said as she gave Mrs Kelley a commiserating look.
Mrs Kelley smiled back at the woman. “My husband was a good man, but he did have some odd notions at times,” she agreed.
Jules met Duke St Claire’s eyes for a moment, and she caught the twinkle of merriment in them. “You do wish to have children, do you not?” Lady St Claire’s question made Jules tear her eyes away from the Duke.
“I suppose. Honestly, I had all but given up on the notion,” Jules said with sincerity.
Lady St Claire nodded her understanding. “I was quite young when I met my Duke. He was very dashing. I never really expected to catch
his eye, but here we are.”
“Yes, here we are,” Jules said as she narrowed her eyes over at the current Duke St Claire. The man just raised his glass to her jovially.
***
After the meal, the women retired to a sitting room while the men walked outside. “I noticed when your son went to leave that he has an injury,” Mrs Kelley said softly. “Was he in the war?”
“Yes,” Lady St Claire said. “He took Gregory’s place. You see, Gregory was set to go off and fight evil in the wars, but then his father died. “Gregory had to stay and make sure the family’s place was secure.