by Abigail Agar
The chambermaid shrunk back. She had never seen The Duke so angry, and it frightened her. “Of course, Your Grace,” Sherry mumbled quickly.
***
The streets seemed freer to Jules as she tromped her way through the streets in her old clothes. She felt as if she could not breathe with the corsets and dresses that Lady St Claire had insisted on. Perhaps this was where Jules really belonged.
She ran her hand along the wood of the door to her old home. The building was stark and empty. Jules was sure it would not stay that way. Someone would come along to squat in the building and make it a home again.
There was hollowness in her heart as Jules’ thoughts went to her family. She wondered if she would ever see them again. The Duke had said she would, but then did she really trust the man?
Her thoughts echoed back, why should she not trust him? He had done what he had promised, had he not? Jules shook the thoughts away and turned around. She stilled. Down the street from where she stood was Duke St Claire. He was dressed in his expensive clothes and stood out starkly on the street.
Jules watched the man walk towards her and found herself incapable of fleeing. There had been every intention of going back once she got her head clear, but somehow the man had found her quicker than she had thought.
The Duke stopped a few feet from her. “It was foolish to run off as you did,” he said in a low voice.
Jules could hear the anger behind the words, and it stilled her heart. The higher rungs of society were not known for their patience and gentle temperament. “I was going to come back,” Jules said hastily as she wrung her hands. “I just needed to clear my head.”
The blond-haired Duke did not look moved. Finally, he said, “We should go. I left a horse with a boy just up the road.”
“I’m sorry that I put you through so much trouble,” Jules said as the nobleman turned and began walking away. She had to run to catch up with his long strides. “Please, do not take your anger at me out on my family, Your Grace, I beg you,” Jules pleaded as she hurried to keep pace with the man.
All at once, The Duke stopped and turned toward Jules, causing her to take a step backwards out of reflex. “Is that how little you think of me?” The man’s words held anger, and to Jules’ surprise, disgust.
“I,” Jules began but fell silent. What did she think of the man? Jules took a deep breath and said, “I think you are a very odd nobleman.”
The Duke looked at Jules in confusion then to her shock the man began to laugh. It was a deep rumbling laugh, and the sound of it made Jules smile. She watched him a bit confused herself as to what she had said that was so humorous to the man.
“You think that I am odd? The woman dressed as a man in broad daylight?” the Duke spoke through his laughter. He brought his arms out as if beckoning answers from the clouds themselves as he asked Jules, “What makes me such a peculiarity to you, Miss Kelley?”
Jules thought of several replies but simply said, “You are kind.”
“And nobles cannot broach such a state? Do you think that all we do is beat poor maids and children?” The Duke’s voice held amusement but also a bit of scorn that Jules could understand.
Jules looked down at her feet. Her dark hair fell forward from under her cap where she had neglected to pin it in her haste. “I think that we might both be a bit mistaken about each other, Your Grace. I am sorry for my rash decision.”
“You should not be,” the Duke said with a shrug. “If I were in your position, then I might very well have done the same. Despite what you might think about me, Miss Kelley, we have more in common than you think. I am rather hoping that we can help each other.”
***
Jules stood in front of the mirror and adjusted the blue dress. She frowned at her reflection. Despite the fact that the Duke had told her that he needed her to help him, he had not yet told her with what. And frankly, Jules had never been good at waiting.
Sherry smiled at Jules’ reflection. “It suits you very well,” she complimented.
“Perhaps, but I really don’t see why the corset is necessary,” Jules complained.
Sherry laughed softly and said, “Lady St Claire never goes without her corset. She thinks it is scandalous.”
“They can write about me in all the papers they wish,” Jules said woefully, “if only I can take it off.”
Sherry scoffed, “You are lucky she doesn’t make you wear it to bed at night.”
Jules frowned and sighed. She was here to play this ridiculous part, and she was going to play it, but that did not mean that she had to be happy about it. “Was the Duke in-house when you went to fetch breakfast?”
“I do not know, Ma’am,” Sherry said then added thoughtfully, “if he is, then he is more than likely in his study. Do you want me to check with his manservant and see what his schedule is for the day?”
Jules shrugged. “I think it is time I made my reappearance into the household before Lady St Claire sends her blood letter after me,” Jules said with a frown.
“Doctor Shannon is a fine physician,” Sherry said with a slight laugh. She had grown used to Jules’ distrust of society and everyone around it.
Jules nodded and rolled her wrists. “Of course, he is. Just like the physicians who give poison to people and call it vaccines,” Jules said with distaste. “Besides, we both know that I am not sick, and I have no interest in becoming that way.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Sherry said as she gathered up the ribbons she had laid out earlier and put them away. “I do like that light blue ribbon in your hair, Ma’am,” Sherry commented as she put the accessories away in an ornate wooden box.
Jules turned her head to the side so she could see the ribbon more plainly. “It is rather pretty,” Jules agreed with a hint of a smile.
***
“You cannot be serious with this,” Lady St Claire said with impatience to her son Gregory. “Why would anyone want to burn down a factory with children inside?”
Gregory eyed his mother steadily and reminded her, “Someone really did burn that factory down, and the exits were sealed. I had one of my insurance men go over the building with me. Even the local police think it was arson, although if you ask me, I think they are pointing the fingers at the wrong group.”
“It is just horrific to even think of it,” Lady St Claire said. She fanned herself with a lace fan as if she could blow away the very thoughts of the fire. “I do wish you would not bring up such things. What if your betrothed overheard you?”
“I think she would agree with me,” Gregory said simply. He smiled with delight at the look of frustration on his mother’s face. “Oh, come now, Mother. With her background, do you honestly think she is some shrinking violet?”
Lady St Claire sighed. “I daresay that after all of these years waiting for you to pick a bride, that I never know what to expect from you or those you choose, Gregory.”
“Oh, that reminds me, Fredrick left this morning to go to the country estate,” Gregory said as he leaned back in his father’s chair. “I think he seemed rather pleased.”
Lady St Claire smiled and shook her head. “Of course he did,” she said to Gregory. Her tone softened as she added, “That was a very kind thing to do for your brother. I should not have pushed him to rejoin society so soon. Perhaps by next season, he will be more himself.”
“People change, Mother. This might very well be how Fred is, but I am hoping he will regain some of his jovial nature. He seemed to take to Miss Kelley well, and that makes me think that there is hope for him yet,” Gregory said. He gave his mother a pleased smile.
***
Jules straightened her shoulders, which was hard to do in a corset, she found, and knocked on the door to the Duke’s study. From inside, she heard a faint, “Enter.”
When Jules stepped inside, she saw Lady St Claire seated in one of the leather chairs across from the Duke’s desk. The Duke himself looked at her in surprise. “Miss Kelley, I was not aware you were feeling up to
moving about yet,” he said as he stood up and came over to gently grasp her by the arm and elbow.
Jules allowed the man to guide her over to the couch that Fredrick had been seated on the last time Jules was in the study. She sank down onto the cushioned chair with a soft, “Thank you.”
Lady St Claire asked in concern, “Do you need some water? You look frightfully pale.”
Jules mumbled, “More like a knife.” Lady St Claire gave Jules a confused look, and Jules spoke up louder, “That’s very nice.”
Lady St Claire waved off Jules’ kind words. “Not at all,” the woman said as she rose to her feet. “I’ll just go fetch you some lemon water from the kitchen. It always makes me feel better when I’m a touch ill.” The woman quickly bustled out of the room all swish of skirts and tapping of shoes.
When the door shut, the Duke chuckled and told Jules, “It is a very good thing that she pads her hair so much over her ears, or she might have had you committed.”
Jules blushed with the knowledge that the Duke had heard what she had said to his mother. “It was just a jest,” Jules said apologetically.
The Duke shrugged. “I have probably said worse to her, and I assume it was not to do her any harm, more to your laces?” The Duke’s gaze dropped down to Jules' waist.
Jules fought the urge to wrap her arms around herself in embarrassment. “They are rather restricting. I’m surprised noblewomen don’t faint in the streets,” Jules said with perfect seriousness.
“They do,” the Duke said with a chuckle. “That’s why there are fainting rooms.”
Jules rolled her eyes in disgust. “Why does anyone do this to themselves? It is cruel. Do they hate themselves so?”
“I have never thought to ask,” the Duke said honestly, “although it does appear that most of them are opposed to how they look in some way or another.” The man cleared his throat. “I was just telling Mother about the fire. I had one of my insurance men go look at it with me. I have even been around to the local police, such as they are. They all seem to think the fire was a deliberate set and that someone barred the doors.”
Jules nodded slowly. “That fits with what people told me the day of the fire. They couldn’t get the doors open for anything. So, it has to be someone who would gain from a fire like that.”
“And it definitely wasn’t the property owner,” the Duke said thoughtfully. Jules cringed at the thought of the man’s body. “I’m sorry to bring that up,” the Duke apologized at the expression on Jules’ face.
Jules blushed deeply at having been caught being so soft. “It’s quite alright,” she assured him.
“There’s nothing to be ashamed of. I did not enjoy the sight at all myself and find it waiting for me sometimes when my thoughts stray,” the Duke said quietly.
Jules nodded. “I feel ridiculous for being so affected by it when there are people like your brother who have seen far worse, Your Grace,” Jules said honestly. Her brow wrinkled, and she asked, “Where is Sir St Claire if you do not mind my asking, Your Grace?”
“He left just this morning to go take over the country estate. We lost our overseer for the estate due to age, and Fredrick was keen to get away from society for a bit. It worked out well,” the Duke said with a smile.
With another nod, Jules agreed. “It does sound like it would be good for him.”
“That was my thought as well,” Duke St Claire agreed. “Are you longing for your family yet?”
Jules sighed. “I’ve always been with them. Missing them comes very naturally.”
“I promise that when all this is over, you can return to them,” the Duke said sincerely. His grey eyes locked onto Jules’ gaze, and she saw nothing but truth reflected in the man’s eyes.
Jules pushed herself up a bit on the couch, the corset just about forcing her to lie down despite her efforts. She was eager to ask the Duke about what her part in all of this was to be, but just then the door opened, and a servant brought in a tray with a pitcher of lemon water and some small sandwiches.
“Excuse me, Your Grace. Your mother sent me to bring the young lady some refreshments,” the man said with a thick accent that Jules could not place.
The Duke waved the man to deposit the tray on the side of his desk. “Thank you so much, Manuel,” he said graciously as the man set the tray on the desk. As quickly as he entered, the servant was gone again. “He’s a nice man,” the Duke said of the servant after the man had left, “but a little too stiff. He does not like to make conversation lightly.”
“Oh,” Jules said simply as she pushed herself up off the couch. The Duke was already rising to help, but she insisted, “I can stand up on my own.”
The Duke watched her lever herself up off the cushion seat with amusement. “No one can say you take the easy road, Miss Kelley,” the man assured her.
“Thank you,” Jules said as she breathed a sigh of relief on getting to her feet. She came over to sit next to the desk in one of the leather chairs. The leather chairs were far more comfortable to sit in with a corset, Jules discovered. She took the glass of lemon water that the Duke held out to her.
“You have yet to say in what way I can help you, Your Grace,” Jules ventured. She did not want to anger the man, but she was also anxious to know what she would be called upon to do in the near future.
The Duke nodded as he watched her take a sip of the lemon water. “I simply need you to do as you have been doing, pose as my betrothed for a time. I do apologize for not being more forthright with you in the beginning, but I feared you might be predisposed to decline on principle,” the man said with a slight lift of his shoulders.
Jules frowned slightly, and she asked, “Why is it necessary for me to do so?”
“It will give me more freedom to investigate without my mother and others constantly interfering with me,” the Duke said with a dismissive flick of his wrist. “I thought you might enjoy a bit of pulling the wool over the elite’s eyes, so to speak.”
The idea of getting something past her betters did spark a bit of mischief in Jules’ heart. She smiled at the man. “Can I ask what you will be investigating with all this new freedom?”
“To put it simply, it has come to my attention that some of my peers might be behind a series of acts that have been blamed on various guilds in the city. Not only that, but I am fairly certain that someone is undermining me and my family’s name. To that end, I am determined to find out the truth,” the Duke said truthfully.
Jules eyed the man and said quietly, “You are very open about your ambitions. Aren’t you afraid that I might not be on your side? Or that someone could overhear?”
“I want what you want,” the Duke said, “and if I someone here is against me, then I feel as if I have already lost.”
Jules nodded slowly and sipped her lemon water. “So, have we decided who I am in this whole farce?”
“You are yourself, only you are from the colonies in India,” the Duke said. “We met during my trip to India last year and have been corresponding since then.”
Jules smiled. “How very romantic, Your Grace.”
“Truly,” the Duke said with a chuckle. “You might want to say that with less sarcasm if asked by someone about it.”
With a laugh of her own, Jules agreed, “I will do my best, Your Grace.”
“You can feel free to call me Gregory when we are alone, Miss Kelley,” the Duke said graciously, which made Jules smile.
She nodded her head towards the man and said, “And you may call me by Jules or Julia.”
“I am privileged,” the Duke replied with a tip of his head and a smile.
Jules noticed the way the man tapped his fingers along the edge of the desk when he spoke, his long, lithe fingers moving like a pianist. She smiled at the man, unsure of when the conversation had stopped but not sure how to start it back up again. The Duke cleared his throat and said, “Would you care for a sandwich to tide you over?”
“I’m not hungry,” Jules said, and she
saw a flash of worry on the man’s face. “I promise that I am very well, I simply do not feel hungry at this moment.”
The Duke nodded. “Then I should probably get back to the business at hand,” he said as he tapped a paper on his desk.
Jules took the man’s cue and rose. She sat her drink down on the tray. “I will see you at luncheon?” Jules asked the question and found herself hoping that she would see the man despite her reservations.
The Duke frowned slightly and said apologetically, “I am afraid that I will be out for the rest of the day. I have chores that require me to be elsewhere in the city.”
The answer was vague, but Jules was not so much curious about the man’s chores as she was just disappointed that he would be absent. “That’s a shame,” Jules said genuinely and met his eyes. “Be safe on your adventures,” she said quietly.