by Abigail Agar
In fact, it had been quite the opposite. She had tested his patience several times before, but hearing her coldly agreeing to break their betrothal had brought him far too close to showing the young woman exactly what he wished their relationship could be.
“If it isn’t The Duke of Thornton, in the flesh,” his Uncle Lawrence called from where the man was sitting and eating breakfast with Gregory’s mother.
Lady St Claire pressed her lips together in disdain for the blusterous man who sat across from her. “Gregory, dear, where is Miss Kelley?”
Gregory said, “She’s probably still getting ready. I am certain she will be down soon.”
“I am most interested in meeting her,” Gregory’s uncle said with enthusiasm that made Gregory eye the man suspiciously.
There was a movement behind Gregory, and Miss Kelley swept into the room and gave Lady St Claire a smile. “Forgive me for being tardy; I was just washing up,” Miss Kelley and Gregory caught her eye for just a moment.
He could see the defiance in the young woman’s brown eyes, and he grimaced inside, but perhaps she would not break the engagement with her uncle in-house.
Lady St Claire gave Miss Kelley a warm smile. “Nothing to forgive. I think rather that Mister St Claire should apologize to the household for getting us up so early.” The stare Lady St Claire gave Gregory’s uncle was pointed and cold.
The man ignored Lady St Claire’s angry gaze with practiced ease and gave Miss Kelley a smile. “I am enchanted to meet you, Miss Kelley. I thought for sure that Gregory would never settle down enough to marry,” Mister St Claire said with an oily smoothness that made Gregory’s hackles rise.
“You would know, Uncle,” Gregory said with the utmost of care, “how many wives is it that you’ve had now?”
The older man glared at his nephew with coldness before he turned his gaze back on Miss Kelley. “Where are you from, my dear? I have heard so little about your parentage,” Gregory’s uncle asked as he smoothed his graying blond hair back.
Miss Kelley cleared her throat as Lady St Claire gave her an encouraging smile. “I was born in the colonies. My upbringing is somewhat dull in comparison to all of yours; we were a humble family,” Miss Kelley said with a voice that brokered no lies. Gregory gave her an appraising look before his Uncle spoke again.
“Yes, that’s pretty much all I have heard,” the man said with dissatisfaction.” Surely there is more to the girl than a birth?” Gregory’s uncle asked Lady St Claire.
Lady St Claire nodded. “Oh, yes, of course, but Miss Kelley is simply too modest to talk of herself,” Lady St Claire said as her eyes disapproved of the graying man across from her. “She was raised in the colonies by her artisan father and her seamstress mother. Miss Kelley even studied the artisan trade herself and became quite accomplished at it before my Gregory caught her eye.”
“Is her family well-endowed?” Gregory’s uncle asked with eagerness.
Lady St Claire frowned. “Her father worked himself up in society if that’s what you are asking. However, with her father’s unfortunate death, Miss Kelley and her family were struggling with the debts left behind.”
“So, they want money?” Gregory’s uncle asked as his expression grew most unpleasant.
Gregory spoke just as Miss Kelley’s fists tightened. He knew the woman would stand no ill-words towards her father or her remaining family. “They are our family now, and we will take care of them as such, Uncle Lawrence. You understand the sanctity of family, do you not?”
Miss Kelley looked between the younger and older St Claire males. There seemed to be tension there that she did not think was merely posturing. She took a step closer to the Duke and saw the man’s eyes go to her momentarily before he looked back at his uncle.
“Family is a most precious thing, Gregory,” the grey-haired man said as he rose. “I will take my leave to my room. I am most tired from my early trip this morning.” The man bowed to Miss Kelley and Lady St Claire before he swept out of the room grandly.
Lady St Claire rubbed her forehead and complained, “Why did your father have to have such a horrible brother?”
“Makes you grateful that Fred and I are such gentlemen, Mother?” Gregory asked jovially. He hated the anger that his uncle brought out in him. Miss Kelley had already seen too much of his anger, and he did not need her to fear him more.
Lady St Claire gave her son a smile. “Of course, darling. Now, why don’t you and Miss Kelley have some breakfast and then perhaps take a nice stroll in the garden? The roses are blooming beautifully.” Lady St Claire said the last part directly to Miss Kelley.
As soon as his mother was out of the room, Gregory sat down at the table with a sigh. “Do please sit, Miss Kelley,” he said as he gestured to the chair that was already pulled out on the other side of the table.
Gregory watched the young lady drop down into the chair gently. “Pastry?” he asked as he held out a platter with some of the breakfast pastries that his mother loved so dearly.
Jules took a napkin and a pastry with a soft, “Thank you.” She bit into the pastry and exclaimed, “Is this fig?”
“Yes, my mother loves figs,” Gregory said. “Is there something wrong with the pastry?”
Miss Kelley shook her head. “Quite the opposite,” she assured him. “My grandmother when I was very little had a fig tree outside of her house. She used to make the most wonderful cakes with them.”
Gregory smiled. At least the woman liked the pastries even if she probably was not too keen on him at the moment, he mused to himself. Aloud he said, “I would like to extend an apology to you, yet again it seems. My behaviour was deplorable earlier.”
“I did say some things that were bound to ignite your temper, Your Grace,” Miss Kelley said quietly. “You did give me a fright, however, but I understand that you were already under stress.”
They sat in silence for a moment before Gregory cleared his throat, “About the calling off of the engagement.” Jules looked up at him with wide eyes as Gregory continued gently, “I would prefer not to at this time. I understand, of course, if you insist on it.”
Jules looked at the half-eaten pastry in her hand. “I do not wish any ill to befall my family because of hasty words, Your Grace,” she said hesitantly.
“Do you really think that I would toss out a mother and her children because I got slighted? Is that honestly what you think of me?” Gregory asked. Try as he might, he could not take all the hurt out of his voice. He had tried so hard to be forthright with the woman, yet at every turn, she treated him no better than the lowest scoundrel she had ever encountered.
Jules shook her head. “I just have to make sure. You have to understand, Your Grace, that this is my family we are talking about. They are people that you have only known for a week and that you have no connection to other than through me.”
“I see,” Gregory said as he nodded his head. “That is a reasonable point of view, Miss Kelley, and I find that I cannot take offence to that way of thinking.”
Jules looked at him hopefully, “Does that mean that my family’s welfare is not hinged on this betrothal between us?”
“No,” Gregory said firmly. “I hired your mother to be part of our staff. Her staying in my employ only has to do with her willingness to stay and do the work. However, I would appreciate your giving me time to make arrangements if you want to break the engagement. There should be some paperwork to allow you a living allowance at the least.”
Jules seemed dumbfounded. The dark-haired young woman stared at him with her big brown eyes as if she was working out what he had just said. “So you do mean to break the engagement?” Her enquiry was a soft one.
There was a pause of hesitation before Gregory qualified, “I thought that was what you wanted after our words in the hallway earlier.”
Jules’ slender fingers fidgeted with the napkin. “Sometimes when I get scared, I get angry to cover it. If you are not still displeased with me, I see no reason to end
the betrothal at this time,” she said reasonably, but there was a tremble in her voice that Gregory took note of.
He watched her as she traced a pattern on the napkin. The dress she wore was a satin affair full of violet colours and lace. It played up her virtues very well, and Gregory found it hard to keep his concentration. Gregory nodded slowly. “Then we shall not break it. I must warn you that my mother is set on me discussing the licence with you today.”
“Licence?” Jules asked softly as her brow furrowed. “You mean for the ceremony? I thought we would just do the banns.”
Gregory chuckled and shook his head. “My mother would never dream of it. She actually is set upon a special licence so that she can have her pastor perform the ceremony in the rose garden,” he said with a smile.
“A special licence? Isn’t that a bit extravagant?” Jules looked a bit put out, but Gregory had no idea why.
Gregory ran a hand through his hair as he thought. He said calmly, “That’s more the reason that Mother wants it. She wants to solidify that we are doing well and can afford such things.”
“Oh,” Jules said with a frown. “I take it that she does not know that the engagement is a false one?”
With a smile, Gregory asked, “Is it a false one? After all, people have married with less in common than we have.”
“Are you saying that you truly wish to marry me?” Jules’ eyes were round, and she looked positively scandalized by the very idea of such a thing.
Gregory chuckled. “You are willing to falsify an engagement, but the idea of going through with it offends you? Do you have something against the institution?”
“Of course not,” Miss Kelley said, her nostrils flaring in indignation. “I was just led into this betrothal under false pretences. If you intended it to be a real union, then you should have been honest about it, Your Grace.”
Gregory noted the edge that the woman said his title with, and he forgave it. She had, after all, been caught off-guard. “I assure you that when this all started, I intended to keep my side of the bargain, Miss Kelley. I just have developed a fondness for you that I believe means something. Is there nothing about me that you find appealing?”
For just a moment, Gregory thought the woman might actually answer, but the moment passed as she waved off his question. Gregory stood up and offered her his hand. “Let us take a walk and continue this debate later, shall we?” Jules seemed reluctant to agree but eventually took Gregory’s hand and allowed the man to lead her towards the rose garden.
***
The roses were indeed in full bloom, and Jules breathed in their lovely perfume as she walked along with The Duke by her side. The morning sun was fully awake at last as it rose to dry the dew off of the leaves in the garden. If not for the nervousness that Jules felt, it would have been a truly wonderful walk.
“I can see why your mother would pick this venue as a place for a ceremony,” Jules noted aloud.
The Duke nodded. “It is quite breathtaking,” he agreed. “Your mother and siblings would, of course, return for the ceremony. My mother, brother, and, unfortunately, my uncle would also be in attendance as witnesses.”
Talk of the wedding ceremony made a knot form in Jules’ stomach. She might have admitted to herself that she held affection for the Duke, but she was not ready to admit it to the Duke or to swear to it in front of God and family. “Your Grace, I have always felt that, as my parents did before me, a marriage should speak of a certain amount of adoration between the couple.”
“Do you think that I do not adore you?” the Duke asked with a smile on his lips.
Jules blushed and stumbled over her words, “It isn’t that, or maybe it is. I do not know.”
“What can I do to assure you that I am devoted to our union?” the man asked with an earnestness that Jules found endearing.
Jules frowned. “I don’t know that either, Your Grace.”
“Gregory,” the Duke insisted.
Jules smiled and said softly, “Gregory.” She had heard Lady St Claire and the Duke’s brother call him by his given name, but it felt strange on her lips with the knowledge of who the man was.
The Duke smiled in pleasure at her saying his name, and she shook her head at the man. “Do you have any thoughts on where you would like the ceremony? If I do get the special licence, it could be wherever you choose, my mother’s wishes aside.”
Jules laughed. “You really aren’t going to take no for an answer, are you?”
“It isn’t in my blood,” the Duke said with almost an apologetic smile.
Jules shook her head. “I think here would be fine, or a church. When would this all take place, if it were to take place?” Jules was careful to qualify her statement to keep the man’s boundless enthusiasm in check.
“In a week’s time would be the usual allotment, but that can be moved around to suit you,” the Duke said graciously.
Jules sought to turn the conversation away from weddings and engagements by asking, “Has your barrister made any progress on helping the guild?”
The Duke sighed, “It appears that the judge, who I know and have spoken to, is being swayed into labelling them as revolutionaries. I am doing all I can to see that they are set free.”
“It is precarious for you?” Jules asked as she noticed the change in the man’s tone.
The Duke nodded hesitantly. “I must tell you a few things that you should know before you step into your role as Duchess, Jules,” he said softly as he led her to a bench.
The use of her Christian name by the man gave Jules pause, and she sat down next to him as she watched him eagerly. “Is everything okay?”
“Things have not been well for the House of Thornton for some time. I told you that I was set to go off to war, but due to my father’s death, I had to remain,” the Duke said quietly.
When Jules nodded, he continued, “My father died while out hunting, and had I not been delayed by weather, I would have been already out of the country by the time that word got back to my mother.”
Jules frowned. “I don’t think I understand,” she said softly.
“I would have been gone, and with me gone, Fredrick would have had to step in as head of the family until I could return home,” the Duke said with a sigh. “As it was, my uncle showed up with the news of my father’s demise.
He was surprised to see me and quite eager to encourage me to continue with my plans to go to war. My mother, however, insisted that I stay and take on my father’s mantle while Fredrick took my place on the war front.”
Jules shook her head and asked incredulously, “Do you think your uncle was trying to usurp the line of succession?”
“If I had died at war, and something had befallen my brother, then the title would have been his. He has already tried other avenues to gain rank. He even tried to woo mother after father’s death, but mother has always blamed Lawrence for my father’s unexpected demise,” the Duke said solemnly.
“This must remain here with you. It is very important that while we all know of my uncle’s designs, we do not do him any dishonour. He has many friends in the House of Lords that would love nothing more than to promote my uncle to be a peer in my place.”
Jules nodded slowly. She could not imagine having family like that. “No wonder nobles are always so distrustful and mean-spirited,” Jules said in disgust. “I will keep your counsel to myself, Gregory.”
The Duke gave her a smile and took her hand in his. “I have no doubt that you will,” he said softly. “Come. We need to get back before Uncle paints us liberally with his brush of dishonesty.”
“With everything going on, why do you go out as you do into the streets?” Jules asked as she rose with the Duke.
As they turned to walk towards the house, the man shrugged. “I have little I can do about my uncle and his schemes currently, so I choose to focus on things that I can change.”
“So you seek our wrongs because you are frustrated?” Jules asked with a soft laugh.
>
The Duke inclined his head towards her as they walked and said, “You can look at it like that.”
***
Jules would have liked to hold council with her mother. She longed to tell her all that she knew and ask the woman’s advice. As it was, she sat with Sherry, and they pondered things. Jules sighed. “I do not know what to do,” she said in frustration.
“What is there to know, Miss?” Sherry asked in confusion. “You seem to wish to help the Duke. Perhaps marrying him is just the thing he needs. After all, once he marries and has children, there is very little his uncle can do to get the title.”
Jules nodded slowly. “The very idea of children makes my stomach feel like it is going to flutter to pieces,” Jules admitted.
Sherry giggled. “I think that is normal,” she said with a smile.