by Lauren Royal
There was Lady Stafford—finally Juliana’s mother-in-law—leaning much closer to Lord Cavanaugh than was strictly proper. There were the duke and Amanda, holding hands again and talking to Lord Neville and Emily. There was Lady Mabel, who wasn’t wheezing out here in the countryside. There, standing in the untamed, ankle-high vegetation way over in the old tilting yard, were Lord Malmsey and Aunt Frances—
“James? May I borrow your quizzing glass?”
Dressed formally as he was, he had it in a pocket instead of hanging from a chain around his neck. When he pulled it out and handed it to her, she raised it to her left eye.
“Aunt Frances is wearing her spectacles!”
“Lord Malmsey doesn’t seem to mind,” James observed as they watched the older couple steal a kiss. “They do say love is blind.”
“Who says it?” she asked, handing him back the quizzing glass. “Please don’t tell me it’s a Roman proverb.”
His low laugh vibrated right through her. “I believe I heard it at the theater. Romeo and Juliet, if I’m not mistaken. I’m not all that bookish, you know. I mostly prefer newspapers and novels.”
So did she. And she loved the theater. They did have common interests. With a happy sigh, she looked back out over the scene, noticing Rachael standing off by herself, watching Griffin mount the steps to the great hall.
James slipped the quizzing glass into his pocket and pulled something else out instead. Something that sparkled in the afternoon sun. “A little something to remember this day,” he said with a smile.
“I have my ring,” she pointed out. She twirled the plain gold band—a Stafford heirloom that she’d instantly adored—around her finger. “And I have you, which is the best thing of all.”
“And now you have this.” He held up the pendant, a white gold heart encrusted with diamonds.
Her breath caught at the sight of it.
James moved closer to fasten the delicate chain around her neck. “It’s been at least five minutes,” he murmured by her ear. “Can we abandon them now?”
“No,” she said with another laugh, touching the gorgeous pendant where it was framed in her neckline. “I need to mingle with our guests.”
With a finger on her chin, he lifted her face. Her heart squeezed in her chest and suddenly, she felt breathless.
“I’ll give you an hour,” he warned softly against her lips. “But not a minute more.” Then he quickly kissed her and sent her off.
GRIFFIN SCANNED the great hall one final time, pleased with what he saw.
The chamber hadn’t looked this good since the ball he’d thrown last year in hopes of wrangling a husband for Alexandra. The enormous Gobelin tapestries on either end of the hall had been cleaned and rehung, their vibrant colors defying their age. Beneath the old hammerbeam roof, the ancient planked floor gleamed with polish. Servants were busy lighting the torches mounted between each of the arched stained-glass windows, and soon the huge chamber would be ablaze with light. Up in the minstrel’s gallery, the musicians were tuning their instruments.
In a matter of minutes, the hall would be filled with music and dancing, laughter and glittering guests. He hoped it would be a night Juliana would remember forever. There was nothing he wanted more than to see his sisters happy.
Thank goodness he had only one more left to marry off.
“Griffin,” came a nearby voice. A low, sultry voice.
He turned to see its owner, finding her standing there in a red dress that skimmed her every curve. Most of her hair was done up in a sophisticated style, leaving just a few loose chestnut tendrils to fall in soft waves around her face. She even smelled good. A heady, floral scent wafted toward him, making him take an uneasy step back.
Since she’d sidestepped his offer of help last month, he hadn’t seen her. Juliana hadn’t hosted any more sewing parties, and he hadn’t attended any more balls. He’d been wrapped up in the business of Parliament, followed by some mild problems here on the estate. All the accursed responsibilities he’d found thrust on him along with the unwanted title had kept him too busy for any socializing.
Which had been fine by him. He hadn’t clenched his teeth in five whole weeks.
“What do you want, Rachael?”
She blinked, no doubt taken aback by his unintended harshness. But she recovered her composure quickly. “If your offer is still open, then yes, I’d like your help going through my mother’s things.”
He smiled, softening. “Before Christmas?”
She drew a deep breath and nodded. “How about next week?”
FIFTY-NINE
FIVE HOURS later, James found himself confronted by the most daunting column of buttons he’d ever seen.
During the last month—seemingly the longest month of his life—he’d imagined this night a hundred times, if not a thousand. And up until now, it had gone more or less as he’d planned.
He’d closed them both into this room—the Gold Chamber, Juliana had called it—and proceeded to kiss her senseless while faint snatches of romantic music drifted in from the great hall far down the corridor.
He’d been quite proud of himself, really, because he’d been determined to take his time. If anyone deserved a wedding night that was slow and tender and sweet, a wedding night she’d remember forever, it was his treasured Juliana. And so far, despite the fact that he’d been all but shaking with anticipation, he’d managed to go slowly.
But then he turned her around and saw all those tiny, fabric-covered buttons.
“What in heaven’s name possessed you to order a dress with so many buttons?” he muttered through gritted teeth, more frustrated than he remembered ever being—ever. If he continued as planned, if he continued going slowly, unbuttoning this blasted dress was going to take all night. “There must be at least a hundred buttons.”
Juliana laughed, a low, wicked laugh that rippled across every nerve in his body. “I thought you liked buttons, James,” she chided softly over her shoulder. “For some reason, I’ve come to believe you like buttons. I instructed the seamstress to put so many buttons on my dress because I had the impression you’d enjoy unbuttoning all of them.”
And he did, in a sense. Slowly he swept the hair off the nape of her neck, slowly he placed a soft kiss on the sensitive, warm bit of skin above her top button. An adoring kiss, drawing in her scent, that irresistible scent of flowers and sunshine and Juliana. And then slowly he began unbuttoning the buttons, the never-ending column of buttons. And in a sense, he did enjoy it. But in another sense, the agony of anticipation seemed to be more, much more, than any fellow should have to bear.
It didn’t take all night, but it took much, much longer than he wanted. Going slowly proved to be much, much harder than he’d hoped. Juliana sighed, and she caught her breath, and each of her sweet little sounds seemed to crawl into him and lodge someplace in his heart. It seemed forever by the time he managed to unbutton all the buttons. It seemed longer than the longest month of his life.
After all the waiting, after all the torturous unbuttoning of buttons, he finally stood back, for what seemed like one everlasting moment, the first time he saw Juliana just as she was, in all her glory.
And she was glorious.
It was a moment he’d always remember, a scene forever imprinted in his mind.
True to its name, the Gold Room was decked out with gilt furniture, all the walls and the four-poster bed draped with heavy golden fabrics. Everything seemed to shimmer. Juliana’s skin seemed to shimmer, beckoning him. Juliana’s eyes shimmered, a deep, deep blue gleam that entranced him. Her hair seemed to shimmer. No sooner had they entered the Gold Room than he’d released it from its pins, and now all the shining straight tresses were shimmering over her shoulders, glittering in the golden light.
“Your chest is all ridged like the centaur’s,” she whispered, sounding fascinated.
“What?” he whispered back, and then, “Never mind.” With a low laugh, he went to kiss her. He didn't ask her this
time. He knew what her answer would be, and he didn't want to hear any more words.
He wanted only to hear her soft sighs as he finally made her his.
Juliana had dreamed of this night, but nothing had ever seemed so beautiful, nothing had ever felt so right. Nothing had ever felt so perfect as the two of them together.
Now that all the waiting she’d endured these past months—waiting to meet the right gentleman, to make certain she’d fallen in love, to be truly alone with James—was over, she could finally say with certainty: Love was worth waiting for.
Of course it was. Hadn’t she always said so?
But still and all, as James kissed her, his lips a warm promise on hers, she couldn’t help being thankful that she’d never have to wait again.
THANK YOU!
Thank you for reading Juliana! We know there are millions of books out there, and we’re honored that you decided to read one of ours. We hope you enjoyed it!
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If you'd like to learn more about the history and real places in Juliana, read on for Lauren’s Author's Note...
BONUS MATERIAL
Author's Note
Books by Lauren & Devon Royal
Regency Chase Family Tree
Contest
Excerpt from CORINNA
About the Authors
Acknowledgments
Contact Information
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Dear Readers,
In April 1815, Mount Tambora erupted on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa, sending more ash into the air than any volcano in the last ten thousand years. Over the next year, the dust rose into the upper atmosphere and spread slowly across the planet, obscuring the sunlight to such an extent that extreme weather conditions prevailed in places halfway around the world. The growing season was plagued by a series of devastating cold waves that destroyed crops, greatly reducing the food supply and causing widespread famine. Snow fell in June, and 1816 came to be known as "The Year Without a Summer."
The people of the time hadn't the knowledge of our modern meteorologists, so they didn't know why the weather was so cold. Countless absurd theories were proposed, including those expounded by the guests at the balls in Juliana. Although some people did indeed blame Benjamin Franklin's lightning rods, had Franklin still been alive, he might have guessed the real reason. During a similar cold spell in 1784 caused by the great eruption of Mount Asama in Japan, Franklin wrote of a "constant fog over all Europe and a great part of North America," speculating that the dust he observed in the sky might be due to volcanic explosions or the breakup of meteorites.
In James's time, smallpox was sometimes called the Speckled Monster. Throughout recorded history, it killed ten percent of the population. As a youngster, before being variolated (intentionally infected with smallpox as a preventative measure), Edward Jenner was "prepared" by being starved, purged, and bled, and afterward he was locked in a stable with other ailing boys until the disease had run its course. All in all, it was an experience he would never forget—one that later inspired him to experiment and discover that immunization with cowpox prevented smallpox.
In 1801, after he pioneered vaccination, Jenner issued a pamphlet that ended with these words: "…the annihilation of the Small Pox, the most dreadful scourge of the human species, must be the final result of this practice." Unfortunately, almost 180 years went by before his prophecy came to pass.
In Juliana, James was too optimistic in hoping smallpox vaccinations would soon be made compulsory. England didn't pass such a law until 1853, and the World Health Organization (WHO) didn't launch its campaign to conquer smallpox until 1967. At that time, there were fifteen million cases of smallpox each year. The WHO's plan was to vaccinate everyone everywhere. Teams of vaccinators traveled the world to the remotest of communities.
The last documented case of smallpox occurred just eight years later, in 1975. After an anxious period of watching for new cases, in 1980 the WHO formally declared, "Smallpox is Dead!" Jenner's dream had come true: The most feared disease of all time had been eradicated.
The Foundling Hospital was established in 1739 by Captain Thomas Coram, a childless shipwright concerned about the plight of unwanted babies in London. In his time, seventy-four percent of the poor children born in London died before they turned five, and the death rate for children put in workhouses was more than ninety percent. In contrast, the Foundling Hospital's mortality rate was under thirty percent. If that sounds high, remember that smallpox, measles, tuberculosis (consumption), and other diseases were endemic during this period. Most people did not reach old age.
In 1740, artist William Hogarth, an early Governor of the Hospital, donated the first painting to the Hospital and encouraged other artists to follow his example—and thus England's first public art gallery was born. When the wealthy came to see the art or attend concerts given by another Governor, George Frideric Handel, they were encouraged to make charitable donations. Although there's no written record of anyone donating anything besides money, we like to think that the Governors would have been open to an idea like Juliana's.
By 1954, the year the Hospital closed, it had served more than 27,000 children. Today you can visit the Foundling Museum in London, which is on the site of the original Hospital and contains artifacts as well as the art collection, displayed in fully restored interiors.
Most of the homes in our books are inspired by real places you can see. Stafford House, James's home in St. James's Place, is based on Spencer House, one of the great architectural landmarks of London. Built in the eighteenth century by John, 1st Earl Spencer (an ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales), it was immediately recognized as a building of major importance. Should you ever find yourself in London, we highly recommend a visit. Its exquisite rooms have all been restored, and you will see many of the antiquities Amanda admired in this book. Spencer House is open to the public every Sunday except during January and August.
The Chases' town house at 44 Berkeley Square has been described as "the finest terrace house of London." It was designed in 1742 by William Kent for Lady Isabella Finch. Unfortunately, you cannot visit, because the building is currently being used as a private club. But if you go to Berkeley Square, you can see it from the outside—look for the blue door.
Cainewood Castle, Griffin's home where Juliana and James married, is loosely modeled on Arundel Castle in West Sussex. It has been home to the Dukes of Norfolk and their family, the Fitzalan-Howards, since 1243, save for a short period during the Civil War. Although the family still resides there, portions of their magnificent home are open to visitors Sundays through Fridays from April to October.
To see pictures and learn more about the real places featured in Juliana, please visit our website at www.LaurenandDevonRoyal.com, where you can also enter a contest and find modern versions of all the recipes in this book.
If you missed Alexandra's story, you can find it in Alexandra, the first book in our Regency Chase Brides series. And for a chance to revisit Juliana and James, look for the third book i
n this series, Corinna, which is not only Corinna's story, but Griffin and Rachael's, too! You'll find an excerpt in the back of this book.
To hear about our upcoming releases and other news, please sign up for our newsletter, join our Chase Family Readers Group on Facebook, or follow us on Instagram. We love to keep up with our readers!
I hope you enjoyed Juliana—thank you for reading!
Till next time,
BOOKS BY LAUREN & DEVON ROYAL
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Lauren & Devon’s next book is…
CORINNA
Book Three of the
Regency Chase Brides series
Lady Corinna Chase is a talented painter—who also happens to be a girl. Unfortunately, in London’s art world, that means fewer opportunities and more obstacles. But rebellious Corinna isn’t about to let anything divert her from achieving her dreams. Not even the suspicious behavior of the gorgeous Irishman who’s just moved in next door…