Lady Revealed (20 page)

Juliette slowly opened her eyes and looked around. How long had she been asleep? The coach was in the yard of an inn and only Acker remained inside with her.

“How are you feeling?”

She blinked and tried not to yawn but it was impossible not to and she brought a hand to cover her mouth. “I apologize.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” There was warmth in his blue eyes and tenderness in his smile that Juliette had not noticed before. Maybe her mind was still sleep muddled but when Acker looked at her in such a way all she wanted to do was pull him close and kiss him.

Juliette blinked and shook the cobwebs from her mind. What was she thinking? She needed to get out of this carriage and walk in the fresh air before she did something foolish as actually kiss the man.

“Where is everyone?”

“They’ve gone in for a light meal.”

Her stomach grumbled at his words and she placed a hand against her abdomen. Acker chuckled and moved to exit the coach and help her out. “We should get you something to eat as well.”

First she yawns in front of him and now her stomach made the most unladylike noise. What must he think? “How is maman?”

“She is doing well, according to my mother.” He offered his arm to escort her inside. “Like you she slept a good portion but appears refreshed and ready to continue on.”

Juliette nodded. At least her mother’s condition had not deteriorated. That was all she could ask.

They found the family gathered at tables in a private dining room. Most had finished their meal and were sitting about talking. Two places were set at the table where Lord Bentley and his wife had eaten. The plates were covered by a cloth to keep them warm.

“I thought we would bring the food to you if Julia didn’t awake,” Bentley said with a smile. She wasn’t sure she could ever call him Clayton. Not until she was more comfortable around him and was assured he would not try to run her life.

“Thank you,” Juliette slid into the chair Acker held out for her before he took a seat to her right.

She removed the cloth and beneath was a pie of lightly browned crust and she hoped it was a meat pie. Juliette had not been able to get enough of meat pies since she discovered them upon their move to England. She cut into the firm crust and steam escaped along with the aroma of onions and savory meats. Her stomach grumbled again. Juliette could not look at the occupants at the table as her face heated. They had to have heard her.

Acker laughed and she resisted the urge to kick him.

The first bite was heaven. The crust melted in her mouth and light gravy coated her tongue. This was the best meat pie yet.

A barmaid placed a tankard of ale before her and Juliette drank between bites, not participating in the conversations around her. She was famished.

“I dare say we should have awakened you when we arrived. I had no idea you were so hungry,” Acker commented.

In that Juliette realized that she had taken to her meal like a starving woman. She glanced up as the occupants at the table watched her with humor.

“I don’t wish to hold everyone else up because I was tardy for the meal,” she offered as an excuse.

Everyone else had finished eating and were sitting in groups, taking sips of their ale and talking. Some color had returned to maman’s cheeks and she and Lady Acker had their heads together discussing something of importance by the serious looks upon their faces.

A young woman stopped by the table and held the hand of a boy of approximately four years of age. Juliette did not know who she was as the girl had not been present the evening she called on Bentley, nor had she been introduced to her since they left London. “I’ll take the boys outside to play before we continue.”

“Thank you, Leigh,” Eleanor said to who Juliette assumed was her younger sister.

“Don’t get into any trouble, Jamie,” Acker warned with a smile.

Of course Acker would know the family. Eleanor was his dear friend. He had planned on marrying her one day. Juliette watched the young woman leave. Jamie still held her hand and three older boys followed. How attached was Acker to this family? He had been willing to take them all on when he married Eleanor.

She glanced over at him, seeing him in a different light. Few men would be willing to take over the care of an entire family when he married. Most gentlemen wished for the bride and nothing else.

A short time later it was Eleanor and Bentley who joined them in the carriage. This shouldn’t have been a surprise. The other three brothers had spent a portion of the journey with her so why shouldn’t the eldest. Juliette wasn’t sure what to make of it. Were they interviewing her of some sorts, or simply wishing to know her better. She also learned that her sisters had been trading coaches through the journey and visiting with each family. The only people who did not change their seating were Juliette, Acker, maman and Lady Acker, as well as Eleanor’s younger siblings who traveled in the middle coach.

Juliette folded the blanket and stored it under the bench with the pillow. She was well rested now and no longer had a need for sleep. Eleanor settled beside her and Bentley took a place beside Acker.

Before they could ask a question of her, she turned to Eleanor. “I understand that you and Lord Acker live close to one another.”

“We did,” she smiled. “My home boarded his land.”

She didn’t have land, simply a home?

“I’ve known Drake for as long as I can remember. He has always been like an older brother to me.”

Juliette hitched an eyebrow. Even if he had planned on marrying her, apparently Eleanor never saw him in the role as husband.

“Yet he planned on marrying you,” Juliette said. Hopefully her brother knew of their past relationship. Bentley glared at Acker but that was his only reaction. Apparently he already knew.

Eleanor laughed. “He told you, did he?”

“Yes.”

“Did he also mention that I never planned on marrying him?” She smiled at Acker across the carriage. “He is my dearest friend but that is all.”

“He did mention you had rejected him, several times.” Though Juliette couldn’t understand why anyone would wish to decline Acker’s offer.

“Sometimes I miss my childhood home,” Eleanor sighed.

“The place was falling down about your ears,” Bentley groaned.

“It was still my home,” Eleanor stated as if affronted before turning to Juliette. “My uncle lives there now and has been seeing to many of the repairs.”

“It would get done quicker if he would let me send workers to see to the tasks.”

“You know Adam wants to do it himself,” Eleanor argued.

“When does he have time? The hours he puts in at the mill doesn’t allow him much time for repairs.”

“Mill?” Juliette asked.

“Yes,” Eleanor answered with a smile. “My Uncle Adam works at the mill and since business has increased finds himself working more hours than he had in the past.”

Had Eleanor not been a lady before she married Bentley?

“He offered to take my siblings when Bentley and I married but I could not be parted from them.” She smiled. “I’ve raised Jamie since he was a babe, after mother died, as well as the rest.”

Juliette didn’t want to ask about the father. Had he died as well?

As if reading her mind, Eleanor continued. “Father died before Jamie was born and I think it was too much for mother.”

Jamie couldn’t be over four or five and Eleanor was a young woman. “How old were you?” Juliette asked without thinking. “I am sorry, it is none of my business.”

“You are family,” Eleanor reminded her. “Of course it is your business. I was nineteen.”

“You were so young to raise a family.”

She laughed. “I didn’t feel young. Life had not been easy. Father had difficulty keeping a job because the economy in the area was often poor, but we managed to get by.”

That was why Acker thought to marry her. He was a lord, and Juliette assumed he was wealthy. He wanted to take care of his friend and her family. If he was willing to marry a woman not of Society perhaps Juliette had misjudged him. She assumed she had not been good enough for him because of the circumstances of her birth when in truth, at least in Milan, he had thought he was to marry Eleanor because he cared for his friend.

What were his intentions now? Had she misjudged him? Even before he knew she was a Trent he wished to explain. Was there more he wanted to tell her? Should she have given him the chance instead of assuming?

“Your life could have been easier if your grandfather would have loosened the purse strings,” Bentley grumbled.

Eleanor narrowed her eyes at him and frowned. “I would have had to give up my family, remember.”

“It still wasn’t right,” her brother countered.

Eleanor turned to Juliette. “It is an odd history. My mother married the younger son of the Earl of Stanhope. The family never accepted her because of her common birth. When my father died, mama returned home with me. There she met and married James Culver and they produced my sister and four brothers.”

“The earl did not help your mother?” How could a man turn his back on his daughter-in-law and granddaughter?

Juliette shook the thoughts away. Knowing what little she did about her own father, she shouldn’t be surprised by the actions of the gentry.

“He would help me, but not my family. I could have anything I wished if I went to live with them and leave my brothers and sisters to make do with what Uncle Adam could provide.”

“It seems awfully unfair,” Juliette muttered.

“It was,” Acker agreed.

Juliette found herself amending her thoughts. Despite her poor situation, Eleanor was still born a lady which made her worthy of Acker’s affection.

She had to stop this line of thinking and turned toward Bentley. “When do you think we will arrive?”

“Early this evening if the weather holds,” was Bentley’s response.

Thank goodness. She wanted to be done with this coach and away from the newest members of her family. She was more comfortable with them now, but her true family was her sisters and mother.

She glanced across the carriage to find Acker watching her. She needed to put distance between them as well.

*

Couldn’t she be at least a little jealous, Acker thought? Juliette was sitting next to the woman he thought to marry when he met her in Milan. They talked of the past as if it happened to someone else and was of no consequence.

Would she even consider him when he did have a chance to make an offer?

He glanced at his former school chum. Would Bentley grant that permission? Now that Juliette was back in the folds of her family he should do this right. Approach Bentley and gain permission and then set about courting Juliette. Hopefully it would not take long because he wasn’t sure how long he could last not having her with him. These past two days in the carriage proved that well enough. They had been each other’s constant companion and got on well. It showed promise of their future.

“You danced beautifully,” Eleanor said to Juliette a moment later.

A blush stole over her cheeks. “Thank you.”

“Elizabeth asked Juliette to teach her,” Acker commented.

A smile bloomed on Eleanor’s face. “Would you teach me as well? It is such a beautiful art.”

“If you wish,” Juliette chuckled.

“As long as that is the only dancing you do,” Bentley said with seriousness.

Acker looked at him as did Juliette.

She hitched a brow. Acker knew that look. “Pardon?” she said a moment later, her shoulders stiffened.

Bentley shifted in his seat. “Julia, you are a lady, a Trent. There is no need for you to be a ballerina any longer. I have the wealth to support your entire family.”

“He wishes to bring you out in the spring, if all goes well and the potential scandal is dealt with properly,” Eleanor added.

Acker watched Juliette’s eyes darken and her mouth pinched. This was not going to be a pleasant conversation.

“Brought out?” Her voice rose an octave in disbelief, or perhaps displeasure. “I am five and twenty. Far too old to be
brought out
as if I have just left the schoolroom.”

“Introduced perhaps is the more appropriate term,” Acker offered, hoping to ease some of the building tension.

“I don’t need to be introduced either,” she insisted.

Bentley leaned forward, elbows on his knees and looked into her eyes. “You are my sister, Lady Julia Trent. Had Adele not run off you would have made your entrance seven years ago.”

“But she did,” Juliette reminded him.

“And I plan to rectify the situation,” he argued.

Acker wished to warn Bentley that it was best not to try and tell Juliette what she could do or not do because she will act in opposition of his wishes regardless of what is best for her. But to do so within earshot of her would bring her anger down on him and that was the last thing Acker wanted at the moment. Besides, Bentley would have to learn soon enough that his sisters had a mind of their own. One would think he would have noticed this aspect of Juliette’s personality from earlier encounters but apparently, Bentley had not.