Lord Love a Duke (20 page)

"Saints and sinners," muttered Juliet under
her breath. She buried her head in her hands and sank back onto the
floor beside the Duke's bed. She felt tears begin to sting the
backs of her eyes but she refused to let them fall, furiously
blinking to hold them at bay. This was all a misunderstanding, a
childish prank gone terribly wrong. Half-delirious from lack of
food and adequate sleep, as well as her cramped position, she sent
up a silent prayer this was all a horrible dream. She raised her
head to peek over the side of the bed and groaned aloud at the
number of onlookers awakened from sleep by the commotion, each
vying for a glimpse into the Duke's chambers. "
Merde
,
merde
,
merde
," she complained to herself and again
slumped to the floor.

"Juliet! I demand you come out this
instant!" roared her father as he pushed his way past the door,
struggling to evade Danvers. She raised her head to address
him.

"I regret it, Father, that I cannot. I
need--"

"What you need is to stand up and remove
yourself from this chamber! We will speak of this as a family." Her
father's voice had lowered but the severity of his tone had not
diminished. She saw her mother wringing her hands, the anguish she
felt abundantly evident on her face. Juliet felt tears threatening
again and was not sure she could stop them. Suddenly, the sea of
onlookers parted as Miranda made her way into the room.

"Juliet! Jonas!" She belatedly clamped a
hand over her mouth while her eyes flew repeatedly between her
friend trying to hide on the floor and her brother lying back on
the pillows in his bed, obviously having been recently wakened from
sleep.

Miranda rushed around the bed to tend her
friend. She looked at Juliet's half-removed gown and the utter look
of misery on her face and stood.

"I must ask everyone to leave this room." No
one moved. She addressed the Duke's valet specifically. "Danvers,
remove everyone from this room and doorway. Now." She moved toward
the door and made shooing motions with her hands. The assembled
audience slowly began to retreat. She looked to Lord and Lady
Lansdowne, addressing them in hushed tones.

"Please, wait for Juliet in your private
sitting room. I will send her in just a moment. Let me assure you
all is not as it seems." The Marquis opened his mouth to speak but
Miranda placed her hand on his arm. "Please. Trust me as her oldest
friend, and on the friendship of our two families. I will see to
Juliet and send her to you soon."

Juliet's parents looked from Miranda to
their daughter and nodded their agreement, slowly leaving the
doorway. Miranda followed and shut the door, slowly turning to face
Juliet and the Duke.

"What in the name of all that's holy is
going on in here? Or should I ask what went on in here last night?"
The Duke raised his eyebrows and made to reply but Juliet burst out
first with her explanation.

"Oh, Randa! You are correct. Things are not
as they appear. I came in her last night after leaving supper with
Aunt Catherine, as we had planned," she glanced miserably and
apologetically at the Duke, "and I unfortunately decided I had
plenty of time to go one step further and sew his bed linens
together. I had scarcely begun when Danvers entered the room and
began the obvious preparations for His Grace. As soon as he exited
I attempted to flee but found I had sewn the skirts of my gown into
the fabrics.” She hung her head down in a mixture of embarrassment
and irritation.

“Oh, Jules!” lamented Miranda before she
abruptly dissolved into a fit of laughter, shaking so hard she
dropped down into a chair.

“Miranda, this is no laughing matter, no
matter how ridiculous it seems! There is serious cause for alarm
here. Do you not realize what will happen now? Your brother will be
forced to offer for me as I have spent the
entire
night in his chamber. This is a disaster!” Juliet
threw up her arm, gesturing wildly as she spoke, completely unaware
that she gave the Duke an enticing view of her bare limb and
shoulder.

Miranda's laughter died immediately and her
smile faded as she pursed her lips in consternation. She glanced
from her brother to her friend. “But – bugger it all – is there
nothing else to be done? Surely the explanation will suffice and
make the situation clear, revealing there was no compromise.”

For the first time the Duke spoke. “It
sounds simple enough except there is no way to guarantee the other
myriad of guests in this house will not spread a rumor. Lord
Lansdowne shouted with enough volume and spirit to wake the dead.
This incident will be all over the village and on its way to London
by noon, I assure you, courtesy of our visitors. The only matter we
can control is the result of their news, whether it be of scandal
or betrothal.”

His calm demeanor and cool rationalizations
unnerved both ladies. Miranda was amazed her brother's temper had
remained in check. Examining his expression closely she would
almost think he looked pleased with the situation, but the thought
seemed too absurd.

“Randa, would you come help to sever these
stitches so I may gather the tiny shreds of dignity I still possess
and slink out of this room? You don't know how I have been
tormented, sitting here all night knowing there are scissors in my
reticule not ten feet away.” Juliet's voice was muffled as her head
was dropped low as she sat immobile behind the bed. Danvers, the
Duke's valet, reentered with an expressionless face and the Duke's
dressing gown.

“Ladies, if you will avert your eyes I will
remove myself to my dressing room as you address your comportment.”
They complied and Juliet felt the bed shift as the Duke moved off.
“And Lady Juliet, I ask you not to leave this room until I return.
We have a few items that bear discussion.” Juliet gave no answer
and did not raise her head until she heard the closing click of the
dressing room door.

“Here sits the very definition of
mortification!” Juliet exclaimed with a look of absolute dejection
across her face. “I have been stuck here all night! I even tried to
slither out of my dress to steal out of the room but I could not
manage all the buttons, which only left me remaining here with half
of my upper body exposed. And I do not know if I can walk as I have
not felt my feet for at least two hours. You do not know how hard I
have prayed for a gaping hole simply to open underneath me and
swallow me whole!”

Miranda burst out with another laugh then
quickly stifled her mirth and rushed to aid her friend.

“I am so happy I amuse you, Randa! My
situation is dire, not entertaining! Know you not what this means?
Your brother will surely offer for me after this!” Juliet wailed
with no small amount of emotion. A single tear began a descent down
her left cheek. “And I will be forced to refuse, which will lead
him to make a case with my parents, who will be in complete
agreement with His Grace. Not to mention my brothers will begin
trumpeting about honor and compromise and meetings at dawn. I
cannot fathom what I was thinking to attempt this stunt!” Juliet
moved to rise but was once again caught by the stitching of her
gown to the coverlet. She gave a muffled oath and began to
furiously thrash against the restraining garments.

“Jules, you must calm yourself. No doubt
something mutually beneficial can be worked out between you two. I
have seen the way you watch each other when you think no one is
wiser. Confess – you care for my brother!” Miranda declared in a
stage whisper as she retrieved the scissors from Juliet's reticule
and began to sever the stitches binding her friend to her brother's
bed.

Juliet gasped as if outraged but felt the
betraying blush sweeping across her face. “Of course I care for
your brother, in as much as I have known him all my life. He is as
another brother to me. All the more reason we cannot marry. As for
these supposed glances you --”

“Do not bother to gainsay me. You never
blush save embarrassment and there is nothing embarrassing about my
statements unless you have been caught. I declare you are blushing
to the roots of your hair because I have found you out.” She
reached and smoothed the escaped tendrils of hair back from
Juliet's face, tucking them behind her ear. “Take care, my friend,
as my brother watches you just as furtively. More than that, he
hangs on your every word, watches for your entrance into any room,
and seeks out your company to the exclusion of others. This evening
has turned out splendidly! I cannot wait to tell your Aunt how
right she was. We did not think it would end in such a
spectacularly loud or unrestricted fashion, but we knew there would
be sparks of some kind.”

Juliet whipped her head up to stare at her
friend. “Why must you speak with Aunt Catherine?”

Miranda smiled smugly at
her friend's glare. “No reason save to tell her that she was
correct and that you and my brother are
innamorato
, my sweet Juliet. And I for one
am thrilled! When your Aunt confided her suspicions to me, I had a
momentary pang of doubt before I decided it made no matter. If
Jonas is focused on you – and believe me, Jules, you aunt has
convinced me he watches you quite determinedly – then he cannot
focus on me. Ergo, I am ecstatic over this turn of
events!”

Miranda ripped the final stitch and Juliet
fell onto her back on the carpet, stretching her cramped muscles
and flexing her fingers and toes. She groaned out loud, half from
the discomforts across her form, half from the machinations of her
favorite aunt and closest friend. She abruptly sat up and began to
repin her half-fallen hair. “It does not signify. I will not be
forced to marry.”

Miranda gasped her astonishment and jumped
to her feet, deciding to intimidate her taller friend with her
brief height advantage. “You will have to marry! You yourself
admitted as much not five minutes past. Not only will both our
families demand it, the crowd that had gathered outside this very
bedroom door this morning will be salivating at the picture of what
did or did not happen here overnight. There is no way to escape
their malice should the honorable outcome not result.”

“This house party is almost totally
comprised of our friends and family. Those few who would
maliciously delight in some scandal erupting will not be quietened
by an announcement of impending nuptials. Therefore I see no reason
to trap your brother in a union he was not seeking, nor myself in a
bond I had determined to avoid.”

“But you . . . you must . . . there cannot
be . . . what about . . .” Miranda sputtered ineffectually.

“I am quite confident I can persuade your
brother of the wisdom of forgetting this ever happened. As for my
family, I will simply remind them of my desire to live a quiet,
isolated life in the country. That it has happened perhaps a few
years before I had planned is of no account. I acted foolishly and
must bear the consequences. I will not inflict them upon your
brother.” Juliet rose as if to exit the room but was stopped by
Miranda's hand on her arm.

“
You forget that Jonas
was
not
planning to retire to the
country nor can he avoid his obligations in Town. He has just begun
to feel comfortable filling my father's seat in the Lords, not to
mention slowly garnering the respect of his much-older ducal peers.
No amount of explanation will prevent the
ton
from believing you were aggrieved and have
removed to the country while my brother continues his normal
routines. What of his reputation? What of his needs?”

Juliet's countenance fell as she processed
the truth of Miranda's words. She moved to the chair near the
fireplace and plopped wearily onto the cushions. “He is a Duke:
whatever he says will be taken as truth. At the very most, I should
be called upon to make a few appearances around Town to satisfy the
tabbies that all is well, no one is slighted.” She rubbed her eyes
and huffed out a dejected breath. “It may be somewhat fanciful of
me, but surely between my father's marquisate and his Dukedom this
can be resolved firmly and thoroughly, if not altogether quietly.”
Juliet cast a hopeful glance over at her friend, who promptly burst
out laughing, although it was a laugh of derision and not
mirth.

“One thing is truth, that whatever Jonas
says will have the full weight of his sheer – whatever you call it
– 'dukiness' – behind it and will be the way it shall be. However,
you know as well as I that without a marriage his words will merely
be a surface balm. The scandalous story will remain Society's
reality and will be fresh on everyone's mind and tongue every time
a Quinn or a Leighton is seen in public.” She walked over to give
her friend a long hug, kissing her on the head before she
straightened. “You know I am correct. A small part of me is amazed
that I am speaking thus to you rather than the other way around.
Your solution for you may seem easy enough, but pray think of all
the other characters in this play. I know you would not wish this
to be a tragic opera, despite your love of them,” she joked. With
one more hug to her friend, Miranda exited the room, leaving Juliet
to her increasingly morbid thoughts.

Juliet's subsequent chuckle held a tinge of
mania before she took in a deep and calming breath. She would not
cry, but she did fear she might disgrace herself and shame the Duke
by begging her family not to make her marry. A new laugh that
sounded somewhat mad with desperation escaped her pursed lips. How
many times had she declared to her family that she would not marry
for her personal purse nor position, secretly harboring a desire to
marry for love, or at least fond like. She never once considered
she might be forced to drag another to wed due to foolishness. For
a lady known for intelligence and wit she felt suddenly asinine and
imbecilic. “Yes, my life has moved from farce to tragedy in less
than a fortnight. I should put pen to vellum and make some coin off
the stage at least since this sorry tale will no doubt travel the
breadth and width of Town soon.”