Emily Hendrickson (10 page)

“I do not believe it!” Marius exclaimed loudly. “Any fool can find a gold band and put it on,” he sneered.

“This is an exceedingly lovely ring and has Lord Hawkswood’s initials inside. Not that I will remove the ring to show them to you. Knowing you, I’d not have the ring returned to me.” She gestured to two chairs by the windows. “Sit down, please.”

She joined them and listened to her stepbrother continue his spate of words, arguing that he did not believe: her, demanding to know when and how had she married without any notice to him, or his permission for that matter.

She seized the latter point. “I had my birthday some time ago. I did not need your permission, nor Papa’s, for that matter, even were he here. You must release my dowry now, Marius. It would be unseemly for you to disgrace our family name before such an important man as Lord Hawkswood.”

“That don’t make sense,” he snarled in return. “Hawkswood to marry my stepsister? What a laugh. He’s seen with none but the cream of the
ton,
which you ain’t.”

“On the contrary, Mr. Winterton,” Alexander, who had been warned by Mrs. Bassett of the visitors, said from the doorway, where he stood in all his refined splendor. His bottle green coat was one of Weston’s finest, the nankeen breeches he wore fit him superbly, and his waistcoat was a miracle of understated elegance, its stripes in the best of taste. His cravat was quite enough to strike awe in the heart of one who aspired to be accepted into the
ton.
“As my wife, Juliet will be welcome anywhere from Carlton House to Almack’s.”

Juliet bit back a smile at this, knowing her stepbrother had never managed to achieve an entree to either place. “Welcome home, Alexander.” She smiled as she rose from her chair and quickly crossed to his side, touching his arm in an intimate manner. “It seems as though you have been away for an age instead of hours.”

Alexander, taking note of the two men who had risen and by their very stance looked threatening, clasped Juliet to him and proceeded to kiss her very nearly senseless. When he released her, he was pleased to see her cheeks were becomingly pink and her eyes held stars in them rather than fear. His own gaze warned her that drastic measures had been necessary, hence the kiss.

“Oh, my,” she whispered, the pink fading a trifle.

“You will be pleased to know that the jeweler in Salisbury was able to size your betrothal ring for you. It ought to fit you now.” He glanced over to Marius to add, “Juliet has such dainty fingers, the family ring needed altering.”

“I can’t accept that she is truly married. I’ve arranged for her to wed Taunton here.”

The heretofore silent Lord Taunton made a few strangled noises that Juliet and Alexander accepted as words, even if not understood.

“He was counting on the marriage to my fair stepsister,” Marius declared.

“Indeed?” Alexander said with a shrug of indifference. “Pity, that. Juliet is mine, and I would never let her go.”

“She don’t look very married to me,” Marius muttered.

“But, Marius,” Juliet inserted at this point, “I would never permit a man who is not my husband to kiss me as Alexander just did. Would I?” she inquired archly. She took a step closer to Alexander, admiring the ring he had placed on her hand while wondering how he had obtained it. Was that the reason for his hasty trip to Salisbury? She glowed at the very thought, turning to give him a beatific smile.

“The ring is truly lovely, Alexander. I will take great care of it.” Juliet gazed up at him, not at the ring as he expected.

Looking down at her happy face, Alexander felt something within him that he couldn’t identify at all, but whatever it was it felt good. “I am pleased you like it. I know my grandmother would be delighted.” This last he directed at the two men, who stood glowering at the pair of lovers from the other side of the drawing room.

“I expect you have had rooms prepared for them, Juliet?” He looked down at her, adding, “She is an excellent mistress of this house.”

“Mistress!” Marius seized upon the word like a hungry dog upon a bone. “That is what she is, my lord, your doxy!”

“I shall forget you said that, sirrah,” Alexander said in the coldest voice imaginable. “I’ll thank you to keep a civil tongue in your head, even if you are my wife’s stepbrother.

He crossed to tug at the bellpull, and within moments Mrs. Bassett arrived in the doorway. “Show these gentlemen to their rooms, will you?” he said with courtesy.

When the two men were gone, Juliet impulsively hugged Alexander and whispered, “Thank you, my lord.” Then she added, “There are still things to be ironed out
...
like when and where we were married. Marius demanded to know, and I managed to avoid a reply, but we must think of something to tell him.” “Come up to your room, and we shall talk.”

Chapter 6

Relieved now that she had someone to share her worries, Juliet hurried up the stairs to her room, closely followed by Alexander.

He wondered if she gave any thought to the impropriety of their meeting thus. He doubted it. She revealed a single-minded intensity when she had an objective in mind—witness her flight from her home.

Once in her room, Juliet crossed to the far side, perching on the edge of a dainty Hepplewhite fruitwood chair, its seat covered in a gold and cream satin stripe that contrasted nicely with her yellow morning gown. Once settled, she surveyed Alexander where he had taken a position leaning against the fireplace surround.

She touched the betrothal ring with a hesitant finger. “It was enormously thoughtful of you to think of this. Such a beautiful ring. Marius hatefully insisted that anyone could find a plain gold band, but to have you put this elegant ring on my finger, declaring it to have been a family ring properly altered to fit me, well! That put him in his place.”

Alexander gave her a wry look. She was such an odd combination of practicality and feminine logic, all overlaid with an innocence he found touching. What a pity she had been pushed to such a situation.

“I am pleased my efforts meet with your approval,” he began. “Now, as to our supposed marriage
...
when did you leave your home?”

She gave him the precise date, and he rubbed his chin while he considered the matter. “Is there a calendar around here? I should like to study it.”

Juliet dug around in the dainty desk by the window and ultimately found a small one, promptly offering it to him.

He studied it, then pointed out that it would be possible for them to have been wed on the twentieth of February after a meeting on the eighth, then separated immediately, whereupon she traveled south, ultimately concluding her trip in Woodbury.

“And where were we married?”

“Gretna. ‘Tis the only answer we can give, for it would be too easy to check any other place. You can say you traveled north with your former governess and I met you there, persuading you to flee to Gretna with me.”

“I suppose,” she inserted cautiously, “Marius will have no difficulty in believing you swept me off to marry me at once. You have a most commanding way about you, my lord.”

“Do I, indeed?” Alexander said somewhat austerely. He paced back and forth for a few minutes, thinking about what they might possibly meet with, then spun about to face her. “There must be no more friendly calls from Mr. Wyllard. No more exchanging plants and seeds, receiving pretty little nosegays, wistful looks—at least on his part. And above all, no duets with him.” Alexander waited for her to explode and was not disappointed for long.

She flew at him, coming to a halt close to where he had waited for her. “I cannot believe my ears. Mr. Wyllard is as harmless as a butterfly. He means no wrong and respects you greatly.”

“Think what construction Marius will place on his attendance. Do you wish to give your stepbrother the impression that ours is
not
a love-match?” Alexander placed his hands on his hips, watching her struggle with her warring feelings.

“After that kiss you gave me, I do not see how he could fail to believe we are not madly in love,” she said at last. Then she gave him a curious look. “Tell me, Alexander, do you often kiss like that?”

“What?” he sputtered with laughter and a wonder at her innocence.

“I have received few kisses, it is true, but that seemed most extraordinary to me. I doubt you could repeat it.” She watched him from slightly narrowed eyes as though wondering what he might do at her words.

Without pausing to consider what he was doing, Alexander pulled her into his arms and kissed her again.

“Amazing,” she whispered when released. “I had not thought that kiss could be duplicated.” She turned away as though to compose herself, glancing back at him with a hint of mischief in her eyes that Alexander immediately caught.

“Minx! What a blessing that you were never given a Season in Town. You would have had the place upside down in no time.”

“I believe I am becoming a shameless flirt!’” she said with an odd expression, then continued. “You realize Marius may believe it was heartless of you to leave me alone and spend time in London whilst I lived in this remote village. He has said nothing so far, but it will take a bit of time for the thought to filter through his brain. If we are so in love, why were we living apart? Did we quarrel?” she inquired. “Mind you, he does not know all this at the moment, but someone may inadvertently tell him, people loving to gossip as they do.”

“Lovers do quarrel, it is true. Perhaps we disagreed on the attentions paid you by some gentleman who shall remain nameless?” Alexander searched her face for a clue to her thoughts; his words appeared to upset her.

“I doubt he would believe anyone would take offense at that,” she said forlornly. “My stepbrother has forever criticized my looks, my conduct, my dress. Nothing I did ever seemed to please him.” She glanced at the pretty clock on the mantel. “It will shortly be dinnertime. I had best change, although I suppose you need not. You look very splendid,” she concluded naively.

“But I wish to impress that nasty stepbrother of yours,” Alexander said with a smile. “Randall shall do his best to make me look imposing.”

Juliet gave him a considering look, then said, “I believe you would look imposing in your dressing gown—or indeed, in nothing at all.” Then she realized what she had said and blushed furiously. “Oh, do go away before you make me say something else highly improper.”

Chuckling to himself, Alexander went through the connecting door to his room, shutting the door most firmly behind him. He had a motive for his action; he desired Marius Winterton to believe that the marriage was very real, that the connecting door between Alexander’s room and Juliet’s was often used. That it was a bit like putting a noose about his neck he considered, then discarded the thought. He was far beyond the point of return now.

Juliet heard the door click shut, then took her hands from her burning face. How
could
she have uttered such words? Would she never learn to think before she spoke? She had meant to tell him that his clothes had nothing to do with his imposing manner, and look how it had come out!
Stupid, stupid girl.
And she had said a thought would take time to filter through Marius’s brain. She doubted
she
possessed one!

Pansy scratched on her door, then hesitantly entered the room, carrying a pretty periwinkle silk dinner gown. It was simply cut with a shirred panel across the bosom and a neckline edged in white. Once dressed, Juliet hunted though her belongings for something that would go well with it.

A rap on the connecting door brought her head up from the drawer she searched. Alexander entered, one hand held behind him.

“I forgot—happy birthday. It’s a trifle late, but better that than not at all.” He crossed the room to hand her a small, neat box.

“The ring and now this?” she inquired in a wondering tone. Upon opening the box, she found the lovely fan, white with a painted scene on it, and ivory sticks that were prettily carved. “Oh!” she cried with delight. “I have never had such a pretty fan, and it is just the thing to set off my gown. Thank you, dear Alexander.” She brushed a kiss on his cheek, mindful of the watching Pansy, then flicked open the fan to hold it before her. “Very nice, indeed. You spoil me, my lord.”

“I believe you could do with a bit of spoiling if you think that extravagant,” he replied, then abruptly returned to his room, the door clicking loudly behind him.

Although Juliet said nothing to her maid, she wondered if she had not been properly appreciative, or perhaps she had not thanked him correctly. He had seemed remote, almost bitter. Doubtless, Miss Pritchard could have told her, but Juliet was on her own now, and she would have to take greater heed of her words, not to mention actions.

Upon leaving her room to go downstairs, she encountered her stepbrother. She gave him a questioning look as he barred her way.

“I wish to talk with you before we go down, and not with Lord Hawkswood around.” He gestured to the door behind Juliet, indicating they should enter.

Pansy took one look at Marius and left the room at once. Juliet knew her maid detested him, but felt abandoned by one she thought she could trust to assist her.

“Well?” she asked unhelpfully, standing in the center of the lovely room, while refusing to take a seat so he might tower over her.

“When did you meet your husband?” Marius demanded nastily. “And where?”

“I met him while with Miss Pritchard. He swept me off my feet, which you can readily believe now you have met him. He is a most persuasive man, indeed.” She summoned what she hoped was a reflective smile to her lips.

The connecting door opened. “Juliet, will you help me with—” Alexander paused in the doorway, then entered her room as though he did it often. “Sorry, I did not know your stepbrother sought time with you. I shall see you later.” But Alexander didn’t move, looking to Juliet for a clue, she suspected.

“Do not leave, Alexander. I can help you in a moment. I was merely telling Marius how we met. He wants to know about when we married.” Turning to her stepbrother, she continued, “It was most romantic. He whisked me off to Gretna Green, where we were married by the local parson.”