Juliana (15 page)

“That’s considerate,” she allowed. “You really are quite an apt pupil, James.”

He tipped his hat to her.

“I’m famished,” Emily announced the moment they stepped through Harding, Howell & Company’s grand mahogany double doors. “May we visit Mr. Cosway’s Breakfast Room?”

“It’s not breakfast time,” James said. “In fact, it’s past luncheon.”

Juliana laughed. “Mr. Cosway’s Breakfast Room serves refreshments all day long.” Located on the floor above, the restaurant offered wines, teas, coffee, and sweetmeats. “Have you never been here before, James?”

“I’m a man,” he said.

The department store
was
patronized mostly by women. Juliana hadn’t ever noticed that before, but she did now. Especially because a good number of the women were emitting little squeals and hiding behind the delicate pieces of furniture that were on display.

Emily started up the wide staircase with Herman and Aunt Frances. When Juliana went to follow them, James held her back. “She really should leave that snake at home,” he said once Emily was out of earshot.

Juliana was getting a bit tired of hearing that. “Are you hungry?” she asked.

“I’m a man,” he said again, and she laughed.

Upstairs, Mr. Cosway’s Breakfast Room had a glorious view over St. James’s Park to Westminster and the Surrey hills beyond. Aunt Frances and Emily were already seated across from each other at a table for four. Juliana slid into the chair beside Aunt Frances, but James just stood there, more frozen than the ice cream in the restaurant’s glass display case.

And that’s when Juliana realized the truth: he didn’t want to sit beside Emily. Or walk beside Emily. Or have anything to do with Emily—at least not while she was holding a snake.

Though it wasn’t very kind or ladylike, Juliana couldn’t help herself. A little smile quirked her lips. A snigger escaped. And finally—inevitably—she burst into laughter.

“YOU-YOU-YOU’RE
afraid of Herman!” Juliana hiccuped from laughing so hard. “Don’t tell me you’re not.”

James felt heat creep up his neck and into his face. He’d never seen a lady
quite
so consumed by hilarity. Especially at his expense.

Every diner in Mr. Cosway’s Breakfast Room was staring at them, and he wasn’t sure whether that was because of Emily’s snake or Juliana’s hiccups. Either way, it was embarrassing, possibly the most embarrassing moment of his life.

Juliana thought him laughable.

But he couldn’t deny her accusation. “Deathly afraid,” he confirmed with as much dignity as he could muster. “I was bitten by an adder at the age of seven.”

“Oh, my,” Juliana said, covering her mouth. “That must have been dreadful.”

“Very. It was quite painful, and my ankle swelled up horribly, and I was consumed by fever.” He had also cast up his accounts several times, but he wouldn’t say so in the presence of ladies. “I should never want to encounter such a thing again,” he added, scowling at the
thing
around Emily’s shoulders.

“But Herman isn’t an adder,” Emily said, lifting the loathsome, scaly body over her head and holding it up, evidently to give James a better look. ”He’s a grass snake. He doesn’t have any poison, and he doesn’t bite.”

James was well aware of that—‘know thy enemy,’ after all. He knew that adders were the only venomous snakes found in England, and that this specimen was quite obviously not an adder. It was too long and slender and had different markings. James’s fear of it was completely irrational, and he’d be the first to acknowledge that fact.

But that didn’t mean he was going anywhere near the blasted thing.

Even now, though he stood a good six feet away, the sight of it made his pulse feel thready and his insides clench. If Emily came any closer, he feared he might cast up his accounts right here in Harding, Howell & Company’s froufrou little restaurant.

He glanced over to see that Juliana was no longer laughing, but instead was watching him closely. So closely he had a funny feeling she was peering right through his skin to glimpse his churning stomach and his pounding heart. To glimpse just how pathetic he was. Too weak to conquer his ridiculous fear of a child’s harmless pet.

“He’s very nice,” the child was saying. She made to rise from her chair. “You can pet him…”

James meant to move away, but his stomach began to rebel—

Suddenly Juliana pushed back from the table, making a loud
screech
. “I’ve just realized I’m not hungry,” she announced.

“But I am!” Emily plopped back onto her chair.

Juliana turned to her with a bright smile. “You can stay here with Aunt Frances while Lord Stafford and I finish our shopping.”

Lady Frances frowned. “Shouldn’t I accompany the two of you?”

“No, Auntie, you can stay with Emily. We’re in a public place, surrounded by dozens of people, and we shan’t be gone long.” With that, Juliana placed her arm in James’s and marched him away. He looked back to see Lady Frances humming to herself while one of her charges left alone with an unmarried man and the other cradled a reptilian menace.

As he walked, James was taking deep, slow breaths to calm his stomach. He wasn’t certain, but he thought Juliana might have just saved him from utter humiliation and infamy.

“Thank you,” he said quietly as they headed down the staircase. “You must think me a coward.”

“Don’t be silly. We all have our fears.”

He doubted that. “What’s yours, then?”

“Blood,” she said without hesitation. “I would make a terrible doctor. And unlike you, I don’t have a legitimate reason for my fear. No traumatizing bloody events in my childhood.”

She laughed, but this time it was at herself, not him. Which made all the difference.

Which made him like her even more.

“Lady Amanda isn’t afraid of blood,” she informed him. “I should think you’d be pleased to know that, since I expect it’s an important attribute for a physician’s wife.”

“I don’t think that really matters,” he told her. It certainly wasn’t on his list of wifely requirements. Not that he was looking for a wife, anyway. He tightened his grip on Juliana’s arm, and she leaned closer to him. Even though it was cold and rainy outside, she seemed to smell of sunshine and flowers.

“I think Lady Amanda would like a fan,” she said, guiding him past the glazed mahogany partition that separated the fur and fan departments.

He didn’t want to buy Lady Amanda a fan, but he didn’t want to disappoint Juliana, either. And he especially didn’t want her to give up on their “lessons,” because she really
was
too good for stuffy Castleton. After the way she’d just come to James’s rescue, he felt even more strongly that he must spend as much time with her as possible—to keep her away from the duke, of course.

So he bought a fan.

“I think Lady Amanda would like gloves,” she said next. And although he didn’t want to buy gloves for Lady Amanda—although he didn’t want to buy
anything
for Lady Amanda—he dutifully paid for the lace pair she picked out.

She thought Lady Amanda would like perfume, so they stopped by the perfumery department. She thought Lady Amanda would like candy, so they visited the confectioners. Soon he was burdened with bags and boxes.

He’d always hated shopping, and he’d been extremely displeased when she’d chosen the shops for their first outing. But—besides the unfortunate snake incident—this day wasn’t turning out as badly as he’d anticipated. He rather enjoyed being gallant and saving Juliana from stuffy Castleton.

Seeing that prig at her house earlier had made him grit his teeth.

They were buying some fancy writing paper when Lady Frances and Emily sought them out. “Lady Juliana,” Emily said, “you are taking
forever
.”

Looking startled, Juliana turned from the stationery counter. And the next thing she did was immediately move to put herself between Emily and James. He could have kissed her for that.

Not that he’d actually kiss her, of course—that would be highly improper.

But he wanted to.

He did?

He did. What did
that
mean?

Perhaps it was just that he’d been without female companionship a long while. After all, he only wanted to
kiss
Juliana. It wasn’t as if he wanted to marry her. Even if he couldn’t remember wanting to kiss anyone since…well…

Anyhow, it was a perfectly natural urge. It didn’t have to mean anything.

“Goodness, Emily,” Juliana was saying, “you’re right. We
have
taken forever. In fact, we’ve taken so long that Lord Stafford is going to be late for Parliament. We’ll have to take a hackney coach home so he can go there straightaway.”

James might have been a coward, but he wasn’t a fool. He knew she’d said that to save him from riding with the
thing
in his carriage.

He could have kissed her for that, too.

ALMOND MACAROONS

Beat Whites of Eggs with salt until stiff, then add Almonds ground fine, Sugar and a bit of ground Rice. Put in little mounds and make flat on Paper, then add an Almond in each middle before baking in your oven.

When I wish to see my husband amorous, I feed him these macaroons. They've never failed me yet.
—Katherine, Countess of Greystone, 1763

JULIANA PLACED
little mounds of dough on a paper-lined baking tin, spacing them carefully while she hid a yawn. She’d been up since dawn. After spending the morning with Emily—who
still
refused to relinquish Herman—now she was making almond macaroons with Amanda.

According to Chase family legend, the macaroons were supposed to make one—Juliana blushed to even think the word—
amorous
. Juliana planned to give some to James and tell him to eat them tomorrow, hoping they would make him act warmly toward Amanda at Lady Partridge’s ball later that evening. Since she wasn’t certain whether the macaroons needed to be made by the woman seeking attention—her grandmother, who’d penned the recipe, hadn’t been clear—she’d decided to ask for Amanda’s help just in case.

“Put an almond in the center of each macaroon,” she said through another yawn.

“That’s the third time you’ve yawned,” Amanda observed, plopping the nuts on top rather haphazardly. “Are you sleepy?”

Juliana’s fourth yawn seemed to echo off the basement kitchen’s walls. “This week has been exhausting.”

She’d been very busy since Monday’s visit to the Institute and Tuesday’s jaunt to the shops. Not only had she hosted another sewing party and spent all her free time stitching, but the duke had called on her every single day—though their visits were always brief, as she was forever running off to outings with James. The duke had danced with her twice at Almack’s on Wednesday night, and he said the nicest things to her. His attentiveness was encouraging, and she was certain it was only a matter of time before he asked for her hand. A perfect gentleman, he remained careful not to touch her, demonstrating the respect due a lady.

James, on the other hand, seemed to touch her so often she was beginning to think the accidents might not all be accidental.

On Wednesday afternoon, when she and James had taken advantage of a few glorious dry hours to go riding in Hyde Park, he’d helped her on and off her horse on six different occasions—to buy refreshments from a stand, to look at some flowers, to take a stroll by the Serpentine—and she didn’t think she’d imagined the way his hands rested on her waist longer and longer each time.

James had skipped Almack’s again Wednesday night—more trouble at the Institute, apparently—but Thursday evening, when they’d attended the theater, he’d set his chair so close to hers in the box that his leg was against her skirts during much of the performance. In the intermission, he’d brought her a syllabub and then claimed twice that she had cream on her lip and wiped it away with his handkerchief.

“Did I tell you I received another gift from Lord Stafford?” Amanda flattened a macaroon and stuck a piece of almond in it. “Three gifts in one week!”

“Use the whole almonds, Amanda. You want the macaroons to look pretty, don’t you?” Juliana picked out the broken nut and replaced it with a perfect one, thinking Amanda was almost as hopeless at cooking as Corinna. It was a good thing that earl’s wives weren’t expected to set foot in the kitchen. “What did he send you this time?” she asked.