Lady Revealed (21 page)

“What if I don’t wish to be presented?” Juliette practically spit.

“You were born to that world,” Bentley countered.

“But I am not of that world, Lord Bentley. I am a ballerina and that is how I plan to continue.”

Acker stifled a groan. For most of his adult life Bentley had been unyielding and judgmental, avoided scandal and expected everyone to behave as their status dictated. His marriage to Eleanor changed much of how Bentley viewed the world, others and himself. However, Acker didn’t believe Bentley changed enough to accept that his sister would continue to dance and be part of the theatre.

“A lady does not perform in a theatre setting,” Bentley bit out.

“This lady intends to,” Juliette countered through clenched teeth.

Bentley turned to Acker.

“Don’t bring me into this.” He wanted Juliette’s anger directed at Bentley and not himself.

His friend ignored his request. “Tell her. A lady of Society is not a performer.”

Acker sighed. As much as he did not want to incur the wrath of Juliette, he had to answer honestly. “It is not done.” He sighed. “In fact, it is scandalous.”

Juliette looked from Acker to Bentley and back to Acker. “So, I am to assume neither one of you will support my wish to continue to dance.”

“No,” Bentley answered honestly.

Acker wasn’t sure how he felt. He knew Juliette was a ballerina from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. But, it was also the only world they had ever known. “There are so many more options available to you,” he began. “You no longer need to dance.”

Juliette blew out a breath and Acker knew he had said the wrong thing. He should have simply said he would support her in whatever she wished to do. Instead he had been truthful and now she probably hated him.

The coach slowed to a stop and he looked out the window. There was nothing around but trees and fields. Bentley pushed open the door. “Why are we stopping,” he called up to the driver.

“Young Paul needed a bit of privacy, Lord Bentley.”

Just then the lad dashed across the short field, holding himself as he ran into a copse of trees. Acker would have laughed at the sight if Juliette wasn’t so angry with him at the moment.

Juliette stood and stumbled to the door, practically tripping over Bentley’s foot.

“Where you going?” Acker asked with concern.

“I am going to ride with my mother.” With that she jumped from the coach and slammed the door behind her. Juliette turned toward the rear coach and Acker wanted to call out that her mother rode in the first one but thought better of it. A moment later she marched past, one sister on either side of her. Oh dear, she was angry and Acker wondered if he would be able to hear her yelling from a coach away as they traveled.

Paul emerged from the woods and ran toward the middle coach. He and Bentley shared a look. Surely they weren’t all crowding in the first coach with their mother. There were already four people. Seven would make it unbearably cramped.

A footman jumped to the ground and opened the coach door. Acker looked over to see his mother standing there. Juliette must have booted her. Was it because of the space or was Juliette angry with mother because she had given birth to him.

Eleanor slid over so his mother could take a seat. “Well, what do you have to say for yourself?” she demanded of Bentley.

He shrugged. “I simply told her she would no longer be dancing and that it wasn’t necessary.”

She turned cool eyes on Acker. “I suppose you agreed with him?”

“I agreed that it was not done for a lady of society to be a dancer and that there were more options available to her now.”

Lady Acker then turned to Eleanor for clarification. Acker hadn’t been paying much attention to her while Bentley and Juliette argued. Eleanor was shaking her head, mouth pursed. Good God, even she was displeased. “In essence,” Eleanor began with a glare at her husband. “They dictated how Julia would not go about her life and being a ballerina was not acceptable.”

His mother speared Bentley with a stare. “I thought you had changed.”

“So did I,” Eleanor muttered and turned to look out the window.

Juliette was angry with both Bentley and himself and now Eleanor and his mother were as well. Acker turned toward the window too. Bloody hell this was a mess.

As much as Juliette wished to rant and rave about the pigheadedness of Bentley and Acker, she refrained. It was only because her mother was resting and didn’t wish to disturb her. Her sisters had looked at her oddly when pulled from the coaches and marched to maman’s and she could only hastily whisper to them that Bentley had ruled that she will not dance and how dare he decide what she would and would not do.

Both of her sister’s eyes flashed with anger. She knew
Genviève and Hélène would support her even if nobody else did. Besides, Hélène had no intention of giving up acting either so it would be them against the rest of the family. Even though Juliette wished to discuss it with her mother, since the woman already had experience with an overbearing Bentley, she did not. Her mother needed to rest and Juliette wasn’t going to add her problems onto her fragile health.

It was nearing sunset when the coach stopped for the last time. She was assisted out after the carriage and stopped to stare up at the Elizabethan Mansion. The place was huge. It rose four floors above ground and was as long as it was tall. The lawn was meticulously manicured with fresh gravel in the drive and bushes, neatly trimmed, blanketed the lower portion of the house beneath the windows. This was to be her home? She had lived here as a child?

Juliette tried to bring forth memories but she had none of this home.

Her mother appeared in the doorway and looked up. “I never thought to return here,” she said with some sadness.

Juliette turned and took the arm opposite the one the footman was holding and assisted her mother to the ground. Perhaps this wasn’t a wise decision. Maman did not have happy memories of this home. Surely there was somewhere else they could stay.

The large doors opened and servants filed out and formed a straight line. Was this how a lord was greeted when he returned home? This world was more foreign than any place she had lived before. Juliette linked her arm with mamans and followed Bentley toward the door. Angry as she was with him at the moment, maman was more important. She needed to get her settled into bed. The sooner she rested the quicker she could recover.

Older servants were at the head of the line. When they saw Juliette and her mother their expressions changed from politeness to shock and disbelief. They must have worked here when maman was still in residence. Bentley paused before the small grouping of older servants and whispered to them. Juliette wished to know what he said but she could not hear him. They nodded and he moved on.

She stepped through the entry with her mother and sisters and was in awe of her surroundings. A chandelier hung from the center with dozens of candles brightening the spacious area and a wide, marble staircase curved up to the second level of the house.

Juliette knew she had been here before in that she felt it deep inside without any specific memory. There was familiarity but nothing she could grasp onto and a mixture of fear and happiness assaulted her. For a moment Juliette found it difficult to breath.

Bentley closed the door to the others. Only he, his brothers, her sisters and maman were inside. Wasn’t it rude to keep the others outside waiting?

“Lady Bentley, it is good to have you home,” an elderly woman smiled.

“Nurse?” her mother questioned.

“Lord Bentley kept me on when Lady Bentley arrived with her sister and scamps for brothers,” the woman chuckled before she turned to Juliette.

A soft, loving smile came to her lips and she placed a warm hand against Juliette’s cheeks. “You have grown into a beautiful young woman, Lady Julia.” She sniffed. “I’ve never forgotten you or your mother.”

Juliette had no recollection of the nurse, but there was comfort in her touch and for a moment she longed to have the woman pull her close and hold her as she would a child. Had nurse often done so because the need was so powerful it nearly brought tears to her eyes?

“And who might these young ladies be,” she asked, directing her attention to Hélène and Genviève.

“My daughters, twins,” maman answered.

The older woman nodded. “I suspect they are the reason you left,” she said quietly.

“Yes,” mother admitted.

“Well, now you are home.” She took a step back. “The staff will get you settled.” She turned to Juliette. “And I will check on you later.”

Juliette could only stare after her. She was a bit old for a nursemaid.

“She loved you the best and cried for days after you were gone,” Jordan said when he stopped beside her. “I suspect she will not leave you be until she has had your life’s story.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she insisted Julia marry immediately so she can take care of her children since she missed the opportunity to see to Julia,” Matthew offered.

Juliette watched the woman climb the stairs. This stranger had loved her that much?

“I will meet with the older servants, the ones who remember you, privately,” Bentley was advising mother. “The rest do not need to know who you are yet. We don’t wish for the gossip to reach London until we decide how we are going to deal with the situation.”

That must be why he kept everyone outside. Nurse had not been there, but in here. Somehow Juliette knew the woman would keep the secret as long as necessary.

“I’ll have Mrs. Winter show you to your room.”

Maman nodded and Bentley opened the door, allowing the others to enter. Surely they found it odd he behaved in such a manner but nobody said anything and had already set about unloading their belongings from the carriages. The servants simply went about their work by carrying in trunks and following the ladies to their rooms.

Juliette followed a footman who carried her trunk up the grand staircase to the first landing. “These floors hold the sitting rooms, parlors and library,” a young maid explained as they turned and began walking up another set of stairs. “This floor houses the bedchambers. The family rooms are in the east wing.”

The maid and footman Juliette was following turned toward the east wing and her heart began to hammer in her chest. Halfway down the hall they stopped and a door was pushed open. The footman stood back allowing Juliette to enter. She slowly took a step inside before glancing back. Genviève was being shown to a room across the hall and Hélène would be next to Juliette. Her mother, on the other hand, was three rooms down, closer to the family set of chambers. She wished they wouldn’t have put maman so far away. What if Juliette couldn’t hear her at night, when maman usually needed her the most?

“Don’t worry, Miss,” the young maid began, as if reading Juliette’s mind. “There will be three maids assigned to your mother and someone will be with her at all times and be able to alert you if you are needed.”

Juliette smiled gratefully.

“His lordship said she was someone important to him and we were to treat her as if she were family.”

She was family, but the maid didn’t know that.

“I am Erin, Miss, and I will be taking care of you while you are here.”

“Thank you, Erin.” Juliette had never had a personal maid before and wasn’t sure what to do with one. Her mother’s homes always had servants, until coming to England, but they served as cook, butler and maid for cleaning.

“I’ll get to putting your things away, unless there is something else you’ll be needing.”

Juliette wasn’t sure what she needed at this moment. It was all too much and a mixture of emotions assailed her the moment she crossed the threshold into this mansion.

“Supper will be served in two hours. Would you like to rest until then?”

“No, I don’t need rest.” Juliette turned and took in the room. It was decorated in pale greens and creams. A heavy four poster bed took up the center of the room, its headboard against the outside wall, framed by two windows. On the opposite wall was a small fireplace. An armoire sat at the opposite end of the room with a door on each side. The maid entered one of the doors and Juliette looked past her and realized it was a small dressing closet. Juliette crossed the room and opened the opposite door to see where it led. Inside was a bathing chamber with a small hip bath. Were all the rooms at Bentley Manor outfitted in such a way? How wealthy was her brother?

Even though they had lived well prior to coming back, only her mother ever had a private bathing chamber. Juliette had shared the other with her sisters, off of the kitchen so as not to have to haul hot water up a flight of stairs.

Juliette returned to her room and looked out the window. It faced the back lawn. She knew this view. She had seen it before. Juliette closed her eyes and tried to grasp hold of the memory, but there was nothing. Only the scene was familiar to her. She glanced about the room once again. This chamber was not however. She didn’t think she had ever been in here before. If she walked through the house would she remember something from her childhood? It was ridiculous that she would, though. She had not been much more than a babe when they left.

“I am going to walk,” she called to Erin.

“Very good, miss. I’ll see that your things are put away.”

Juliette stopped in the corridor and looked one way and then the next. She turned toward the east wing. That is where the family resided. Perhaps she would recall spending time there.

As she got closer and closer to where the chambers lay, anxiety built. Why?

Just before the hall turned there was a set of steps. She looked up and knew they led to the nursery. Her room had been a floor above and directly over where she had been settled.

Hesitantly she placed her hand on the railing and mounted the steps. They were narrower than those leading to the first and second floor, but it wasn’t as if guests came up here. With each step her heartbeat increased. Why was she so afraid?

The landing opened on a narrow hall. Juliette could hear the laughter of Eleanor’s brothers from further away. They were in the schoolroom which also functioned as a play room.

Why did she remember that?

Two doors down she stopped. This had been her room. Slowly she turned the handle and stepped inside. Though dust covered the furnishings and toys, nothing was out of place. It was exactly as it had been the night maman took her from here.

Juliette wandered to the window beside the small bed she once slept in. It was the same view from her chamber below and oh so familiar. The anxiety melted away and she sank into the chair nurse often rocked her in. This was her home.

The bed was still covered in a lavender blanket but something was missing. What sat at the corner of her bed, beside the pillow? Juliette closed her eyes and tried to remember but it wasn’t coming to her.

*

“I wish to court Juliette,” Acker announced to the four brothers. He would have preferred only Bentley was in the room, but after seeing that their wives were settled, the four had met in here to partake of a brandy before dinner.

“To what purpose?” John asked.

“Marriage of course.” Why else did a gentleman court a lady?

“You’ve know her a year,” Matthew pointed out. “In Milan you didn’t wish for a permanent relationship.”

“That is not so,” Acker argued.

Bentley lifted an eyebrow in interest.

How did he explain without Jordan demanding they meet at dawn again? “I was taken with Juliette in Milan, but it wasn’t nearly enough time to know her properly.”

“Did you know her improperly?” Jordan asked.

He wasn’t about to tell them of the moments they shared alone. Such a confession would get him killed. “No. I meant there wasn’t much time to know her, and… .” Perhaps he shouldn’t say the rest.

“And?” Bentley prompted.

“She was a ballerina. What would society think if I married a dancer?”

They nodded. At least they agreed with him on that issue.

“Do I have your permission?”

Bentley stared at him for a moment. Surely he wasn’t going to deny him. Bentley knew him probably better than most. He knew he was honorable. At least most of the time. And, he was wealthy and a lord, with estates. What more could a brother want for his sister?

“It is up to Julia.”

She may tell him to go hang. “Very well.”

Jordan stood. “I will go see if she is resting or available to meet with us.” He quit the room and Acker sank onto a chair. What would her answer be?

Bentley refilled his glass, chuckled and wandered over to stand by the fireplace.

*

Juliette opened her eyes and looked at the bed once again. She must have taken whatever was missing with her though she wished she could remember what it was.

“Are you looking for this?”

Startled, Juliette turned toward the door to find Jordan standing there, holding a doll in a faded lavender dress.

An image flashed through her mind of the doll being yanked from her arms? She was crying, but why?

He walked into the room and held it out to her. “I saved it for you. I found it by the wreckage after your carriage was to have gone over the bridge.”

She took it in her hands and studied it. What was it about the doll that upset her so?

“You never let go of it, not even in your sleep,” Jordan said with a smile. “Do you remember?”