The Infamous Bride (24 page)

"How can you ask me that?" He was surprised to see that his words had wounded her. "If you have, I do not mind. I know that you do not intend to do anything to jeopardize our situation any further. Now, tell me. Why was Mr. Handley-Brown kissing your cheek?"

To his relief, there was not a speck of guilt in her eyes when she said shortly, "Because I showed him how to approach the woman he fancies."

He laughed with relief. "Matchmaking? I should have known." As he had suspected, he had nothing to fear. "Still, you must be careful. Even an innocent kiss of thanks can become a stain of scandal too large to blot up with explanation."

She did not seem at all chastened. In fact, her truculent attitude suggested he was at fault somehow. "Well, perhaps there would be no gossip that I am casting my eye on another man if only you paid me some attention."

"Pay you some attention? Like this?" He followed her suggestion, bestowing the attention of his lips to her collarbone. When she moved away, he followed and took hold of her waist so that he could nibble at her ear.

But she had fixed upon her idea and would not be shaken from it no matter the kisses he pressed to her neck or shoulder or breast. "Couldn't you put your business aside just for the span of this voyage?"

He closed his eyes. So like her to ask such a thing. "That's impossible."

"We could consider this our wedding trip. Men don't work on their wedding trips, do they?" She put her hand on his mouth to stop his kisses while she spoke.

Her argument was not unreasonable. But if he were to give in to her now, he would spend a lifetime catering to her whims, and he would not have that. So he avoided answering her directly. "Juliet, you must understand." He sighed. "That is impossible."

"But — " He stopped her words with kisses. At least for a time, until they lay entwined, exhausted from their lovemaking.

She ran her hand lightly along his ribs. "R.J., could you not spend just a little more time with me?"

"I'm sorry that I couldn't give you the kind of marriage you wished, Juliet." He rubbed his cheek along the top of her head. "But we both must compromise. You must find your amusements without me. And I must do everything in my power to make my father see that I am not completely irresponsible."

"Surely he will not — " She seemed shocked.

"He will." His father was a hard man to explain, especially to a woman like Juliet. R.J. had no intention of doing so. He added, "I have to show him that one mistake doesn't mean I can't be trusted."

"Mistake? Is that how you think of me?"

"Do you tell me you would have me on your balcony again, now that you know what you must give up? We both know it was unwise to let things happen as they did." Unwise, and yet not something he truly regretted. Not that he would confess such a thing to anyone else.

He could see that she wanted to protest that she would not change a thing, but something stopped her. Honesty, perhaps. Or fear. He closed his eyes, not wanting to see the truth in her expression. "You will allow Mama Annabel to guide you in how to behave properly. For both our sakes."

She exhaled softly, but said nothing. He decided the better part of valor was to feign sleep. Tomorrow, she would surely see the wisdom of putting herself under Annabel's older and wiser tutelage.

* * * * *

Juliet was stunned. He thought she should submit herself to Annabel's stern rule and cloister herself away? She had to bite her lip to keep from crying. Did that mean that he truly did consider their marriage a mistake? Surely in a moment he would open his eyes and tell her he did not.

"Fate," she whispered. "Not a mistake. Fate."

There was no reply from him, and his breathing remained so even that she could not tell if he had fallen asleep or was merely pretending.

He slept like a babe, without even knowing how deeply he'd hurt her. So much for making a marriage work. Apparently that meant that he had no obligation except to please his father. And she must now please Annabel.

Well, she could conduct herself quite well without Annabel's advice, and he would see that soon enough.

Annabel's disapproval would give her a good enough indication as to whether or not she was on the verge of creating another scandal. She would not, she vowed, do that. R.J. worked hard so as not to be disinherited, she would not allow her behavior to cause him trouble with his father.

But neither would she ask Annabel's counsel. Instead, she would keep Susannah by her side at all times so that she could not be accused of conduct unbefitting a married woman. Susannah would agree. She understood that Juliet meant no harm. She just liked to laugh. And she enjoyed making others laugh as well. Even if she could not do so for her own husband. Even if he thought her behavior needed a check.

The ache in her chest was a shock. Somehow her husband had won her heart, and she did not know how or when he had done so.

Now what was she to do?

* * * * *

Boston was a noisy city. The sounds seemed profoundly different from those of London. Juliet stood on the dock, absorbing the odors, the sounds, the sights, of this young and ambitious country.

The people spoke loudly, harshly, their accents sometimes difficult for her to understand. She tried to see it as her new home. To think of it in terms of adventure, as she had told her sisters she would. The noise and bustle, however, seemed more unwelcoming than adventurous.

Her gaze caught and held on a woman who resembled Miranda in a way that made a wave of homesickness wash up on the parched shores of her heart. The woman greeted her returning husband with a sound halfway between a laugh and a cry. The embrace they shared radiated their joy to be reunited.

Juliet wanted desperately to turn on her heel and reboard the ship. Unfortunately, R.J. stood behind her, blocking her path. Besides, as her moment of panic subsided, she realized her family would only send her back to face the marriage she had made with her own disregard for consequences.

Annabel scanned the crowd. "I see Norton and the carriages." She pointed toward where two stiffly formal servants stood in front of two fine carriages. "Your father does not appear to be here." She frowned and turned to R.J. "No doubt he does not wish to show his displeasure with you in a public display. How unfortunate your slip in reason means your sister and I must delay seeing him again."

Without allowing him time for a retort, she swept forward in the disembarking throng to supervise the loading of their luggage onto the second carriage.

Could this snub be her fault? Juliet whispered, "Would your father truly have been afraid to meet you publicly?"

R.J. stared after Annabel for a moment and then shared an eloquent glance with his sister that Juliet could not interpret. Was he hurt by his father's absence? Was he worried?

Susannah smiled at her in comfort. "No. Father does not often have the time to gather us from the train station or the dock."

Juliet looked to R.J. for confirmation.

"True enough." He nodded. "I suspect Annabel just wishes to grind her heel into my sinful heart one more time before she must behave herself in front of Father."

Juliet tried to imagine Annabel curbing her use of sharp words and criticism. "Do you mean she does not say such things to you in front of your father?"

Susannah shook her head. "She would not dare. Father does not like recriminations or excessive displays of feeling." With a dim smile of resignation, she hurried to follow her mother to the waiting carriages.

A heartening thought at last. Someone who would not bow to Annabel's whim, as R.J. and Susannah both did. As they walked toward the carriages themselves, she stopped him for a moment to catch his gaze and hold it. "Is what Susannah said true? Does Annabel guard her tongue around your father?"

He nodded.

"Then I am looking forward to meeting your father no matter what Annabel has said about his intentions to disinherit you because you married me. If he knows better than to listen to Annabel, he cannot be a true monster."

He smiled. For a moment there was a look in his eyes that made her think he would bend down to kiss her, even in this public hustle and bustle. Instead, he contented himself with saying, "I think he shall be quite pleased to meet you, Juliet."

With a touch of pique, she asked, "Even though I caused a scandal and ruined you?"

His smile was so faint she wasn't even certain she'd truly seen it. "Every man must be ruined someday." He took her elbow to hurry her along, and she wished instead that he had gathered her into his arms for a reassuring embrace.

His words, however, were pleasing to her ears. "You have a way about you with men, Juliet. I don't think my father will be any more immune than Mr. Handley-Brown when it comes to your charm."

Juliet crossed her fingers behind her back. She hoped so. She hoped Annabel was wrong. Perhaps she would not have to curb her laughter, or dress all in drab colors to prevent father and son from being split apart.

* * * * *

R.J. suspected that his words to Juliet on the dock were too optimistic. But she had been looking into his eyes with such hope. He had not wanted to see the relief on her face dissolve back into dread when he explained that Annabel did not criticize and complain in front of her husband. No. Her words were much more tempered. However, his father listened to her counsel without hesitation. If Annabel advised him against Juliet, he did not know what his father would ask of his new bride. Or of R.J. himself.

As soon as they alit from the carriage, Annabel turned to Susannah. "Show your new sister-in-law her quarters, please."

Susannah, startled, opened her mouth to ask a question, but Annabel's frown silenced her. Annabel continued, "She will have to share R.J.'s room, of course. For now."

R.J. caught Juliet's confused expression as Susannah whisked her into the entryway and smiled reassuringly. "We can begin looking for our own home as soon as you feel ready."

He followed, expecting his father to greet them, dreading the moment. But only Thomas the butler and two maids waited. The ornately carved double doors of his father's study remained firmly closed. Not a good sign.

"I shall handle this," Annabel said sharply, almost as if she thought he were foolish enough to argue. "You make arrangements for Juliet to bathe and become as presentable as possible for your father, while I prepare him."

Before R.J. had removed his hat and gloves and ordered the maids to prepare a bath for his bride, Annabel closeted herself with her husband.

"I would like a whisky, neat, Thomas," he said, partly to relieve the butler's obvious anxiety about what was expected of him and partly to fortify himself for the inevitable discussion with his father.

"Yes, sir." Thomas sprang gratefully into action, and then hesitated. "I meant to say, sir, the staff wishes me to convey congratulations on your marriage."

R.J. nodded and smiled. "Thomas, within a week I guarantee they will be wondering how I ever managed to marry a woman like Juliet Fenster."

The butler blinked twice. "Juliet, sir?"

For the first time, R.J. realized that his bride's name was going to feed the downstairs gossip for a week. If word were to leak into society about his given name…. R.J. was almost relieved when one of the maids came to invite him to join his father in the study.

He hoped his own assurance that Juliet would be an asset as his wife, combined with an apology for the near disaster caused by his unfortunate lapse in judgment, would allay his father's concerns.

It would most likely be best to avoid describing the bewitching combination of moon and Juliet's beautiful voice. Instead, he would focus on how Juliet had won the elusive Handley-Brown business by charming the man on the voyage home.

Jonathan Hopkins's expression was grave. "R.J., I am disappointed." He smoothed a note in front of him, as if by running his palms over the paper he was absorbing the words written there. "I thought I had taught you enough to know when to avoid the trap of a pretty face and a moment's impulse."

In light of his behavior, R.J. had been prepared to grovel. His father's stern frown, however, made him balk. R.J. had been the one forced to marry, after all, not his father. "I should never have allowed my impulses to lead me into an unexpected marriage. Still, I do believe that you have no cause for concern. I think you will find that Juliet will make a fine wife for me. In fact, she has already proved herself an asset." He described the success with Samuel Handley-Brown, watching his father for any signs of softening, but seeing none.

"I married hastily. I had one lapse in judgment." R.J. wondered if a description of the moon would soften his father. Somehow he suspected it would only add to his father's disappointment. "I will never allow it to happen again."

"Very well. Then we will talk of it no more." With a much lighter manner, Jonathan Hopkins asked, " You say you have had success with Samuel Handley-Brown at last. What else have you to tell me."

Briefly, he updated his father on the most pressing business news he had. The tension in the man across the desk from him gradually abated as they spoke. As to the business he had conducted while away, he could not help but be proud of what he had to report. London was ready for their goods. And he had made many contacts his father had been hoping to make these last few years. Who knew so many businessmen traveled to England? As his father questioned him closely, he realized that Jonathan Hopkins most likely had known and had been testing his son's abilities. As usual.

Jonathan Hopkins did not accept such assurances without question. "This Juliet," he practically choked on her name. "She is the sober woman you were looking for? The helpmate for a good businessman?"

Sober was not a word he would use to describe Juliet. But he did not want his father to get the wrong impression about his bride. "She is beautiful, true, and used to laughter. However — " He could not use Juliet's button enterprise to impress his father without breaking his word to her sister. Or worse, letting Juliet know that he knew what she had done. "However," he continued, "I have found her to have good judgment." At times, he added silently.