A Scandalous Charade (37 page)

Luke hadn’t remembered ever spending so much time with his brother, not since they were children. As different as they were, he was surprised to realize that he actually liked Robert and respected him. When they’d been in Dorset, his brother had refused to even discuss Lydia with him, but now the floodgates were open. And as they grew closer, Robert began to confide in Luke—something that had never happened in the past, even before Lydia had entered their lives.

Robert had explained how he’d encountered Lydia earlier in the season at Caroline’s ball; how he’d been enthralled with her and had bullied his way into her life; how he’d begged her to give him a child; how he’d fallen madly in love with his own wife. The whole thing was a surprising tale to be sure, and Luke found himself wanting to confide in Robert as well—but he had promised Juliet not to reveal her identity.

However, one night, in Robert’s coach, after they’d sat through a rather painful musicale featuring the talents of their cousin Olivia, Luke gathered up his courage and launched into the crux of his problem with Juliet. “Robert, I’ve done something terrible.”

Robert seemed to relax a bit. “I’m not sure. I wanted her, lusted after her. I suppose I loved her before I realized it—if that makes any sense. I wanted to make her happy, to see her smile at me, to earn her trust. Then one day I woke up with the most beautiful woman in my arms and the world felt right.”

The world felt right. That was a feeling Luke had known, and he’d lost it all. “I envy you, Rob. I’ve lost the woman I love, and I’d give anything to have her back.”

Robert’s eyes took on a compassionate tint. “Who is she married to?”

A laugh escaped Luke’s throat. Robert always did cut to the chase, even while he tried to be supportive. “She’s not married to anyone, and never plans to be—least of all to me.”

“Prestwick?” Robert’s frown deepened. “Isn’t that Caroline’s friend? The one she went to finishing school with? Oh, Lucas, I’m so sorry. She’s passed away, hasn’t she?”

Georgie. Robert thought he meant Georgie. He shook his head sadly, “No, Lady Teynham was Juliet’s older sister. She’s the one who has passed.”

Even in the darkened coach, Luke felt Robert’s eyes narrow, assessing him. “Lady Teynham? Isn’t that Miss Mitford’s previous employer?”

“Yes,” Luke answered truthfully. Technically speaking the Miss Mitford that was somewhere in India had been Georgie’s previous employee.

“I see,” Robert replied, and Luke was afraid that perhaps Robert did see more than he’d meant for him to. But his brother urged him on with a supportive smile. “So, this Lady Juliet doesn’t care for you?”

Luke leaned back against the squabs and shrugged with a frown. “I don’t know anymore. She did love me once. God, Rob, it scared the hell out of me, and I ran as far away as I could. But in doing so, I realized how much I loved her. So, I returned home, prepared to fall at her feet and beg for forgiveness—only to find her gone, and I was devastated. Then I stumbled upon her in…er, a very unlikely place. And I would have stayed forever, but she doesn’t want to me. She finds me to be a self-serving bastard—her exact words.”

Luke’s eyes flashed to Robert’s. Had he revealed too much? Had his brother figured out what he hadn’t said? Luke didn’t ask, as that would certainly give Juliet away, but he nodded thankfully. In the very least, the ban from Gosling Park had been lifted. That was something.

***

Caroline’s role took a different tack to battle the rumors about Lydia. She began by confiding an awful secret to Lady Tatton, a notorious gossip. With teary eyes and a shaky voice, Caroline fretted over how sad it was that her brother Lucas would never be a father. This was why poor Luke had never married—he’d been diagnosed as sterile by old Doctor Grant back in Dorset when he was just a boy. Terrible riding accident.

Caroline then shook her head sadly when she relayed the same devastating tale to Lady Pennington. Luke had always been such a warm and loving uncle to her three children, and though she was certain he was happy for Robert’s good fortune, he was slightly jealous as well. Lady Pennington had frowned at hearing the story. “Dear me, I never would have guessed such a thing. He seems like such a young, virile lad.”

But it was finally after Caroline retold the sad tale to her old friend Louisa Ridgemont that news flew all over town like wildfire. Hell hath no fury, and all of that. Louisa was only too happy to spread the tale of Luke’s sterility to anyone and everyone that would listen.

***

Finally the rumors had abated, and Luke was a laughing stock. In the gold parlor of his brother’s London home, he sat with his head in his hands. He was ruined. There simply wasn’t another way to describe what had been done to him. And his siblings were standing in the corner congratulating each other on his premature demise.

“I just don’t understand why it was necessary to unman me in such a fashion.” Luke complained. Truly, wasn’t there a better way? Something that wouldn’t cause him embarrassment the rest of his life?

“Because—” Caroline turned her back on Robert to face him, and explained for what must now have been the hundredth time— “it made sense, darling. How could you father Robert’s child if you’re sterile. Besides for all I know you actually suffer from the ailment.”

“Caro!” he exclaimed in shock. He couldn’t believe that she would even utter such a thing.

“Well, honestly, Lucas, it’s not as if you’ve been discriminatory over the years. And you have no bastards running around that I’m aware of.”

Perhaps not yet. But there was the possibility that Juliet currently carried his child. Not that he could admit such a thing. “I’m careful is all. And my little sister is the last bloody person I want to discuss this with.”

Robert’s chuckled from his spot the corner of the room. “I thank you, once again, for sacrificing your blackened reputation to protect my child, Lucas. Now, I need to run one last errand before I start back for Gosling Park. I trust you can both show yourselves out.”

Then Robert strode out the doors with more bounce to his step than he’d had in a long time, maybe ever. Lydia had done that for him. Luke realized that now. Making her happy, protecting her, gave Robert a purpose he hadn’t had before. And he truly did want his brother to be happy.

Luke realize that Caroline was still staring at him, so he straightened up and looked his sister in the eyes. She’d avoided all talk of Juliet up until now by glowering at him whenever he mentioned her name. But now that all this business with Lydia was over, he was determined to get some information out of his sister in regards to his princess. “And what will happen when I do marry someday and have a child of my own? What will people say then?”

“Oh? And have you a candidate in mind?” Then she smiled sweetly, too sweetly, and swept toward him. “Dare I hope that some woman has finally convinced you to reform your dastardly ways?”

Luke simply frowned at her. “Caroline, I’ve not yet said anything to Robert, but would you care to tell me why you’ve installed Juliet as Gosling Park’s governess?”

Caroline pursed her lips, scowled, and turned away from him. “She swore me to secrecy.”

“Come now, Caro,” he edged toward her like a stalking lion. “You’ll have to do better than that. After all, you sent me there to find her.”

She thrust out her chest and stared him bravely in the eye. “Actually, I’m quite put out with you over the entire situation, Lucas. How could you have just left her there like that?”

He wasn’t about to be dissuaded by his sister’s evasive tactics. He wanted questions answered, and he wanted them answered now. It was well past time. “What is she doing hiding at Gosling Park, Caroline?”

Caroline glowered at him and thumped him hard in the chest. “I was trying to save both of you, you ungrateful sod! If Juliet had had her way, she would have hid out near London, waited for Carraway to return with Edmund, and then vanished somewhere you’d never find her. So, yes, I sent both of you to Gosling Park. She’s in trouble and she’s all alone. And you—you bastard—left her there. You were supposed to save her. It’s really not that bloody difficult to figure out.”

Luke could only gape at his sister. She thought this should have been easy to figure out? “How exactly is she in trouble?”

With an intense glare, Caroline folded her arms across her chest, and then told him the most awful tale he’d ever heard. Juliet’s uncle had tried to kill her? But had mistakenly murdered Georgie instead? That even now, she planned to snatch Edmund up and run off to America. And all without breathing a word of any of it to him. If she got her way, he’d never see her again.

That he couldn’t bear. It was one thing knowing that she was alive and well, playing governess in Dorset, but quite another to have no idea where she was, if she was safe, if she bore his child.

She needed him whether she knew it or not. She needed him whether she was too proud to admit it or not. She needed him. And he needed her.

What he should have done months ago. Juliet wouldn’t be in this situation if he’d done the right thing from the beginning. But he still had time to make things right, or mostly right. He turned to see his sister’s anguished face. “I’m going to marry her.”

Caroline’s hazel eyes grew wide, and then her face broke out into a wide smile—the first one he’d seen in a while that was directed at him. “Wonderful. Staveley can help you get a special license. I’ll have Mrs. Herbert pack the children’s things. Oh, and I must get Robert a real governess. He’ll probably want my head for this whole thing.” She started walking toward the door.

Luke stared at her in complete shock. “Why are you packing the children’s things?”

“Because we’re going with you,” she replied airily as she started to push past him, but stopped. “The children adore you, and they are quite fond of Juliet. Besides, I haven’t been able to check in on Lydia in her condition, and—”she winked at him and cupped his jaw— “You don’t honestly think I’d miss your wedding do you? I’ve been hoping for such a thing for more than a decade.”

He couldn’t help but smile back at her. He was going to marry Juliet. A giant weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He couldn’t wait to see her. She hadn’t been very happy with him when he’d left, but they belonged to each other. Surely, she realized that in his absence.

“Oh, elephant tusks, by the way.” Caroline’s words snapped him out of his thoughts.

What the devil was she talking about now?  He really should pay more attention when his sister spoke. Who knew what he missed on a regular basis. “Elephant tusks?”

Her golden brown curls bobbed up and down as she nodded her head. “For your little ailment.” She gestured toward his groin.

His smile long gone, Luke frowned at his sister. “I don’t have a little ailment,” he ground out.

“Well, I suppose that remains to be seen. If you do have an ailment you can use it. And if you don’t, you can say you did—I want nieces and nephews, darling, and after the tales I flooded Town with, we’d better have an answer for why you and Juliet are able to—”

Luke raked a hand through his hair. Caroline never ceased to amaze him. The things that came out of her mouth! Perhaps shocking her would get her to drop the subject all together. “Elephant tusks sounds like an aphrodisiac.”

“Oh, no.” She shook her head authoritatively. “Darling, you’re thinking of rhinoceros horns.”

Well, that tack hadn’t worked, and he simply gaped at her. “I can’t even imagine how you would know that.” And truly he didn’t want to know.

“Well, darling—”

Damn it, she was going to tell him anyway.

“After news of your condition swept Town, I’ve had the most interesting conversations, with the most interesting people. I’ve also heard that drinking cinnamon water could work, or bathing in icy water, but none of that sounds quite exotic enough.”