Juliana (27 page)

Trust a brother to think that. She considered telling him Corinna believed a lady should kiss some frogs so she’ll know when she’s met her prince, but thought better of it. There was no point in getting Corinna in trouble, and besides, she was beginning to think her sister was right. If James and Amanda had already become close, perhaps the plan would have succeeded and they’d be engaged by now.

Not that she wished for
that,
mind you. She felt guilty enough as it was.

“The duke would agree with you,” she said instead, in what she hoped was a neutral tone.

“I’m certain he’ll ask for your hand soon.” Griffin awkwardly patted her knee. “I’ll have a talk with him in my stables.”

“Pardon?” What did his stables have to do with anything?

“Never mind. We’ve arrived.” The carriage halted in St. James’s Place, and Griffin began to climb out after her.

“Wait here,” she said.

“Why?”

“Just wait, will you? I cannot stay long—I have ladies coming to sew at two o’clock.” All of her projects were beginning to make her feel a bit frazzled. “It won’t take me but a minute to ask one simple question.”

“Very well,” he said, again shaking his head in that mystified, brotherly way. He plopped back onto the seat.

She banged the knocker, and the door was opened by the same crimson-liveried footman who had welcomed her last week. Through the window at the back of the entrance hall, Lady Stafford waved from the courtyard garden, then hurried inside to meet her. “How are you, my dear? I didn’t expect to see you until your sewing party this afternoon. What do you have there?”

Juliana handed her the platter. “Some Richmond Maids of Honour for Lord Stafford. And for you, too, of course.”

“They smell divine.”

“I’ve come to ask Lord Stafford a quick question. Is he at home?”

“He’s upstairs in his study, spending this beautiful day going over the Institute’s books.” Shaking her head in a fond, motherly way, she started toward the staircase. “Follow me, if you will.”

It was quite the most elegant staircase Juliana had ever seen. The metal balustrade was painted to look like festooned drapery. Above her head, a segmented barrel ceiling gave the impression of a classical temple interior with garlands swagged between Roman pilasters.

She assumed Lady Stafford was leading her toward the study, but instead she walked her through an impressive library and into the most splendid room Juliana had ever seen. If she had been a fortune-hunting sort of girl, the very sight of it would have made her want to marry James. It put the gorgeous Palm Room below it to shame.

She’d never seen so much gilt in her life. It dazzled the eye. Fancy gilt columns supported a gilt ceiling. Between all the gleaming gilt, the walls were covered with painted scenes.

“We call this the Painted Room,” Lady Stafford said. “Marriage is the theme.”

Juliana nearly swooned over the frieze painted on the chimneypiece.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Lady Stafford set the platter of cheesecakes on a gilt-legged marble-topped table. “It’s a copy of the celebrated
Aldobrandini Wedding
, a Roman fresco excavated in the early seventeenth century and exhibited in the Vatican.”

“It’s exquisite,” Juliana breathed. The theme of marriage continued all around the room. Above a pier glass, a circular panel displayed a painting of another Roman wedding. Other panels depicted music, drinking, and dancing. There were paintings of Cupid and Venus. Nymphs danced on the ceiling, lovers courted on the walls, and a frieze of rose wreaths and garlands of flowers went all around the cornice.

The whole mood was festive and carefree.

“Isn’t marriage wonderful?” Lady Stafford said. “Please have a seat. I’ll send in my son.”

Juliana perched herself on one of four green silk sofas with gilt arms carved to look like winged lions. She folded her hands in her lap. She crossed her feet and uncrossed them. She rose and circled the room.

The winged lion sofas had six matching chairs, and she was heading for one of them when James walked in.

“Here,” she said, grabbing the platter. “I brought these cheesecakes for you.”

He took them, looking as mystified as Griffin. But not at all brotherly.

Not only was he without a coat or cravat and his shirt was unbuttoned at the neck again, but he’d rolled up his cuffs, too. A good six inches of his forearms were bare—strong-looking forearms, lightly sprinkled with dark hair.

“What are you doing here, Juliana?”

She jerked her gaze up to his face. There was no sense putting it off. “I came to apologize. Won’t you have one of the cheesecakes? The recipe is said to have been in my family since Queen Elizabeth’s time.”

He set down the platter. “Apologize for what?”

He wasn’t going to eat any Richmond Maids of Honour. She prayed he’d forgive her without their magic. “For plotting with Lady Amanda to trick you into compromising her,” she confessed in a rush. “In the library last night. I was hoping you would kiss her, and then I’d bring Lady Billingsgate to witness Lady Amanda’s disgrace, so her father would be forced to assent to your marriage.” She drew a shaky breath. “Can you forgive me?”

“That’s—”

He had no more words, it seemed.

He turned away and sat abruptly on a sofa. He ran his hands through his dark, disheveled hair. He sprang back to his feet and walked a few paces away from her, his fists clenched.

Finally he turned back to her. She quailed. She’d known he would disapprove, but she hadn’t expected him to look quite so severe. And so hurt. “Why would you do that?” he asked.

“Amanda doesn’t believe her father will accept your suit. He isn’t a very nice man.”

“Surely he isn’t an idiot.” He unclenched his fists, but only to cross his half-bare arms. “I’m excellent husband material.”

He certainly had a fine opinion of himself—though it wasn’t unjustified, Juliana reminded herself. A man of James’s wealth and status was a superb catch. “I’m sorry I went behind your back,” she said, “but why are you so upset? However devious the means, the outcome would have been positive. You’d have found yourself married to the girl you love. Unless…”

An awful thought suddenly occurred to her.

She’d assumed that since he was still courting Amanda, he must have fallen in love with her. But what if he hadn’t? What if her scheming had resulted in James being forced to marry a girl he didn’t love?

“Do you not love Lady Amanda yet?” She held her breath, waiting for the answer.

“No,” he said, looking quite sure. Not to mention appalled. It was the answer she’d dreaded.

So why did she feel relieved?

“Maybe you’re in love with her, but you don’t know it,” she suggested. “Maybe you don’t know what love feels like.” It was a reasonable theory, certainly. She’d been wondering the same, after all.

But now he looked annoyed. “I know what love feels like, Juliana.”

That was surprising news. “You’ve been in love before?”

“Yes. With my wife.”

She couldn’t have been more shocked if he’d punched her in the stomach. In fact, it felt like he
had
punched her in the stomach. She gasped for breath. ”You have a wife?”

“I
had
a wife,” he corrected. “Her name was Anne. She died in childbirth, along with our baby. More than a year ago.”

“Dear heavens.” The pain in Juliana’s middle became an ache in her chest. She sank onto a chair. “I didn’t know. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything.”

Wearily, he lowered himself onto a chair of his own. He no longer looked angry or annoyed; he just looked sad. “I forgive you.” His voice was hollow. “What you did was still dreadful, but I know your heart was in the right place. I forgive you as long as you promise not to try it ever again.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, not quite listening. She was thinking about his wife. He’d loved a wife, and she’d carried their baby, and they’d both died. It was utterly heartbreaking. Juliana couldn’t bear it. She felt like curling up in her bed and crying for a week.

Then she realized what he’d said. “I won’t try it again. I promise. And a Chase promise is never broken. That’s been our family motto for centuries.” Biting her lip, she grasped the two lion heads on her chair as though they could lend her their strength. “James, I’m so sorry you lost your family.”

“You’ve lost family, too,” he said.

“But not a child. It must be hardest to lose a child.”

He nodded. “I didn’t even get to meet him.”

Her heart broke all over again. For his family, for him. She knew grief, knew how much it hurt, knew it took a long while to resume living life fully. And he’d lost not only a child, but a wife as well. It would take him time to recover, to allow himself to love another.

And like a ninny, she’d been putting pressure on him, pushing him toward Amanda.

She hadn’t realized.

He needed more time. He’d said wonderful things about Amanda, and he wouldn’t still be courting her if he didn’t feel something. The potential existed. But he needed more time to fall in love with her.

A pity he had only two weeks.

Thirteen days, actually. Twelve days if he didn’t see Amanda again until tomorrow. She couldn’t let him wait any longer than that, or he might lose her.

She couldn’t let him suffer yet another loss.

“Do you ever think,” she said carefully, “about having more children?“

“My dear mother thinks about it for me,” he said with a hint of his normal good humor.

“James…”

“Yes, I want more children.” He paused and looked away, his voice going lower, quieter. ”Even though I’ll never fall in love again, someday I’ll have to remarry.”

How could he say such a thing? “You cannot marry without falling in love.”

“People do it all the time,” he said, looking back to her. “There are many reasons people marry besides love. Wealth, ambition, position, security, duty, honor. And to have children.”

She changed tack. ”How can you possibly know you’ll never fall in love again?”

“I just do,” he said flatly. “Falling in love would mean betraying Anne, and that isn’t going to happen.” He sighed, rubbing his forehead. “I could never marry someone I disliked, but certainly I could marry a friend. I could have children with a friend.”

Juliana sighed, too. He seemed at peace with the idea, but…

Wealth, ambition, position, security, duty, honor…to have children. Those were sad reasons to wed, in her opinion—and old reasons as well. Her parents had married for such reasons. Today, in these modern times, most people her age preferred love matches.

Except…maybe Amanda.

Lord Stafford and I suit well
, she remembered Amanda saying. 
We’re compatible. Maybe my father was right—maybe there are more important considerations than love.

At the time, she’d worried that Amanda had decided to marry James for all the wrong reasons. But maybe the two were even better matched than she’d thought. Marriage would give them both what they wanted. Children for James, and a young, compatible husband for Amanda.

“Juliana?” James said. “What are you thinking?”

Still sad for him, she forced a smile. “I’m thinking that the two of us practiced going on outings during your lessons, but you’ve still had no outings with Lady Amanda.”

“You want me to take Lady Amanda riding in Hyde Park? Or to the Egyptian Hall?”

“Not exactly.” If James and Amanda were to become fast friends—fast enough to marry in less than two weeks—he’d need to take her someplace more idyllic. “I was thinking Vauxhall Gardens would be perfect.”

She’d never been to Vauxhall Gardens, but from what she’d heard, there was no atmosphere more suitable for fostering intimacy. The gardens were described as a paradise of lush paths with many private corners, and at night they were lit by hundreds of lanterns. It sounded lovely.

“Vauxhall Gardens?” James repeated skeptically. From what he’d heard, the gardens served mainly as a spot for unseemly romantic trysts. “I’ve never been to Vauxhall Gardens.”

“Haven’t you?” Juliana said. “It’s a lovely place.”

A lovely place, indeed—to steal a lady’s virtue.

Or a kiss.

Hmm. An intriguing thought. While James had no interest in stealing a kiss from Lady Amanda, he suspected he might rather enjoy the gardens with Juliana on his arm.

Getting her there, however, might be a trick to rival hers.

Now that he knew what Juliana was capable of, he wouldn’t make the mistake of underestimating her again. Although he’d realized meddling was in her blood—one didn’t have to know her more than a few minutes to be sure of
that
—he was still feeling somewhat dazed by her confession. Dazed and a little bit panicked. The fact that she was willing to resort to trickery in order to “help” her friends find love was nearly as terrifying as how close her plan had come to succeeding.

Not that he’d been tempted for even an instant to accept Lady Amanda’s advances. But if they’d been discovered in the library at the wrong moment, it might have looked very bad for them both.

Meanwhile, he could only conclude that his own attempts with Juliana were falling pathetically short, or else she wouldn’t be so eager to trap him into marrying her prissy friend. He’d have to redouble his efforts if he wanted kiss her and make sure she didn't ruin her life by marrying that turd Castleton.

“I wouldn’t know where to take Lady Amanda in Vauxhall Gardens,” he told her, rolling his sleeves up one more turn. “Perhaps
you
should come with me instead the first time, to show me the good places.”

“I don’t know if that’s necessary…” Juliana’s gaze was fastened on his arms. “…though I suppose it never hurts to be prepared.” Her eyes skipped back up to his face. “The gardens are closed on Sundays. Shall we make it tomorrow night?”

“Parliament is in session on Mondays—”

“Could you not take even
one
night away from the House of Lords?”

Perhaps he could. Since he wasn’t getting anywhere with his bill, perhaps he should focus on Juliana instead. For a day, at least. Or a night.

“Very well,” he said.

“Good.” She rose. “I must return home before the guests arrive for my sewing party.”