Her Secondhand Groom (14 page)

“
You’re impossible,” she muttered, taking a step away from him.

He reached for her, then pulled her up against him. “No, I’m not. It’s not too much to ask that my girls get to stay innocent a little while longer, is it?”

“
No, I don’t think that’s too much to ask. But I will not lie to them, either,” she said sternly.

He loosened his hold on her. “I’m not asking you to.”

“
Yes, you are.” She took a step back. “Not in so many words, but that’s exactly what you’re asking me to do.”

“
How so?”

“
In your plea that they get to remain innocent, you’re indirectly asking me to evade their questions and omit facts.”

“
Then answer Celia’s questions, I never asked you not to do that.”

“
Celia?” Juliet echoed.

He nodded, unable to meet her eyes. “If she has questions about how her body is changing, please answer them for her. Heaven knows I wouldn’t know what to say to her, but I’m asking you to answer her questions privately. Kate’s too young to know about
fluffies
.”

“
Celia wasn’t the one asking questions,” Juliet said, her tone softer than he’d ever heard it before. “She’s too young to be developing, but when she does, she’ll have all the knowledge she needs.”

“
Then who the blazes
was
asking questions?” he demanded hotly.

“
Kate.”

“
Why?” he burst out, unable to hide his irritation at the whole situation. “There is absolutely no reason a young girl of five should have taken notice of such a thing, nor found it interesting enough to inquire about. Would you care to explain what you’ve done to stir this curiosity?”

Her grey eyes which were filled with a softness he’d never seen before transformed into cold steel in a second. “Loved her, you jackanapes! Something she’s never experienced at the hands of that nursemaid-turned-governess you hired for them. How you can stand there and accuse me of doing something improper, I’ll never understand.” She swallowed, her face reddening a fraction. “All I’ve done is held her and hugged her and rocked her. I may not be as buxom as other women, but there’s enough there that it caught her attention. When she asked why there was a difference between my chest and yours, I told her. I can see now I might have misunderstood her question. I thought she was inquiring about the physical differences, but now I realize she might have been asking why my chest contains a beating heart and yours doesn’t.”

Patrick stood paralyzed in her wake. His mouth unable to speak. His body unable to move. His brain unable to think. The only thing that seemed to function was the part of his body that Juliet didn’t think existed: his heart, which, though it was beating normally, ached in a way it never had before.

Chapter 11

“
I’m sorry, Juliet,” Kate said sadly, her lower lip quivering.

Juliet forced a watery smile to her lips and wrapped the little girl in a hug. “There’s nothing to be sorry about. You did nothing wrong.”
Your father did, but not you.
She took a step back while Martha carried in a heavy tea tray and set it on the table for their afternoon tea.

“
Juliet,” Celia whispered.

Juliet turned toward her oldest, yet most reserved stepdaughter. “Yes?”

The young girl bit her lip. “Please give him another chance.” The unshed tears in Celia’s eyes washed away all Juliet’s hurt and anger.

“
This isn’t for you three to even think about,” Juliet said as firmly as she could manage while fighting back her own wave of tears. Not tears borne of Lord Presumptuous’ ill-treatment, mind you. She could care less about his opinion of her. The tears forming in her eyes were a product of the sadness and hurt she felt for these girls, who’d just had to witness yet another confirmation that their parents didn’t have any great affection for each other, much less a civil regard. She swallowed. She owed it to these girls to get along with their father. By no means did she plan to go out of her way to make amends with him, nor would she bend to his will. But she’d stop avoiding him and would treat him with a cool reserve when they spoke, much as other wives she’d met in London did with their husbands.

A knock on the door jarred Juliet from her thoughts.

She smiled at the intruder. “Emma,” she greeted, relief coursing through her. She was in desperate need of a friend just now.

“
Are we interrupting anything?”

“
We?”

A dark-haired, blue-eyed woman stepped through the doorway. “This is Caroline,” Emma explained. “She’s Marcus’ cousin and one of my dearest friends. I thought the two of you would make great friends, too.”

Juliet smiled. “Of course we will.” Any friend of Emma’s had to be a good person, indeed.

Emma and Caroline came in and greeted the girls, who promptly asked to try on their scarves, gloves, hats, and Helena even asked to try on Caroline’s slipper even though it was more than twice the size of her foot.

“
Have things improved any?” Emma asked.

Juliet shook her head in answer to Emma’s cryptic question.

“
Drake’s always had a hard shell,” Caroline commented. “You’ll just have to find a way to penetrate it.”

Juliet closed her eyes to keep from rolling them. The last thing she cared to do was penetrate his shell. She wanted the man to be cordial to her, not entice him to divulge his deepest secrets to her. “Wait. Always? He’s always been this way?”

Caroline slipped off her second lacy glove and handed it to Helena. “I’d say so.” She turned to Emma. “Don’t you think?”

“
I suppose. I don’t think he was quite so cold before―” Emma broke off and bit her lip. She cast a quick glance at the girls.

The girls were too preoccupied to hear what they were talking about. “What was she like?” Juliet didn’t know why she was asking, but she found herself oddly curious. Besides, if anyone would know and be willing to tell her, it would be these two.

Emma and Caroline exchanged looks. “I can’t really say,” Caroline said at last. “If I were to be honest, I’d have to tell you that I didn’t know her very well.”

“
I thought Lord Pre―”
cough cough―
“Excuse me, Lord Drakely was friends with your cousin. Didn’t she come to Ridge Water to visit?”

“
He did, she didn’t,” Caroline corrected. She sighed and plucked at the fabric of her pink skirt. “Lady Drakely didn’t like me,” she admitted finally, averting her eyes to look out the window.

“
Why ever not?”

“
Remember that secret I told you?” Emma asked quietly.

Caroline shot her friend a grateful smile, presumably because she’d just been relieved of telling a complete stranger that she’d once had a girlhood
tendre
for her husband. “There’s no need to be embarrassed, Caroline,” Juliet assured her. Then before she knew what she was saying, she blurted, “If it makes you feel any better, your sister-in-law tried to play matchmaker between your husband and me and he thought I was too boring.”

Caroline blinked at her. “What?” she asked with a slight giggle.

“
Edwina thought we’d suit and your husband didn’t,” Juliet clarified, a nervous sensation crawling over her body. Why was she telling such a humiliating fact?

“
Tell me, Juliet, did you
want
to marry Alex?” Caroline grinned at Juliet’s stunned face, complete with raised eyebrows and an unhinged jaw. “I didn’t think so. Unlike you, I wanted to marry Drake. That’s the difference.”

Juliet smiled. When put that way, it really didn’t make it seem so bad. “May I ask something?”

“
You just did,” Caroline said with a teasing grin. “But go on.”

“
Why did it matter that you fancied Lord Drakely, weren’t you a young girl?”

Caroline nodded. “Yes, and that’s why it’s so unusual. I was twelve or so when they married. I remember crying into a handkerchief Marcus had given me during their wedding, but I don’t know why that would make her have such a strong aversion to me that she never came to Ridge Water.”

“
You weren’t the one who ruined her wedding dress, were you?” Emma asked, a tiny giggle escaping her lips.

Caroline’s blue eyes flared wide. “Was her wedding dress shredded?”

Emma shook her head. “No. Not shredded. If I remember correctly, there were a few sooty handprints too small to be hers or Drake’s on the back of her dress.”

“
Olivia,” Caroline groaned.

“
Just think,” Emma said brightly. “Maybe she wasn’t avoiding you at all, but Olivia instead.”

Caroline reached forward and adjusted the hat on Kate’s head. “Well, then, do you blame her?”

“
No,” Emma agreed. She turned to Juliet. “I’ll explain who Olivia is another time, I wouldn’t wish to ruin our tea and biscuits.”

“
She’s doing you a favor,” Caroline added, reaching for the teapot in front of her. “Though I suspect everyone who’s met Olivia has
some
sort of story to tell about her.”

Juliet repositioned herself on the forest green settee she was sitting on that was across from Caroline and Emma. “Allow me to pour the tea, you’re the guest.”

Caroline made no move to release the teapot.

“
Speaking of Olivia,” Emma said, grabbing her reticule. “We received a missive from her just the other day.”

Caroline started at Emma’s words and splashed a few drops of tea outside the teacup she was filling. She placed the cup down and used her handkerchief to wipe up the drops. “You did?”

“
Mmmhmmm,” Emma answered. She continued to dig in her bag until she found what she was looking for. “Here it is.” She unfolded it and handed it to Caroline.

Juliet picked up her teacup and took a swallow of the warm liquid, and let her eyes shift back and forth between the two women.

“
Still beastly as ever, I see,” Caroline said, scowling. She thrust the letter in Juliet’s direction. “Care to read what you were lucky to escape?”

Curiosity piqued, Juliet plucked the letter from Caroline’s grasp; a hush had fallen over the room.

Juliet’s eyes scanned the note, growing larger in size with each line they passed.

Marcus,

I
demand
you get your arse here, post haste! I cannot take another day, and I refuse to commit suicide. That only leaves the option of you coming for me.

There is a passenger vessel that leaves every Thursday. I shall expect to see you in no more than a fortnight. Any longer than that, and I shall have to go on a rampage and start killing everything in sight. Starting with that atrocious man who dares to insist on visiting my bed, though I have no idea why he’d feel so inclined when I have another man’s bastard inhabiting my innards.

Truly Marcus, that man is a disgusting pig. You should be ashamed of yourself for making such a match for me. But alas you did. As if being shackled to Arid Alex wouldn’t have been awful enough, you had to find a man who is not only boring, but is physically repulsive, as well.

I look forward to your timely arrival,

Yrs,

Olivia

PS Caroline has yet to return my ear scoop. Would you see to it she gets an ear horn for her terrible hearing so she can stop fruitlessly trying to use
my
ear scoop to improve her hearing, and return it to its rightful owner?