Juliana (33 page)

“What is the purpose of the garden?” Lord Malmsey asked.

James swallowed a mouthful of bread before speaking. “Doctors and apothecaries can visit to take cuttings of medicinal plants. But mostly it’s used for educational and training purposes. Medical and apothecary students visit as part of their studies.”

Juliana waved a chicken leg toward a white alabaster statue of a man holding a scroll, dressed in a fancy robe and a full, old-fashioned wig. “Who’s that?”

“Dr. Hans Sloane, a former president of the Royal College of Physicians. In the late sixteen hundreds, he visited Jamaica and brought back a cinchona tree, having learned that the bark could be used to make quinine to treat malaria. He bought the garden later, when the Society of Apothecaries was at risk of losing it. He leased it back to them for only five pounds a year—they still pay the same price now.”

“What an unusual rock garden,” Lady Frances said, squinting toward it since she wasn’t wearing her spectacles.

“The oldest in all of England, or so I’ve been told. It was built as a habitat for foreign plants that grow best in rocky soil. The white stones are from the Tower of London, the black from a volcano in Iceland, and that giant-clam shell is said to have been brought to England by Captain Cook.”

“You seem to know everything,” Juliana said, smiling over the rim of her wineglass. “We don’t need a demonstrator, do we, Amanda?” She turned toward the bench. “Amanda?”

Amanda was gone. As was the turd.

“Where did they go?” Juliana asked.

“I don’t know,” Lady Frances mused. She turned to Lord Malmsey. “Theodore, would you help me look for them?”

“With pleasure, my dear.” Belying their age, the two rose agilely to their feet, and Lord Malmsey tucked Lady Frances’s hand in the crook of his arm. “Shall we, my love?”

Juliana shook her golden head as she watched them walk off. “I cannot believe it,” she said when they were out of earshot.

James drained the rest of his wine and started packing up the remains of their dinner. “You cannot believe what?”

She frowned up at him. “I cannot believe Aunt Frances asked Lord Malmsey to go off alone with her. She’s always been so shy. And I cannot believe everyone left us again.”

Her eyes looked greenish, which was no surprise to James. After many hours of observation and analysis, he had finally puzzled out the mystery of Juliana’s changeable irises: They were more blue when she was happy or excited, more green when she was worried or angry. Right now it wasn’t hard to tell that she was rather distressed.

But the distress was a good sign. It wouldn’t be long now before she figured out she didn’t belong with Castleton. And if the evening went as planned, James would be turning her eyes back to blue before long.

“Everyone will be back soon,” he said. “Lady Frances and Lord Malmsey will find the others.”

“They aren’t looking for them. They’re off somewhere kissing.”

“Really?” he said, reaching a hand to help her rise. “I guess we should go look for Castleton and Lady Amanda ourselves, then.”

“Yes, we should,” she said. “You’re supposed to be with Lady Amanda.”

Having seen where her friend and the turd had gone, James led Juliana along a path in the opposite direction, which, happily, was the direction he wanted to take her anyway. Trees lined both sides of the meandering gravel walkway, their leaves fluttering overhead. The sun was dropping toward the horizon, making the walled garden shady and romantic.

The ambiance couldn’t have been better.

“I don’t see them,” Juliana said after they wandered a few minutes in companionable silence. “I cannot imagine where they might have disappeared to.”

“Me, neither,” James said, taking her hand. She’d left her gloves on the blanket, and her fingers felt warm in his, especially compared to the air. Juliana was wearing another dress made of thin, fine fabric, and with the sun setting, it was getting a bit chilly. “Maybe they’re in the greenhouse,” he suggested, leading her off the path. “They might have gone inside to warm up.”

“It
is
warm in here,” she said when they entered. Due to the abundance of glass, it was nearly as bright inside as out.

“I understand this was the first heated greenhouse in all of England,” he told her. “Maybe the first in the whole world.” He led her between the rows of plants toward the back wall. “Dr. Sloane wrote about the clever design of this greenhouse back in 1684. There are ovens beneath the floor.” Stopping before a door marked
PRIVATE
, he reached for the knob.

“What are you doing?” she asked. “I don’t think we’re supposed to go in there.”

“Maybe Castleton is in there with Lady Amanda.”

“I think not.” Still holding his hand, she pulled him away from the door. “Amanda would
never
go into a room alone with him. She’s
much
too reserved for that.”

“She was in a room alone with me,” he reminded her. “Lord Billingsgate’s library. She even tried to kiss me.”

Her cheeks turned pink. “That’s because she wants to marry you.”

He reached again for the knob. “Maybe your aunt and Lord Malmsey are in there,” he suggested, “kissing.”

She pulled on his hand again. “I don’t think—” she began, and then she gave a little yelp when he opened the door.

Smiling, he stepped inside. “They’re not in here. Come in and see, lo—”

Bother. He’d almost called her
love
again.

Luckily, she was so concerned about trespassing, she didn’t notice. After peeking her head in, she breathed a sigh of relief. “We’re not supposed to be in here, James. The door is marked private.”

“It’s Thomas Wheeler’s office,” he said with a shrug. “The Demonstrator who went home earlier. He’s a friend; he wouldn’t mind.” Actually, he
might
mind. But he’d never find out. James tugged on her hand. “Come on.”

It was a tiny cubby, with a compact desk against the inside wall and a small round wooden table with two chairs in the center. “The table is for demonstrations,” he explained. The exterior wall was glass, of course, it being part of the greenhouse. But trees grew so closely all around that no one could possibly see in, though plenty of light filtered in through the leaves and the glass ceiling overhead.

He shut the door, shutting them in together.

She whirled to face him, dropping his hand. “What are you doing, James?”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the deck of cards. “Since we can’t seem to find our companions, I remembered I wanted you to teach me to play casino,” he said casually. “It’s cold out there and warm in here, so I thought it might be nice to sit a while and play cards.”

She eyed him warily, her gaze now blue-green. “Maybe for a minute.”

“Excellent.” He sat and waved her toward the second chair. After she sat, he slid his chair around the table and up against hers.

Taking the cards, she frowned. “You’re supposed to sit across from me.”

“I will after I learn. Right now I need to see your cards.”

“Very well.” When she shuffled the cards, he could feel the vibrations. They were that close. She dealt out four cards to each of them and four more faceup on the table, then put the rest aside. “Pick up your hand,” she instructed, “and see if any of your cards match the ones on the table.” Then she proceeded to explain all the rules, none of which he bothered listening to, since he already knew how to play casino.

As she talked and moved the cards around, he breathed in her sunshine-and-flowers scent and admired the light bouncing off her wheaten hair. He let his shoulder brush against her arm and watched her eyes turn a little bluer.

“Are you listening, James? Did you get all of that?”

“Of course.” It was a simple game, really. At least for him. He and his brother had kept a running score for years, and he’d always stayed miles ahead. “I think I’m ready to play now.”

“All right.” She gathered the cards and began reshuffling them. “You can move to the other side of the table.”

“I’d rather stay here for the first couple of hands. In case I need your help. By the way, what shall we wager?”

“Wager? We don’t need to wager.”

“I never play games without a wager. A wager makes it so much more interesting and fun.”

“I suppose I’m not surprised. I heard about how Griffin lost thirty guineas to you playing chess.” She stopped shuffling and slanted him a sideways glance. “But I didn’t bring any money.”

“We’ll wager something else, then,” he said blithely.

“Like what?” She looked wary again. But her eyes weren’t turning green. They were staying blue.

“How about buttons?” he suggested.

“Buttons? We didn’t bring buttons.”

“We have buttons on our clothes. When one of us loses, he or she can unbutton a button.”

JULIANA WAS
scandalized. In fact, she couldn’t remember ever being
more
scandalized.

Who ever heard of wagering buttons? The mere concept seemed wicked. How dare James suggest such a thing! If he ever suggested it to Amanda, she’d faint dead away.

That’s why Juliana had to agree to the wager.

She had to teach James a lesson. And she certainly would—after all, since he didn’t know how to play the game and had been daydreaming while she’d explained the rules, he was sure to lose. And cocky as he was, losing would mortify him. Then he’d know this sort of tactic could easily backfire, and he wouldn’t try it with Amanda and make the poor girl faint.

“All right,” she said, “we’ll wager buttons.”

James looked surprised and quite pleased. His fingers went immediately to his neckcloth, working the knot.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Exposing my buttons. Go ahead and deal.” He peeled off his tailcoat and tossed it on the desk.

She dealt. They picked up their cards. James fanned his out and smiled. “I go first—is that right?” She nodded, and he plucked a king from his hand and used it to claim the king on the table. “Aha,” he said. “You have to unbutton a button.”

“You haven’t won yet!” she protested. “That was just a single trick.” Anyone could win a trick; the real skill was winning the whole game. “Were you not listening, James? We have to play until all the cards are gone, and then we add up the points, and whoever has the most points wins.
Then
somebody unbuttons a button.”

She’d almost said
then you unbutton a button
, but she’d stopped herself in time. Of course she was going to win, but it wouldn’t do to sound smug about it.

“Oh, no,” he said. “We don’t have time for that. We’ve only a few minutes, remember? It’s getting dark, and we’ll have to leave. We’re wagering a button for each trick.”

“We are not! We’re wagering a button for each game.”

“We don’t have time to play more than one game. And you agreed to the wager, Juliana. Unbutton a button.”

“Honestly, this is ridiculous.” With a huff, she reached behind her back and wrenched open a button. “There. Are you happy now? It’s my turn.” It was only beginner’s luck—she wouldn’t let him win any more tricks. She took an eight out of her hand and claimed a seven and an ace with it, smirking because an ace was worth an extra point. “I took a trick,” she said. “Unbutton.”

James didn’t seem at all reluctant to undo the top button on his shirt. He pulled a ten from his hand and took the ten of diamonds, which was worth
two
extra points. “I think you should unbutton two buttons,” he said with a smirk of his own.

“I think not.” She was surprised he even remembered the ten was a special card. Had he been paying more attention than she’d realized? “Each trick is worth one button only. Otherwise, you’d have had to unbutton twice when I took the ace.”

He flicked open another of his buttons. “There, now I’ve unbuttoned twice for your ace. And you owe me
three
buttons for the ten.”

“I cannot reach that many of my buttons,” she said petulantly. This was not going at
all
according to plan.

He smirked again. “You poor thing. I’ll get them for you.” And he reached behind her back and unbuttoned three of her buttons.

She felt her cheeks blaze. She had a chemise on beneath her dress, so it wasn’t like he could see any bare skin. And he wasn’t looking, anyway. But she still felt ridiculous or scandalous or both.

“Really, James, this is very childish.” She was so distracted she hardly knew what cards she was playing—which only made things worse. James’s next trick was worth another extra point. He grinned. “Two buttons.”

“How did you—?” And that’s when it dawned on her. She gasped in outrage. “You already knew how to play casino, didn’t you?”

His grin widened as he reached to undo two more of her buttons. “I never said I didn’t.”

“You asked me to teach you!”

“Exactly. But I never said I didn’t know how to play.” His eyes twinkled as he watched her discard. “Too bad you couldn’t take a trick,” he drawled. “I, on the other hand…” He took another trick with his final card. “I believe you owe me a button.”

“You deceived me,” she complained. “After you got all mad at me for deceiving you.”