A Lot Like a Lady

by Kim Bowman

  “Go away,” he said with bite in his voice. Bending, he scooped a stone from the ground and chucked it in the direction of the magpie, deliberately missing by several yards. With a final chitter, the bird took wing.

  Grey let out a curse and slammed his fist against his leg hard enough to bruise. He had to stop thinking about the girl. It has to be this place. Though he’d never seen her there, Juliet had reminded him of his once beloved home from the beginning. Once the estate was at his back, he’d be his own man again.

  He stepped into the barn and froze. Juliet stood outside the stall housing his horse petting the stallion’s neck, kissing his nose. The tattered breeches and wrinkled shirt she wore hung from her thin frame. A threadbare strip of cloth held her hair together at the nape of her neck, the once honey-gold locks were long gone, replaced by dull, dusty tresses that hung in limp strands down her back. A darker tan covered her face, but she’d lost weight and even from this distance he could tell her cheeks had become sunken.

  Grey’s heart slammed against his chest, thumping out a strong beat, reaching for her, urging him toward her. Then she lifted her head and fixed him with her tawny brown eyes.

  The world fell away.

  Gone were the rules that said she was a servant and he was a duke. The rules that dictated he couldn’t marry below his status. He was just a man and she was the woman he loved.

  With determined strides, he went to her; his eyes pinning her to the spot as he approached. Her eyes widened but she didn’t move. Without hesitation, he took hold of her arms at the elbows, slid his hands upward over the rough material of her shirt until he reached her shoulders. He parted his lips slightly, angled his head, and covered her mouth with his. Touching her sent a jolt of magnetic energy through his body all the way to his soul, and he enveloped Juliet in his arms, squeezing her tight against him as shudders wracked his body.

  Grey grazed his mouth back and forth over hers and touched his tongue to her lips. Juliet wrapped her arms around his neck and parted her lips, inviting him to deepen the kiss. He needed no further encouragement. His hand circled to the back of her head, holding her close so he could possess every inch of her. She tasted of salty horse sweat and hay, but to Grey it was the sweetest flavor he’d ever experienced.

  He tightened his hold, unwilling to give her a chance to break free. His whole body burst to life, stirring with a mixture of passion and love he had never known yet now could not live without. Blood flowed to his nether region at a rapid pace, and his control started to crumble. Every inch of him screamed he should take her, completely possess her, make her his in every way so she would then be bound to him forever. Instead, he gentled the kiss and cupped her cheeks in his hands. When she raised her arm, he tensed, afraid she’d push him away. But she only covered his hands with hers and sighed deeply.

  Desire renewed itself and he ravished her lips again, letting his hands roam freely over her body. Bending her against him, he intensified the kiss, running his tongue over hers in a spiral, seeking every bit of her, knowing no matter how much he had, his appetite for her would never be satiated.

  She clutched his waist with warm, trembling hands and then settled her body with intimate closeness against his, fanning the flames of his lust to a devastating inferno and exciting him more than if she had taken him fully in her grasp.

  ****

  Juliet couldn’t catch her breath, but she feared breaking the kiss, terrified if she severed the connection she would find he was but a dream and if she let go he would disappear. When he pulled back slightly and started kissing first the side of her mouth, followed by her cheek, then down her neck, making her shiver, she whispered his name.

  “Shh, Juliet. Don’t speak, don’t move, just let me kiss you. Let me love you,” Grey murmured between feather-light kisses.

  Joy erupted through her body, making her heart sing. He was here. The man she loved was here, holding her. She lifted her hands to his cheeks, twined her fingers through his hair, and brought his lips back to hers for a searing kiss.

  When his hands became more insistent, she broke the kiss. His breathing labored, Grey relented and touched his forehead to hers. He cupped her face in his hands, rubbed her cheeks with his thumbs.

  “Do you know how good it feels to hold you? To touch you? These past weeks have been torture. I’ve been empty without you.” He combed his fingers through her hair and cupped the back of her head. A hungry moan escaped his lips and he brought her mouth to his again. This time for a softer kiss, one filled with love. Trembling, he broke off and enveloped her in a fierce embrace.

  “I should give you a sound thrashing for leaving.” He pulled back and gazed into her eyes, lifted his hand to comb wayward strands of hair off her face. “Why did you run away?”

  Tears blurred her vision and she looked down. The emotion lodged in her throat made it impossible for her to speak, and she had to swallow several times before answering. “I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you, but I had to leave. I couldn’t face you, couldn’t look you in the eyes after deceiving you, making you think I was Annabella.”

  Grey chuckled and his body quake against her. “Did you not hear me when Regina first came to my home in London? My darling Magpie, I knew almost from the moment you stepped foot into my home that you were not my stepsister. A fact Lord Seabrook confirmed a couple of weeks after your arrival.”

  Juliet’s body tensed. “And yet you did not tell me you knew. You just let me continue to make a fool of myself!” She pulled back, tried to break free.

  He caught her by the arms to stop her escape. “A fool of yourself? I don’t think so. What you did was have the ton eating out of the palm of your hand. Including me — especially me.” He curled a finger under her chin and lifted her face. “Not a day goes by I don’t curse myself for being such an utter fool. The way I treated you — The way I reacted — I was a coward. I don’t deserve you. I know I don’t. But I love you with all my heart and want to spend the rest of my life with you. Marry me.”

  Tears streamed down her face and she dropped her head into her hands. “I-I can’t. I j-just—” The raw ache in her chest and throat made it impossible for her to continue. How could she explain that she loved him more than anything, too much to let him marry someone of her status?

  Grey stiffened and slackened his hold on her arms. “I’m too late, aren’t I? I let my pride keep me away too long and now you can’t forgive me.”

  Juliet wrapped her arms around his neck. “Please don’t think like that. What I did — The way I deceived you… What were you supposed to do? If anything, I should be begging for your forgiveness. My deceit was inexcusable. It was the lowest of the low. It was—”

  “It was my fault.”

  She pulled back and gazed into his eyes. The sorrow clouding the deep blue pools squeezed her heart, made it ache. “No. None of this was your fault. I’m the one who agreed to Annabella’s crazy idea.”

  Grey wiped away the tears streaming down her cheeks. His face grew serious, his jaw set in a tight line. When he spoke, his voice even, yet raw, it seemed to take great effort for him to form words. But his eyes shimmered bright with emotion. “A ruse she concocted because of what she had suffered as a result of my actions.”

  “You can’t blame yourself for that. You didn’t know.” Juliet dropped her hands and stepped out of Grey’s embrace. Dejected, she walked to the far corner of the barn and pulled strands of straw from one of the bales stacked along the wall. “But I did. I knew how wrong we were, yet I went along with it. At any time I could have told you the truth, but I didn’t.

  “You had every right to dismiss me, toss me out on my ear. Would have been justified for doing so. But instead you protected me.” Tears blurred her vision. “I can’t repay that by agreeing to marry you. You deserve to marry a fine noblewoman. A well-born lady of the ton. Not someone who has done nothing but lie to you and pretended to be something she wasn’t.”

  Grey stepped behind her and wr
apped his arms around her waist. “Who tamed my spawn-of-the-devil stallion? I daresay Annabella wouldn’t have been so brave.”

  He kissed her neck right below her ear. Goose flesh spread over the skin of her arms and neck and she held her breath.

  “And when you danced with me, who were you impersonating?”

  Juliet shivered, sank back into him. Her body stirred, arousing in response to his caresses. Heat pooled in her belly, then lower, tingling with the vibrations of what he made her feel… made her want.

  He slipped her sleeve off her shoulder, exposing skin, and kissed the sensitive spot by her collarbone. “And when I kissed you? Held you? Who responded? Who sought to offer me comfort in my distress?”

  Juliet’s face burned at the memory of her wantonness and she cast her eyes downward. “Please…” she whispered.

  With gentle hands, Grey turned her to face him and lifted her face with his fingers beneath her chin.

  “Yes,” he whispered. “Please…”

  Then he dragged his thumb across her lips while he gazed at her. Juliet searched the depths of his blue eyes, what she sought, she couldn’t have said. But she found the heat of desire, the fire of love.

  He slipped his hand into his coat pocket. When he withdrew it, his mother’s pearl necklace seemed to glow in his palm. The amethyst flashed fiery purple. “You left this behind.”

  “I hated leaving your gift… hated leaving you.” Tears pricked Juliet’s eyelids. “But, ‘twas not mine. You gave it—”

  “Hush.” Grey rested two fingers on her lips and shook his head, a gentle smile lifting the corners of his mouth. “I didn’t know your name when I gave them to you, but… ’twas not around my sister’s neck I put them.” Before she realized his intent, he eased the necklace around her neck and clasped it at the front in nearly the same fashion he’d done before her first ball. His eyes held her enthralled. With a jolt of surprise, she recognized he’d opened all of himself to let her in.

  Finally, he lowered his head to trail kisses along her neck. “What is it your Shakespeare says about a rose? No matter the name, it still has the sweetest smell? You were always you, Juliet, even when you tried not to be.”

  “Grey—”

  He caught her mouth in a passionate kiss. The hungry way his mouth devoured hers ignited a burning desire that spread through her body and heightened her senses. Grey trailed his lips down her neck, sinking lower until he rested on his knees. He pressed his cheek to her abdomen and slid his hands around her waist and up her spine, pulling her closer. “It matters not to me whether you’re royalty or a peasant. To me you are my magpie. My Juliet. And… I meant what I said the night of the masquerade. Even then I meant it with all my heart. I will gladly be your Romeo for the rest of my life and I promise you will never doubt that my love is as true as Romeo’s for his Juliet. It matters not to me your status. I love you for you. Marry me.” He took her left hand and kissed it tenderly then raised his face to look at her. “Marry me.”

  Her mind drifted back to a day long ago when her new friend had gently accepted her hand and brushed a kiss to the back of her knuckles…

  “Juliet. What a beautiful name. ‘O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night.’’

  Juliet giggled. “What does that mean?”

  “Why, ‘tis from Romeo and Juliet. Mr. William Shakespeare wrote it. And one day, perhaps you’ll find out what it means for yourself.”

  The past blurred into the present. Looking down at the man she loved, Juliet realized she had, indeed, discovered the meaning behind the words Alexander, the fifth Duke of Wyndham, had said.

  Juliet dropped to her knees and cradled Grey’s face in her hands. “Having my very own Romeo would be a dream come true. But I would much rather have my very own Grey. For he is the man I adore.”

  He smiled, letting it reach his eyes. “Then you shall have him. You shall have him.”

  Grey settled his hands on Juliet’s waist and took her lips with a soft moan. As the kiss deepened, he slid his hands upward along her ribs and then stroked his way around to her back. Warmth from his touch coursed through Juliet’s veins, leaving her lightheaded. She leaned into the kiss and softened into the embrace. Slowly, Juliet sank backward and down, and with murmured words of love, Grey followed, laying her on the bed of straw scattered on the ground.

  The cool dirt of the stable floor warmed beneath her. Straw poked through the thin material of her shirt, each tiny scratch sending explosions of heat coursing along Juliet’s spine, and she trembled with a combination of desire and emotion. Then his lips touched her at the sensitive spot below her ear and the world contained only Grey. Tingles of warmth burst into the sizzle of yearning as love blasted free of her heart and spread over her like a comfortable blanket.

  “My Grey… my love,” she whispered, and she hugged him to her, welcoming the weight of his body on hers.

  “My Juliet… my life,” murmured Grey against her neck. He trailed kisses from her mouth to her throat and then dipped lower, following the loose neckline of her shirt with his passionate caresses. Everywhere he touched, the heat of requited loved singed her skin, branding her as forever his.

  ****

  Juliet’s tiny hand somehow fit perfectly in his. He held tight to her as they strolled toward the barn door, afraid if he let go he’d discover he’d gone mad and conjured her. Neither spoke, and Grey felt no need to fill the comfortable silence between them.

  Late afternoon sun slanted through the doorway. But he didn’t want to leave the sanctuary of the stables just yet, unwilling to chance breaking whatever magical spell they’d just woven. He tugged her to a stop beside him at the line separating dark from light. Locking his gaze with hers, he leaned in and stole a quick kiss. Her soft lips moved beneath his and heated his pulse all over again.

  With a giggle, she brushed her hand through his hair, bringing it back and waving a bit of straw in front of his eyes. He lifted his free hand, pulled a piece of straw from her hair and tossed it over his shoulder. Grey bent forward, mouth open, as need surged anew. He had to have just one more taste. Footsteps scraped in the stable yard and he jerked back, tucking Juliet safely behind him and turning.

  “Nephew! Have you no sense of decency?” Lucien’s disapproving voice rang across the yard. He stood with feet spread wide, arms folded across his chest. His face wore a stern expression. Next to him, Lady Harmony clutched his arm, while Lady Charity stood to one side, her mouth drawn tight in a firm line.

  So much for savoring the moment. Grey offered Juliet a wry smile before turning to face the trio. “Why am I not surprised to see the three of you?” he asked, looking heavenward.

  “And not a minute too soon, if you ask me. Look at the two of you,” Lucien sputtered, tugging on the hem of his coat.

  Charity swatted him on the arm. “You’re one to talk after being found in the closet with your pants around your ankles and Harmony’s dress askew.”

  “Charity is right, Lucien. Look at the example we set for my poor Juliet! I behaved like a wanton lady of the street and now she’s let your rake of a nephew ruin her!” Harmony’s wails pierced the air, stabbing like sewing needles into both of Grey’s ears.

  Juliet gasped and her face turned scarlet. She pressed her face into Grey’s side and he slipped an arm around her shoulders as he shielded her from the view of their self-appointed inquisitors. He hated causing Juliet such embarrassment, and a tinge of guilt gnawed at part of him for being glad they’d been caught in a compromising position. Now Juliet would have no choice but to marry him. His lips turned upward. He would have to remember to thank Charity later for having Satan put in the barn.

  “There’s nothing for it. We’ll have to leave for Gretna Green posthaste,” Lucien announced, glancing around the yard. “We need to have the coach brought round.”

  “We most certainly will not,” Grey snapped.

  “Hmm.” Lucien scratched his chin. “Special lice
nse, then?”

  “No.”

  “Blister it, boy, you can’t mean to—”

  “Juliet will have a proper wedding in London. With a gown that will be the envy of all the ladies of the ton.” Grey looked at his soon-to-be bride. The breeze lifted her hair, spinning the loose tendrils into her face. He lost himself in her luminous eyes. “My duchess will have the wedding of her dreams.”

  Tears glistened on her eyelashes. Love shined in the tawny brown depths of her eyes, reaching inside him to surround his heart and warm his soul.

  “Gr—” Her hand fluttered to her mouth and her eyes widened. Then her face lit with one of the most beautiful smiles he’d ever seen. “Grey… I love you for wanting to give me such a wedding, but I promise I don’t need it. I would be happy to marry you in a private ceremony at the small church here.”

  Grey lost the ability to speak. He caught Juliet to him in a fierce hug. The love and joy in his heart exploded through his body in a volcanic eruption that made him tremble. Juliet wanted him for him and not for his title or status, and for that he cherished her all the more.

  And he wanted the ton to know it too.

  He wanted to profess his love for her in front of his peers. Wanted no doubt left in anyone’s mind that he cherished this woman and she would have all his devotion. He cared not if the ton looked down their noses at him for marrying below his status. In the end, they would still treat him with respect and admiration as befit his position as the Duke of Wyndham. But he wanted to make it abundantly clear he expected no less than the same treatment for his wife, his duchess.

  More importantly, he wanted to prove to Juliet how precious she was to him. Never would he give her reason to doubt the sincerity of his love.

  Now to convince Juliet to have the magnificent wedding she deserves…

  “I’m afraid a private country marriage for a duke won’t do at all,” Charity said, her voice flat, brooking no argument.