Regency Romance: The Earl’s Unexpected Journey Of Love (The Fairbanks Series - Love & Hearts) (Historical Romance Fiction)

by Jessie Bennett

  “Your grace, Papa, I must excuse myself.” She curtseyed to them both. “I think I will go and speak to Marie. She looks distressed.”

  “I do hope not,” Elizabeth said. “This is supposed to be a joyous occasion.” As she said it, the wistful note returned to her voice, and Juliette glanced sideways at her, again wondering what had caused it.

  “It is, my lady,” Juliette said gently, and mentally rebuked herself for prying once again. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and listened to her father's next words.

  “I worry for Marie. She is a dear, sensitive soul, and it is not like her to be so sad.”

  Juliette nodded. “I shall go and speak to her, Papa.” She curtseyed once more and withdrew, crossing the room quickly to where her cousin stood. Around them, the voices of the guests rose and fell gently and the orchestra played a sweet sarabande that mingled with the talk and the scent of perfume.

  “Marie! Cousin,” Juliette smiled at the younger girl. “It is a delight to see you here.”

  Marie swayed slightly and Juliette saw her very discreetly push herself straight up again on the table behind her, using only one hand. When she caught sight of Juliette, a profound look of relief flooded her face. “Juliette,” she breathed. “You must help me! I need to find a place to rest my feet. I must lie down.”

  Juliette was distressed to see the usually-lively Marie brought so low. “Do you not wish to return home?” Juliette asked, reaching out and taking her arm. “You should not stay when you are feeling ill! Is your father here?”

  “I came with Barbara.” Juliette nodded at the mention of Marie’s twin sister. “Father is away on business. The carriage will only return later for us, and I feel awful...”

  “Come with me, Marie. I will take care of you.”

  The good thing about being close to the Duchess of Fairbanks was the fact that Juliette knew the interior of Worthington Manor very well, having spent many happy hours here when her father visited the Duke. She knew the guest-suite was on the second floor of the manor, and gently guided Marie out of the soaring double doors of the ballroom and to the hallway beyond.

  Once upstairs, Juliette led Marie very gently to the doors of the Lilac room and the large quilted bed. She supported the younger woman as she slipped off her dancing-slippers, swaying as she did so.

  “Here you are, Marie. You get some rest. I am sure everything will look brighter in the morning,” she encouraged.

  “There’s nothing really wrong, Juliette.” Marie’s words were slightly slurred. “I am feeling all right, I really am. I…I think I may have just had too much to drink at the ball.”

  “I think you are right. And it will be all right after you get some rest,” Juliette said kindly. A lively and irrepressible sort, Cousin Marie was liable to try anything once. Juliette was not wholly surprised by her current predicament, and could not find it in her heart to judge the younger girl.

  “Thank you for taking care of me, Juli. You are a sweet cousin,” Marie whispered.

  Juliette brushed back a few strands of dark hair that had fallen into her cousin’s eyes. “You are a sweet cousin, too, Marie. And there is no shame in taking a little too much wine. It just reminds us to be more cautious next time. It’s a lesson learned, yes?”

  Marie snuggled into the blanket. “Yes, it is. I will definitely try harder next time.”

  Juliette sat back and watched her cousin's slow breath as she fell into a heavy sleep. She wondered briefly how many drinks Marie had consumed and vowed that she would never approach such excess. Her cousin was pale and clearly in physical and mental distress. It did not seem worth the agony.

  She walked back down the large hallway, stopping several times at portraits that were hung on the wall, showing the previous dukes of Worthington, the current duke and duchess with their children. Further along the hallway, the ancestral portraits gave way to still-lives, and, right at the end, more modern paintings: landscapes, the duke hunting, and an exotic scene – turbaned horsemen riding in a desert, sand sifting up into the air as the wind caught it, the arid landscape a mass of greys and golds around them. Juliette felt her imagination captured by the picture.

  “I wonder if Father has been to such a place?” she murmured. She loved his stories, and she wished she, too, could travel to such places. She wished she could enter the picture, feeling the sand nipping at her face as it whirled around her. She wanted to travel again and be just like her father.

  Juliette sighed wistfully, looking at the painting. She was grateful for her father's care for her, even though she wished sometimes that he would risk her more, and take her with him. She smiled. She did value his care, especially the fact that her wishes meant more to him than social mores: he had never even suggested she pursue a suitor, and had heeded her desire to stay near to him.

  “I do not think I would ever truly wish to leave England,” she said wistfully as she dragged her gaze from the artwork and headed downstairs. She loved the landscape and the mild weather, and she loved her friends and family. She wanted to stay where she was comfortable, but every so often she wished her father would relent and take her to see the world he talked so much about. Perhaps if she were wed, he would allow her and her husband to accompany him.

  Juliette heard the sound of voices drifting up the corridor. She reached the double doors again and slipped into the ballroom, glancing about. The duchess was talking with a lady she did not recognise, and she cast her eye about the glittering, well-lit space to look for someone else she knew. She spotted her father standing close to where she had left him, talking to the duke of Fairbanks. She reached them just as they were finishing some discussion.

  “I think it is about time,” her father was saying quietly. “I am sure she has anticipated this almost as much as I have. I know she will be nervous, and I do not wish to frighten her...”

  “I think she will be as eager to go as you are to take her, my friend,” the duke interrupted gently.

  Not one to eavesdrop, Juliette spoke up. “What is the matter, Father?” she asked genially. “I could not help but overhear that someone would be frightened?”

  Her father chuckled. “I did not mean to distress you, dear. Speaking of distress, how is Marie?”

  “She is simply feeling ill, Father,” Juliette said carefully, hoping she could be forgiven the subtle untruth. She did not want to embarrass her lively cousin for one silly mistake.

  “I am glad she was not upset,” was all he said. “There is so much to distress young ladies: friendships, family, marriage...”

  “I am grateful you do not distress me on that front, father!” Juliette smiled.

  “My shining star, I would never attempt to dampen your light by matching you up with someone out of necessity’s sake.”

  “You are a rare breed, your grace,” Elizabeth spoke up, joining in the conversation as she came to join the duke. “I do not know such other fine men. Except my husband, of course.”

  Juliette looked up at Elizabeth as the woman’s eyes met her husband’s. They both looked sad. Juliette felt confused again, but shelved the observation in light of more-immediate matters.

  “I am glad you joined us, Juliette,” her father was saying, “as we were, in fact, just discussing you.”

  “Discussing me?” Juliette stared at him, incredulous.

  “Yes,” he said, looking a little uncomfortable.

  “May I ask what you discussed?” Juliette said, suddenly anxious.

  “I think you should sit down, my dear.”

  Juliette’s heart hammered in her chest. “I am well,” she said shakily. “Please, tell me?”

  “I am leaving England next month, as you know, for darkest Africa. What you do not know is that I wish to take you with me.”

  Juliette gaped. She felt the room sway about her, the lights suddenly pulsing before her vision, all the noise falling away as if it was only the two of them facing each other. “You do?” She felt faint, and wished she had taken hi
s offer of a chair.

  “Yes,” her father said gravely. “I am traveling to a deserted place and I wish to have a companion who is both true and reliable. I can think of no-one better, though I hate to lay this burden on you. I understand what an enormous undertaking it would be, and the sacrifice I am demanding you to make. Promise me you do not hate me for asking this of you?”

  Juliette’s heart was pounding, and she hugged herself before throwing her arms around her father. “Oh, Father, thank you so much! I have wanted to join you on your travels forever!”

  She drew back and looked up at his face. He was smiling, though he looked completely bemused, as if that was the last reaction he would ever have anticipated. She giggled, delighted to see him look so happy.

  “My dear,” he stammered. “I am honored you choose to see my request in this way.” He looked as if he were about to cry, and Juliette wanted to embrace him, though she knew it would be improper.

  “I am happy too, Father!” Juliette said, feeling tears roll down her cheeks and being unable to prevent them. “Your faith in me moves me to tears.”

  He passed her his handkerchief, though he himself was sniffing surreptitiously. “I know it is a burden to place on one so young,” he added soberly. “You will want to settle soon, and start a family of your own. I am robbing you of the chance to move in society, to find a husband. It is selfish of me.”

  “No, father!” Juliette cried. “You are not selfish! This is my greatest desire. I care more for being with you than I ever could for balls and parties.”

  Her father chuckled sadly. “I know you do, my dear, though I do wish there was a lady in your life to counsel you. It is why I have asked our dear friend, her grace the duchess, to counsel you.”

  Juliette turned to Lady Elizabeth, who smiled gently at her.

  “You knew?” Juliette asked immediately.

  “Not until your father told me, about twenty minutes ago,” Elizabeth said tranquilly. “But I have known you since you were a little girl, and I have seen your face when your father tells his stories. You have been planning to join him for years, I suspect.”

  “I have, your grace! I have.” Juliette laughed delightedly. She stood with her hands clasped, her face glowing with rapture.

  Elizabeth laughed with her. “And if I know you, you have planned every inch of your journey in your mind already.”

  “I have,” Juliette said, though she wrinkled her brow. “The journey should take a month, should it not, father?”

  Neville smiled. “It may do. Mayhap a little less, if we are blessed with good winds. We head to Equatorial Africa, to the plains of Guinea.”

  Juliette suppressed a shiver of excitement. The thought of such exotic places made her heart race. And she would be going there, to the land of her dreams.

  “I can hardly wait!” she said, hands clasped.

  “We shall have to wait,” her father smiled. “If only a month. I intend to leave in March, the moment the shipping lanes re-open for the spring.”

  “It seems so soon!”

  Juliette stared at the group around her, all dressed in their ballroom finery, the glowing candles, the sumptuous ballroom. In just six weeks, she would be leaving all of this behind her for that distant and unimaginable land of dust and heat and danger; the land of the painting.

  She did not know when she had been so happy.

  CHAPTER THREE

  DINNER

  THE DINNER

  It was a few days later that Juliette's father told her they had been invited to dinner with the duke and duchess of Fairbanks.

  The day had dawned sunny, the first true day of spring. Juliette leaned out of the carriage window so that she could gaze at Worthington Manor as they rode towards it. The scents of the first lilacs wafted up towards her on the breeze, adding to the charm of the country scene.

  I love this house, Juliette thought as she gazed at it. It was truly a majestic home. Set in vast grounds, the manor was the essence of refined country living. Juliette did not remember a time when each aspect of the estate had not been meticulously cared for, every bush and tree trimmed or cut in topiary, the lawns green with the edges freshly-cut, the stonework of the manor itself scrubbed and beautiful.

  She settled back in her seat as the carriage rode up the wide path to the house. The horses were taking their time, and she heard the wheels crunch crisply on the gravel as they drew up to the house.

  “I am so glad the duke and duchess, invited us today, Father,” she said, smiling at Neville. “They are wonderful people.”

  “Yes,” he agreed, “they are.”

  “I like them.”

  “I believe you would be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn’t.”

  Juliette’s grin widened. “It was you who asked them to help find a suitor for me, wasn't it, Father?”

  Neville gave a short laugh. “As a matter of fact, my dear, I did. But I must confess, the thought of losing you is far from pleasant. I would defer it until after you return from the mission.” The look of love and tender regret on her father’s face filled Juliette’s heart with joy. “I know you have been longing to go on a trip like this, daughter,” he added.

  “I have!” she beamed. “I am so happy I shall see some of the world before…” She stopped herself. She had been about to say “I get married,” but she didn’t want to raise the subject. As her father had already said, it was a topic for the future, and it upset him. Besides, she did not even have a suitor. It was not a subject that needed to cloud their days.

  The carriage pulled up in front of the house. Juliette gazed a little wistfully at the front porch and the wide steps that led up to it. Everything about the manor impressed her. She wondered if she would have a place of her own like that one day. Her father’s house was large, but it was not like this one. She couldn’t think of any houses in Fairfield that could rival Worthington Manor.

  Neville stepped down from the carriage and opened the door so that Juliette could step down. He offered her his hand, which she took as she lifted her skirts with the other and carefully stepped down to the ground.

  “Thank you, Father,” she murmured.

  Neville had already turned toward the porch and was waving wildly to Shawn, who had just appeared on the front step.

  “My dear Worthy!” her father hailed the duke, shaking his hand happily. He had been friends with Shawn since their days at Eton, where they had became close friends. “You did not have to come and meet us.”

  “The duchess and I have been waiting for your arrival!” Shawn replied jovially. “I am afraid I was dissatisfied with only one brief conversation at the ball the other night.”

  “I suppose you intend to make up for that today?”

  “I do, silly. I do.” His smile was fond

  Neville shook his head. “You will never stop calling me that, will you?”

  The two men laughed as they went into the house, Juliette close on their heels. She grinned bemusedly, watching the two old friends and their strange ways. She had not before heard her father called “Silly”, which she assumed was somehow derived from “Ellingham” at some point in his youth. She watched the men as they chatted, their conversation peppered with shared references and reminiscences.

  The Duchess was standing just inside the door of the great hall, an anxious smile on her face. As they went in, Juliette wondered why she had not come out to greet them the way her husband had. She went directly to the woman to greet her. Elizabeth’s smile was warm and inviting as Juliette kissed her cheek. She smelled of lilies, her graying hair styled elaborately.

  “Juliette, my dear. It is so good to see you again.”

  Juliette smiled, noting with concern how frail the lady's shoulders were as she embraced her.

  “I feel the same, my lady. Thank you so much for inviting us to spend the day with you.”

  Elizabeth led the young girl to a long couch by a wide, tall window that allowed them to see over the land for miles. They sat
next to each other, half-facing each other so they could talk.

  “You look so lovely today, my lady,” Juliette said. “What a beautiful gown.”

  The dress in question was soft and flowing, delicately patterned with lavender sprigs.

  “Thank you, my dear. The duke found it for me while he was traveling through the Americas. To be quite honest with you, I am not sure where he was when he got it. It is made of pure cotton! Most unusual.”

  “Truly?”

  “Yes!” Elizabeth picked up a corner of her skirt and held it out for Juliette to touch. “Feel this and tell me if you have felt any like it before.”

  Juliette pinched the cloth between her fingers and rubbed the surface gently. “Oh my,” she breathed. “This is so soft. It is absolutely lovely, my lady. I confess I am jealous.”

  Elizabeth smiled again. “Thank you, my dear. But that is a beautiful dress you are wearing as well!”

  Juliette blushed. “Father had it made up for me. He says that I look just like Mother did when she was my age.” she smiled at the memory. Her mother had been very beautiful, by all accounts.

  “You do, my dear. You do. Your mother was a grand woman, despite the harsh circumstances she had to endure.” The duchess frowned.

  “Do you mean her health?”

  Elizabeth nodded. “Lydia was always a fragile creature.”

  “Did you know her when she was young?”

  “Unfortunately, I did not know her well. I met your mother when the duke and I were married – she was with your father at our wedding. They only visited once or twice afterward. Your father’s studies kept him very busy. I am sure it still does.”

  Juliette shook her head. “Father studies less now, but travels more.”

  “Ah! His travels,” the duchess smiled. “And you are going to accompany him?”

  “I believe I shall travel part of the way alone.”