The ferocity of her words momentarily stunned him. “What?”
“I would never want you to marry me simply because I shared your bed, Harrison.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he scoffed at her stubborn pride. “I offered to marry you because it was the right thing to do.”
Juliette rolled her eyes. “That is exactly what I am saying. Had I stayed, you would have pressed the issue.”
“Of course, I would have. It’s my responsibility. We should get married.”
“Simply because I shared your bed?”
“That and I don’t like to think of you in anyone else’s bed.” He knew the words were a mistake as soon as they came out of his mouth. He stared at her.
Truly angry now, Juliette stood up from the table and stalked to the doorway. She turned back and faced him. Her words fell like ice. “You understand nothing.”
Harrison was left alone in the dining room, stunned by Juliette’s reaction. He almost went after her, but then thought better of it. Feeling hurt and angry when he had only been trying to do the right and honorable thing, he grabbed a bottle of champagne and walked out to the patio.
The night had cooled off very little. He removed his jacket and tossed it over the wrought iron railing that outlined the patio. He made his way to the steps where he sat with Jeffrey and Juliette the night before and made a mental note that it would be rather convenient to have some furniture out here.
She was right.
He would never understand women. Least of all a woman like Juliette. What a stubborn, pig-headed, beautiful temptress she was. He swigged from the champagne bottle and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. The whole situation made no sense.
“Looks like I’m too late for dinner.”
Harrison turned around to see Jeffrey Eddington standing in the doorway. He waved to him. “Come join me.”
Jeffrey staggered onto the patio and sat on the steps. He held a bottle of something in his hand. “Bourbon.”
Harrison held up his bottle. “Champagne.”
They both chuckled and took swigs from their bottles.
“Where the hell have you been?” Harrison asked, taking in Jeffrey’s inebriated state.
“I ran into an old friend. And I made some new ones,” he said cryptically, with a rakish smile.
“Business or pleasure?”
“A little of both actually. It was a productive day. Until a few hours ago, that is. Somehow I ended up at a party at a house on the river…” Jeffrey grinned.
“Glad you had a good time.”
“I did, but I never kiss and tell.” He gave Harrison an arch look. “But I must say your name is quite familiar to certain parties.”
Smiling, Harrison shrugged helplessly.
Lighting a cigar, Jeffrey asked, “Where’s Juliette?” He offered another cigar to Harrison.
Taking it, Harrison lit the tip and inhaled deeply. He exhaled in a slow, even breath before responding, “She’s in her room, I would imagine.”
Jeffrey gave him a questioning look. “How is that going, by the way?”
“How is what going?” Harrison asked, ignoring the obvious. Cigar smoke curled around them.
“How is it going between you and Juliette?”
If he had any idea of where he stood with Juliette that might be an easier question to answer, but as it was, Harrison hadn’t a clue. “What makes you think there is anything between me and Juliette?”
“I’m not blind,” Jeffrey said sarcastically. “You can’t take your eyes off of her.”
“You’re the one traveling about New York City with her, taking her to restaurants and for carriage rides in the park.” Harrison had wanted to be the one to show Juliette around the city, and it had stung a little to learn that she had done so with Jeffrey. The thought of Jeffrey squiring her around made him uneasy. “What’s going on between you and Juliette? Answer me that.”
“Me and Juliette?” Jeffrey laughed aloud, his grin wide. “We’re just good friends. Very good friends, actually.”
Harrison’s eyes narrowed at the cryptic answer. “What is that supposed to mean exactly?”
“It means, Harrison, that she and I are dear friends and nothing more.” Jeffrey held up his hands in mock innocence.
Harrison pressed on anyway. He had to know the answer, because it had been gnawing at him for some time now. “Have you kissed her?”
“Not in the way you mean. No.”
“But you are in love with her, aren’t you?” Their unusual friendship begged this question so Harrison could not help himself from asking. He had to know the truth, even if he did not like it.
Jeffrey gave a weary sigh. “No, I’m not. Thank God for that small favor. I don’t think I could survive being in love with the likes of Juliette. There may have been a time when I briefly entertained the notion of Juliette and me together. But that is long past. Yes, I love her dearly. I love her family. But as far as the two of us together? It would never work. I tend to see myself in the role of her older brother, since she has none. Or at the very least I could be a devoted cousin. Someone has to watch out for her.”
Harrison relaxed somewhat at Jeffrey’s words. If Jeffrey had serious intentions toward her it would only complicate an already complicated situation.
Jeffrey drank from his bottle before stating, “Now that we’ve cleared up my relationship with Juliette, it is only fair turn around that you explain to me what is going on between you and Juliette.”
Harrison felt his gut clench. “Explain to you about what?”
“I have already heard one side of the story. As her closest male protector, I demand to hear your side.”
Harrison remained mute and took a long swig from his bottle of champagne.
“Ah, ha!” Jeffrey cried triumphantly. “That was the exact answer I got from Juliette. The lack of an answer on both your parts confirms my very worst suspicions.”
Again Harrison remained silent. What happened between Juliette and him while they were on the Sea Minx was their private business. He would not share that information with anyone. And really, what right did Jeffrey Eddington have to be asking such intimate questions and making insinuations? It sullied the beauty of what he and Juliette had shared.
“You have to do right by her, Harrison.” Jeffrey said in an authoritative voice. “You have to marry her.”
“You think I don’t know that? I did ask her to marry me.” He paused before adding, “She turned me down.”
Jeffrey whistled low. “She told me that, but I didn’t want to believe her.”
“She told you?” Harrison’s humiliation was complete.
“Yes.”
Harrison contemplated that for a moment. “Did she tell you why she said no?”
Jeffrey shrugged. “She simply said she didn’t want to get married.”
“Do you believe that?”
Jeffrey took another mouthful from his bottle of bourbon. “Well, the thing with Juliette is that you have to believe what she says. I’ve never known her to lie.”
“I don’t understand that woman.” Harrison’s frustration edged into his tone. “As any honorable gentleman would do, I offered to marry her. But she says no! What more can I do? What more does she want?”
“She doesn’t want to get married because she doesn’t want to be controlled. That’s why she left London.”
Harrison’s brows drew together in puzzlement. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that she didn’t come here to meet a lover, as you thought. She just wanted to break away, spread her wings so to speak. She wanted to see something of the world and to live her life a little without society reining her in.”
That sounded vaguely familiar to Harrison. What was it she had said? His champagne soaked brain tried to recall the things Juliette had told him on the ship. Something about being free and having adventures. The entire time he suspected that was a cover up and that she really was on her way to be with another man.
&nb
sp; “She said that too, but I didn’t believe her,” Harrison admitted reluctantly.
“Why not?”
“Because it didn’t make any sense at all!” Harrison cried in frustration.
“This is Juliette Hamilton we’re talking about. Of course it makes sense.”
“No.” Harrison shook his head in impatience. “No, it doesn’t. I’ve seen her home in London, and the pretty life she has there. She was safe and secure, with a family who loves her. She wanted to give all that up for adventure? For freedom? And risk her life in the process? It makes no sense, I tell you.”
In Harrison’s mind, Juliette had all that anyone could ever want in life. He spent his entire childhood worried what each day would bring and worked his whole life to find that sense of security and stability.
Harrison added, “She could have married any wealthy nobleman of her choice and never had to worry about anything again.”
“Yes, she could have,” Jeffrey agreed solemnly. “But do you see what you just did? You just mapped out her life for her. So did everyone else, myself included. But that’s not what she wanted.”
“What does she want then?” Harrison echoed through the weary fog in his head.
“She wants to live life on her own terms, I guess. And God bless her, somehow she’s doing it.” The admiration Jeffrey had for her was evident in his voice.
“What are you going to do, Jeffrey?” Harrison asked in weariness. “Are you taking her back to London?”
He rubbed his hand along his temple. “I know I should bring her home, yet I can’t do that to her. On the other hand, I can’t just leave her here on her own. But I need to get back to London very soon.”
They sat quietly for some time, smoking their cigars. The rich, pungent smoke wafted through the still night air.
Finally, Jeffrey said, “You know you have to get her to marry you. It’s the only way.”
“Yes, blast it, I know that! She ran away from me as soon as we docked in New York. So where does that leave me?” Harrison’s fear for her that morning still made his heart race. If she had been hurt he never would have forgiven himself. Yet he was still angry with her for it as well.
Jeffrey chuckled low. “I didn’t know that bit of the story, but it doesn’t surprise me.”
Harrison said, “I know I should marry her. It’s the only way. But what am I supposed to do? Trick her into marrying me?”
“We might just have to at that.” With a gleam in his eyes, Jeffrey raised his bottle to Harrison’s. “I think I have an idea.”
20
Across the Pond
“Can I please hold him now?” Lisette Hamilton asked.
Colette Sinclair held her infant son in her arms, overwhelmed with the emotions flooding her at the sight of his tiny and perfect features. He had Lucien’s eyes and smile. Even a week after his birth she could not stop staring at his precious little face. He had arrived a few weeks earlier than expected but was healthy and strong.
Beaming with pride, Colette passed the baby to her sister, who stood anxiously by her side. “Be careful of his head.”
“I know. I know,” Lisette murmured, taking the sleeping bundle in her arms and crooning to him. “Oh, he’s just the sweetest little boy in the world.”
“Isn’t he, though?” Colette couldn’t help but gush over him. Her happiness had overflowed the past week, tempered only by Juliette’s absence.
“You will be married with a baby of your own soon enough, Lisette,” Yvette foretold in a teasing manner.
“Don’t be silly,” Paulette countered disdainfully. “Lisette is not ready to marry Henry just yet!”
Irritated, Lisette took her eyes from the baby she held in her arms and cast a disapproving glance to her younger sisters. “Both of you, that’s enough! Let’s not discuss my future at the moment.”
Colette was about to agree with Lisette’s sentiment, when the door to the nursery flew open.
“Oh, laissez-moi voir mon adorable petit-fils!” Genevieve La Brecque Hamilton entered the room with her usual dramatic breathlessness, arriving at Devon House from Brighton to see her first grandchild. “Oh, let me see my beautiful grandson!”
“Mother! You’re here!” Colette cried with excitement, surprised that she was actually happy to see her mother for the first time in a long while.
Colette had not seen her mother since Christmas and was eager for her to meet her new son. Leaving London and living near the sea had invigorated Genevieve Hamilton. Although she still used her gilt-handled cane when she walked, it was more for show than anything else. She looked younger than she had in years. The color had returned to her face and her eyes sparkled with life. Her gray hair was arranged fashionably around her face and she wore a stylish gown of deep violet. Colette almost did not recognize her.
“Bonjour mes chéries. C’est formidable de vous voir. Colette, my darling, I am sorry I was not here sooner.” She hugged Colette tightly and after handing her cane to Yvette, she turned to Lisette. “Lisette, donnes moi le bébé. Give him to me.”
Obediently but reluctantly, Lisette passed the sleeping infant to her mother.
“Eh bien, bonjour mon petit. Je suis ta grand-mère. Il est parfait, simplement parfait. Je suis ta grand-mère. I am your grandmother.” Genevieve crooned over him, smiling and nodding her head. She turned to her daughter. “Il est tellement adorable. He is perfect, just perfect. Finally we have a baby boy in the family! He favors his father, does he not? But I see you in him also, Colette. What did you name him?”
Paulette shook her blonde head in disgust. “They haven’t decided yet!”
“Why not?” Genevieve cried in surprise. “The child must have a name!”
“Of course he is going to have a name!” Colette responded heatedly, then she hesitated. “Lucien and I just can’t agree on what it is.” The two of them had spent hours going over names together and finally narrowed it down to two, but they could not come to an agreement.
Her mother chuckled. “I would not have expected you to be so indecisive, Colette.”
“Oh, it’s not me,” she protested. “It’s Lucien who cannot make up his mind.”
Genevieve, still holding the baby, moved to sit in a chair. “I would not have expected that of Lucien either.”
“I think he looks like a Charles,” Paulette offered from across the room.
“Nonsense!” Genevieve declared. “On sait de qui il tient. He looks exactly like a Phillip.”
“Mother!” Colette cried in surprise. “That is just what I wanted to call him!” Only Lucien had a different name in mind. Godfrey. Colette detested that name.
“Then it is settled. He is Phillip Sinclair, the future Earl of Waverly and Marques of Stancliff,” Genevieve announced as if the decision was hers to make.
“May I hold him now?” Yvette asked her mother.
Genevieve nodded indulgently and gave to the baby to Yvette. “He is too precious.”
“How was your trip here, Maman?” Colette asked. Lucien had sent a carriage for her as soon as the baby was born.
“Le voyage a été terrible. Je déteste voyager, c’est tellement ennuyeux.” Genevieve waved her hand in the air. “It was terrible. I hate traveling. The roads are dreadful and too crowded, but then the trains are filthy. Either way traveling is terrible.” She smiled as she settled back into the chair, glancing around at each one of them. “I am happy to see my girls again.”
“We’re happy to see you too, Mother,” Lisette said sweetly.
Colette wondered what her mother had thought when not one of her daughters chose to move with her to Brighton. When Colette married Lucien, he generously offered his home to all of her sisters so they could remain in London and continue to oversee the family bookshop together. Naturally he had extended the offer to Genevieve as well, but having had her fill of city life she chose to move to a small cottage by the sea. Without her daughters. Which oddly enough, seemed to suit them all. Visits were made, of course. Ge
nevieve would stay at Devon House for weeks at a time and they would visit her, although Lisette made the trip to Brighton more than any of them. Colette and Juliette had gone the least often.
Genevieve paused, her eyes searching the room. “Where is Juliette?”
Since that fateful night, Colette had avoided informing their mother of Juliette’s disappearance for fear of upsetting her. But there was no avoiding it now. “Well, Maman,” she began hesitantly, “Juliette is away on a trip.”
Still holding the baby in her arms, Yvette blurted out, “She ran away to New York without telling any of us that she was leaving!”
“Mon dieu, mais que fait-elle donc à New York? Tu plaisantes j’espère.” Genevieve cried, placing her hand over her heart. “You are jesting with me!”
Colette frowned at her youngest sister, while Paulette gave her a nudge with her elbow.
“Well, it’s true!” Yvette pouted, wondering what she did that was so wrong.
“Yes, Maman. We would have preferred to tell you in a much gentler way.” Colette shot Yvette another disapproving look. She had hoped not to tell her mother that Juliette had fled in the middle of the night and not while they were in her son’s nursery, but Yvette ruined that plan. “But yes, it is the truth. Juliette hid on a ship sailing for New York.”
“You were going to keep this a secret from me? How could you think I would not know?” Genevieve became more agitated. “Vous alliez me cacher ce secret? Comment avez vous pu pensé que je ne l’apprendrais pas?”
“We were not trying to keep it a secret from you, Mother,” Colette began. “We simply did not wish to worry you.”
“My God! Juliette always said she would go there, but I never thought…I never expected her to do this…” Genevieve began to breathe rapidly, her hand still over her heart. “Comment a-t-elle pu me faire ça à moi? Je lui avais dit de ne pas y aller.”
Without needing to be told, Lisette went to her mother’s reticule and removed the small vial of smelling salts she always carried with her. She handed it to her mother.
“Merci beaucoup, ma petite chérie.” Genevieve smiled weakly at her daughter. “J’ai très mal à la tête. Now it is my head.”
Desire In His Eyes Page 18
