Lucas returned to where she stood and took her hand, raising it to his lips. “What say you, sweetheart? Shall we stay?”
“I would like that.”
Her Grace motioned to the housekeeper standing nearby. “Mrs. Macintyre will show all of you to your rooms. Dinner will be provided on trays so you can complete your ablutions before the ball without arriving hungry.”
“Very thoughtful, Your Grace,” Digby said with a dip of his head.
They were led up a grand and imposing staircase and down the winding corridors of the rambling castle. Julia doubted she could manage to find her way back without assistance. Brier Hill was a very small estate, and she was grateful for its simplicity.
Julia’s abigail was waiting for her when she and Lucas were motioned into the bedchamber chosen for them. Her gown for the ball was laid out carefully on the bed. Julia swallowed against the thickening in her throat. She and Lucas lived very separate lives despite being married and sharing a small, simple estate. Was she truly meant to dress in front of him and he in front of her?
True to himself of late, Lucas anticipated her worries. He nudged her further inside. “My valet will be meeting me in Kes’s room. Take all the time you’d like. Send Lucy when you are ready to be accompanied to the ballroom.”
He had expertly navigated the potentially difficult scenario.
“Thank you,” she said.
Compassion touched his gaze. “We will eventually sort all of this, sweetheart. I haven’t any doubt.”
Her doubts were fleeing as well. He valued her and made her part of his life and plans. That alleviated so many worries and offered such a measure of hope.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Lucy was a godsend. She had been Julia’s lady’s maid for only a couple of weeks but had already proven herself indispensable. She was cheerful and kind, good at her work, and hadn’t the least objection to any of Julia’s fashion preferences. She’d not so much as blinked an eye at Julia’s eschewing of hair powder and hadn’t given the hint of a suggestion otherwise when that preference was not cast aside even for an event as grand and important as a Falstone Castle ball.
She simply smiled and saw to everything, engaging in easy conversation, something some servants refused to do and others made awkward. Julia and Lucy were a very good fit. She needed to remember to thank Mrs. Parks for the suggestion.
Precisely on time, Lucy stepped back from her efforts and gave Julia a quick, final inspection. “Pretty as a sunset, you are. Lord Jonquil will be vastly pleased, I tell you.” Lucy was generous with her praise, yet her words of approval never felt insincere.
“Wish me luck,” Julia said.
“You won’t need it. You’ve six valiant knights here who’ll not let the tiniest thing go wrong for you, not if they can help it.”
Valiant knights. That was an apt description.
Lucy slipped out to tell Lucas’s valet that preparations were complete. Julia felt nearly ready to face the overwhelming prospect of a glittering Society ball. Lucas wouldn’t let her sink. The other Gents would be nearby as well. She could face this.
A quick knock on the door sounded before Lucas stepped inside. “Are you—” His mouth tipped up in a smile. “Julia. You look like a dream.”
“Is that dream a nightmare?”
He crossed to her. “Not in the least. Every gentleman at the ball will be vying for a moment of your time.”
“Sounds like a nightmare to me.”
Lucas took her hands in his. “Are you truly so unhappy as this? I want you to begin to find your sea legs in Society, but I don’t wish to toss you overboard if you aren’t ready to swim.”
“I fell in the Trent often enough for you to know perfectly well that I can most certainly swim.”
A slow smile spread over his face. “Do you have any idea how much of our childhood I spent worrying about you?”
“Likely as much as I spent chasing after you.”
“I have missed you, Julia.” He brushed his thumb and the heel of his hand along her jaw. “I suspect you don’t fully believe me, but I missed you terribly.”
“You knew where I was,” she answered in a tiny voice. “You didn’t have to miss me.”
“I should have come back more often,” he said.
Some reassurance that he thought of her would have eased much of the pain of his absence. She’d needed so desperately to know he cared enough to lessen the blow of his departures by telling her of them and by being so happy at the prospect of seeing her again that he would be eager to tell her of his return.
That reassurance she had needed then had been even more forthcoming of late. He wouldn’t forget or dismiss her so readily now. He wouldn’t leave her out of his life. She had learned to trust that he wouldn’t.
He pulled her arm through his, setting his hand over hers, where it rested on his arm. “Shall we go dazzle our hosts?”
“I think we had better.”
He led her from her guest chamber and into the corridor.
“It is a shame little Lord Falstone will not be in attendance,” Julia said. “I suspect I would enjoy making his further acquaintance.”
“He certainly has perfected his ducal air, hasn’t he?” Lucas laughed. “One feels one ought to bow and scrape and ‘Your Grace’ the little boy, no matter that his father is the actual duke. But, somehow, I found myself also longing to invite him to undertake a game of chase or to climb a tree.”
“You are fond of children, I suspect.”
He grinned. “Children are far better company than most adults.”
“I take exception to that,” Digby said as he stepped out into the corridor as well.
“No need for offense,” Lucas said. “No one who knows you considers you an adult.”
Digby bowed to Julia. “You look lovely, Lady Jonquil. A rose silk gown with white crepe accents and satin flowers is quite de rigueur. An absolute vision.”
“I would return the compliment,” she said, “but I fear your head will swell terribly and your wig will no longer fit.”
His mouth dropped open, and his brows darted low in an overdone look of offense. “Wig? Every strand of this is mine, I will have you know.”
“And for once, not powdered to within an inch of its life.” Though she made the remark saucily, she was touched that he had forgone his usual fashion in support of her.
“Our jester has refused to powder his hair, so I assumed there must be a shortage of powdering materials.” Digby nodded solemnly. “Far be it from me to contribute to a fashion famine.”
Kes arrived a moment later, his hair also unpowdered. He quietly looked over them, an eyebrow of indulgent annoyance tossed at Digby. “Yellow jacket and pantaloons? You could not have chosen a quieter color?”
“Quiet? The King?” Lucas shook his head. “Impossible.”
“Charity is kind, gentlemen,” Henri said as he stepped from a bedchamber into the corridor.
“It also suffereth,” Kes added dryly.
With a sigh of tried patience, Aldric joined them as well. “Do you suppose the lot of you could behave for the length of an evening?”
Digby walked regally ahead. “We declare ourselves ready to mingle.”
“The royal ‘We.’” Kes shook his head. “I warned you all not to call him the King. This was the only possible result.”
Grumpy Uncle suited Kes, though Julia had seen a great deal of compassion and patience in him, as well as a friendly regard, especially when interacting one-on-one.
They walked as a group back through the maze of corridors. Thank the heavens the gentlemen had paid enough heed upon first arriving to remember the way back to the ballroom; she wasn’t certain she could have managed it.
Julia’s breath caught as they stepped into the glittering expanse of silk and lace and jewels. A small
grouping of musicians on a dais across the ballroom filled the grand space with the glorious strains of a minuet. The idea of so large a social event had generally filled her with dread, but entering this one on Lucas’s arm and flanked on either side by her valiant knights, Julia felt a surge of excitement.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The vow Lucas had made years earlier, that he would live fully the life his brothers and sister had been denied, came closer to being fulfilled during these evenings than nearly anywhere else, except, perhaps, for when he traveled. Seeing the world they never would brought him a sense of peace in the midst of the grief he wasn’t certain he would ever entirely escape.
But never had his heart been so full upon arriving at a ball than it was this night. He’d missed Julia terribly the last eight years, though he’d not truly realized as much before fate had brought them together again. With her at his side, he felt . . . whole. He’d always believed the emptiness that had dogged his heels the past years had been fully explained by his grief over Stanley and his siblings. He’d not realized he was mourning her absence too.
It was more than that now. She was no longer his little childhood playmate and partner in mischief. She had captured his heart, and he would never be whole again without her. The pull of adventure and travel and Society was too much a part of him to ignore it the rest of his life, but knowing her preference for home and quiet, he would not force his inclination on her. She’d been robbed of choices too many times.
He would travel less often, go fewer places, limit himself to those events and places of greatest importance and fulfillment. It was a compromise he could make—would make—for the sake of the future they were building together. She, after all, had made compromises of her own.
“I know balls are not your preferred undertaking,” he said to her as they moved through the ballroom. “Thank you for enduring it.”
“I had always assumed these gatherings would be an utterly overwhelming cacophony.” She looked about, wide-eyed, a little smile on her lips. “But there is something very beautiful about all of this, isn’t there? It is a bouquet in motion.”
“You will meet some exemplary people when you are in Society,” he said. “You will also meet plenty who are ridiculous, but they are entertaining in their own way.”
She smiled up at him, her lovely blue eyes sparkling. “I look forward to it.”
“Do you truly?” She had lodged so many objections to balls and gatherings that he would not have expected her to have any positive anticipation of future undertakings. He had assumed, in fact, that attending social gatherings was a sacrifice she was making.
“I cannot promise to be an expert,” she said, “but you did offer to act as my tutor on any subject I wished to study. Surely this topic can be included in my education.”
He raised her hand to his lips and kissed her gloved knuckles. Arm in arm, they approached a nearby gathering. Lucas knew a number of them. He undertook introductions. Julia gave not the slightest hint of her trepidation. She would soon be quite a favorite in Society, he hadn’t the least doubt.
If she warmed enough to this aspect of her changed life, she might in time consider leaving the comfort of home for a bit of travel.
He added that to his list of vows where their future was concerned: making her smile, playing games, holding her whenever she would allow, reading to her as she fell asleep, and, eventually—when she was ready to consider the idea—traveling. His heart swelled at the increasingly lovely picture forming of the life that lay ahead of them.
The musicians struck up the opening strains of an allemande. Julia looked to him in the very moment his gaze settled on her.
“The allemande,” she said quietly, and, if he didn’t miss his mark, hopefully.
That particular dance had already been a favorite, but the fact that she preferred it as well and so clearly associated it with him solidified its position in his mind as the very best of all the dances.
“Will you stand up with me, my lady?” he asked.
With the tiniest hint of color touching her cheeks, she agreed.
They took their place on the dance floor amongst the many other couples, including their very handsome hosts, and he took her hand to begin the dance. He had always believed it an elegant dance but hadn’t realized how intimate it could be. They wove around each other, hands touching, eyes meeting. Clasping hands as they reached across each other placed them very nearly in an embrace.
She smiled up at him. Lucas had heard before the expression that one’s heart “melted,” but had always assumed it an overly sentimental exaggeration. He knew in that moment how very real the sensation was.
His sweet Julia. She was overturning every expectation he’d had for this evening and this marriage.
For the length of a heartbeat when the music stopped, he didn’t move. He stood with her hands in his, unable to take his eyes off her. She really was beautiful. He had noticed as much when he’d first seen her on their rock along the Trent the afternoon of his return from Europe. He’d understood, intellectually, that she was a remarkably fine-looking lady, but the appeal of her, the pull and tug in his heart became deeply personal as he stood there.
“The dance is over, Lucas,” she whispered. “We had best vacate the floor.”
“Forgive me. My thoughts were wandering.” He tucked her arm through his, keeping her close and attempting to prevent his pounding heart and spinning thoughts from being too obvious.
She appeared more at ease than she had in weeks, at times even pleased with their current arrangement. Her smiles came much easier now, as he’d hoped they would. She’d even seemed to enjoy kissing him, which was promising. He’d told himself he could be patient while tenderness grew in this unasked-for marriage of theirs. But the more deeply his heart became involved, the more unsure he was of his own equanimity should his increasingly tender feelings not ever be returned.
“You dance a very graceful allemande.” The duchess’s compliment caught him off guard, because, in his distraction, he’d not realized he had led himself and Julia directly to her.
“Grace is more easily obtained when a gentleman has so elegant a partner.” He offered a dip of his head toward Julia.
She colored but didn’t object to the bit of chivalry.
“I understand you are recently married,” the duchess said.
“Yes, Your Grace,” Julia answered.
“And where did you take your wedding journey?” The duchess looked back and forth from Julia to Lucas.
“Directly to our home in Cumberland,” Lucas said.
“Did you not travel anywhere?” She was clearly surprised.
“I had only just returned from a year in Europe,” Lucas said. “I could not be away from the estate any longer.”
“A year in Europe?” Her face lit. “What a delight. I have not been on the Continent since my own wedding journey.”
“It was lovely, indeed,” he said. “I found myself both anxious to return home and quite sad to be ending my adventures.”
“Travel is good for the soul, is it not?” The duchess was quickly showing herself to be a fellow explorer.
“Where do your favorite adventures take you, Your Grace?”
“Throughout Britain,” she said. “Though I would enjoy a jaunt to the Continent, I find I enjoy our own kingdom enough to be vastly satisfied seeing more and more of it. I grow eager to be moving about after only a few weeks in any one place.”
The duke slipped into their little grouping as his wife was speaking. He eyed her with brow drawn. “You are anxious to leave again?”
She set a hand on his arm. The gesture was somehow not as affectionate as it ought to have been. “Not yet. I am enjoying the ball and gathering.”
“You will, of course, remain for Christmas.” It was posed as half question, half statement.
&nb
sp; “Joseph,” the duchess said softly. “We can discuss our family arrangements another time, surely.”
He offered a tight smile. “Forgive me,” he said to them. “We are still uncertain of our family plans come Christmastime. I fear I allowed my enthusiasm to overcome my manners.”
“Our duke does enjoy being at home,” Her Grace said. “He is never happier than when he is at Falstone Castle. Our son, I fear, takes after his father. Both share a decided preference for being at home.”
“And you do not?” Julia asked.
The duchess shook her head, her smile not slipping. “There is so much of the world to experience, and my heart is at its most jubilant when I am seeing new or wonderful corners of it.”
“One feels inarguably alive while traveling,” Lucas said. “The joy of it is difficult to put into words, but it is so very real.”
“Do you, Lord Jonquil, ever feel as though you are suffocating when you have not journeyed in some time?”
“Indeed. Though I have found that feeling eases when I have a future journey to anticipate.”
“Do you?” Julia asked.
“Yes, I feel much better with travel to look forward to.”
She shook her head. “I meant, do you have a future journey already planned?”
“I do.” Excitement bubbled on the instant. This journey was an important one, a vital one. He looked to their hosts, knowing the duchess in particular would appreciate his coming travels. “A group of gentlemen, friends of long standing who enjoy seeing the world, will be making a trek to Portugal in the spring. It was not included in the tour I only just completed, as we all wished to make the trip together. We have spoken of doing so for years, and it is happening at last.”
“How exciting,” the duchess said. “I have very nearly convinced my friends to include the Continent in our future destinations.”
“A trip abroad will keep you away even longer than usual,” the duke said. “Surely, you do not wish to be away that long, not when Adam is still so young and misses you so dearly.”
Forget Me Not (The Gents Book #1) Page 21
