Page 46 of The Secret of the Dashing Detective
“What happened to going ahead and asking for forgiveness later?” he teased.
She inclined her head. “I still follow that mantra – I do. But with everything else we are going through right now, I don’t want to add to their worries.”
He realized, then, that as much as she had been affected by her abduction, part of the issue was that she felt guilty for what it had done to her brother, the fear it had caused within her mother.
“It wasn’t your fault, Juliana.”
“If I hadn’t been so distracted, so easy to read—”
“It wasn’t your fault,” he said, more firmly now. “It was whoever orchestrated this plan – someone I should have caught by now.”
“But you are too busy looking after me.”
“Not at all,” he shook his head. “This is part of my job.”
“Right,” she said, looking back at Lucy, avoiding his gaze. “Part of your job.”
“Looking after you may be the job, Juliana,” he said fiercely, taking her chin in between his thumb and forefinger. “But you, Juliana –youare much more than a job.”
If they hadn’t been standing by the fence and visible to all who were passing by, he would have kissed her right then, but as it was, he would have to wait for another time, another day.
Until then, he would just have to show her how special she truly was in other ways.
CHAPTER16
With Matthew dedicating the next few days chasing down leads consisting of her father’s most vocal adversaries, Juliana did all she could to help him in his endeavors by simply staying home. It went against everything in her nature to sit and do nothing, but she passed her time helping Emma in the gardens, visiting Lucy at the fence, and working on her pamphlet, which was nearly finished.
She was quite enamoured with Matthew’s drawings, and all she had to do now was find a printer who could piece it together and create the copies for her. She could hardly wait to see it on actual paper and in the hands of readers across London.
Because she didn’t request his presence, she was surprised when Matthew arrived one afternoon of his own accord, a serious look on his face as he stepped into the small parlor she had occupied as her work room.
“Juliana,” he greeted her once seeing that she was alone. Abigail ducked into the room after him and took a seat in the corner, so when he walked over and moved a chair to be right next to her in order to speak lowly in her ear, Juliana was intrigued.
“Yes?”
“We have a bit of a… problem.”
“Oh?”
“Lewis came to my office.”
“HudsonLewis? My brother?” She was so surprised that her voice rose, causing Abigail to look up from the book that Juliana had lent her. Juliana lowered her tone. “Why?”
“I had told him my name, so he asked around about me, discovered where I worked. He would like to have that dinner you mentioned.”
“And?”
“I couldn’t say no, and the conversation became rather awkward, so finally I had to ask him to come.”
“When?”
“Friday.”
“Friday! How are we to arrange your rooms by then?”
“I don’t know.”
Juliana stood and began muttering to herself as she paced back and forth. “We will have to make it an early dinner so that I can get away without anyone being the wiser. I shall have to go to Lady Maria and confess I have been using her as an excuse. Perhaps she will allow me to do so again, as I hardly can without asking her this time, especially for an evening event as it is hard to know where she might be, and—”
