Page 36 of Unmasking a Wicked Marquess
“How can you be so happy on a day like today?” Juliet asked with a sigh, leaning on the back of her chair.
“Well, I do not have your misfortune of being pawed at by those three for starters,” Violet whispered, nodding subtly in the direction of the men who still hadn’t noticed Juliet’s absence, for they were arguing so much. “Besides, I am simply happy to be in such a crowd with so many people. The races shall be fun, I am sure.”
“Hmm, perhaps,” Juliet murmured. She was eager to see the races indeed but not so eager to stay in such a crowd as this. “Do you not think there are a few too many people here at the duke’s house? We make a large party indeed.”
“Don’t say that, for there is another family due this morning,” Violet said.
“How do you know that?” Juliet bent her head around her sister’s, catching a glimpse of Violet’s strained smile faltering for a second. “Violet, what are you hiding?”
“You’ll see,” Violet said with a giggle and lifted her teacup to her lips once more.
The sound of a carriage drifted towards them in the air through the open window of the dining room.
“Ah, our last guests have arrived,” the Duke of Darby declared, clasping his hands together and standing from his seat, making his rather large and rotund belly extend over the table. He moved to the window and chuckled, making the gray sideburns on his cheeks shake with the movement. “They’re always keen to make an entrance, aren’t they, dear?”
“Always.” The duchess laughed, tittering as she adjusted the gray curls of her hair. “Well, come, come, let us go and greet them and bring them in. They must have been travelling half the night, and they will be starving by now.”
Juliet stayed behind her sister, her hand on Violet’s chair, though she had noted Violet sat forward, no longer drinking her tea but frozen solid.
“Why are you doing your best impression of a statue, Vi?” Juliet whispered.
“No reason,” Violet said out of the corner of her mouth, her eyes set on the doorway.
The next few minutes passed in silence between the pair of them as other conversations continued around the room. When the door opened again, and the Duke and Duchess of Darby returned with their guests, Juliet gripped the back of her sister’s hand tightly.
Standing there in the doorway were the unmistakable figures of the Duke and Duchess of Lantham. Beside them was a young woman whom Juliet had seen before and knew to be Lady Jane, their daughter. More footsteps sounded, and behind them, another stepped into the room. It was Lord Ashton.
His eyes shot straight to Juliet’s, his lips parting in wonder as she stared back at him.
This is not possible … no.
Juliet reached down and gripped Violet’s shoulder.
“You said they were not coming to Ascot this year,” Juliet hissed as she saw her father’s expression darken across the room. His laughter abruptly stopped as he turned to see the Duke of Lantham and their gazes locked across the room.
“Did I?” Violet said with innocence. “Oh, dear, well, I must have been mistaken.” That self-satisfied smile returned to her face.
Chapter 11
“Robert, would you please calm down.” Cecily was repeatedly trying to stop Robert marching up and down the small parlour they had managed to find to escape to as a family. “You will wear yourself out.”
“Not to mention the rug beneath you,” Juliet added from where she leaned against a wall, her hands on her hips, thinking of the shock she had just seen on Lord Ashton’s face. Was he happy to see her again? She could not be sure.
Yet if he were … was it possible they could share in more indulgent kisses? When they were here, so far from their houses in London and staying under the same roof, how much easier would it be to see each other more, to steal such kisses again, and perhaps take something more, too?
She stood uncomfortably, rubbing her legs together as she thought of that ache beneath her legs.
Violet sat happily in a chair on the other side of the room, not shifting the smile from her face.
“How can this happen?” Robert said, abandoning his pacing and whirling around to face Cecily. “We always avoid them at all costs. Violet, you were so certain they were not coming.”
“I must have been mistaken.” She shrugged, trying her best to flatten her smile but clearly struggling to accomplish it.
“We must find somewhere else to stay,” Robert said, turning to face Cecily once more. “Anywhere!”
“Where?” Cecily asked calmly. “Robert, it has been many years since you and I came to Ascot, but the difficulty of finding accommodation here will be unchanged. All the inns will be fully booked, and all our friends will already have their guest lists sorted. It is either stay here or go home; those are our only options.”
“Go home?” Juliet murmured, stepping off the wall. “No, no. We cannot go home. Not now.” If they left, she wouldn’t have a chance to steal another kiss with Lord Ashton or the chance to speak to him in quiet corners to find out more about him.
