Page 54 of Unmasking a Wicked Marquess
To Juliet’s surprise, she thought she saw Cecily looking for a few minutes at the Duchess of Lantham as if she had hoped for something else to pass that morning. Whatever she thought, she clearly kept it to herself and followed Robert into the carriage at the back of the group.
The carriages rolled away with the riders following them, and when the last rider left the driveway, Juliet turned back to the room, clasping her hands together with excitement.
“My Lady? Oh!” Meg had appeared in the doorway, knocking gently. Her eyes widened when she saw Juliet was out of bed. “Has your head recovered?”
“Ah, come in, Meg, please. There is something I must ask you.” Juliet beckoned Meg further into the room. Meg hurried to her side, though worry creased her brow.
“What is it?”
“I have something to ask you; a great favour indeed.” Juliet gestured to Meg’s gown and the maid’s apron. “Do you have any clothes I could borrow today, please?”
“Oh. Goodness.” Meg looked most disconcerted for a minute, shifting her weight between her feet. Her eyes scarcely rested on any fixed thing at all in the room. “Does this have something to do with Lord Ashton again?”
Juliet toyed with lying to her maid, but what would be the point? Meg had overheard many times before Juliet’s conversations with Violet about Lord Ashton.
“Perhaps,” Juliet whispered. “Put it in this way. I am eager to see him again without our fathers arguing over our heads. Is that so wrong?”
Meg looked sad but shook her head.
“I wish I could persuade you out of it, My Lady, but if you wish to go, of course. I shall fetch some spare clothes for you now.”
“Thank you.” Juliet was touched by her maid’s kindness. No doubt, she didn’t wish for Juliet to go because she feared discovery and the marring of a reputation, but Juliet knew she stood less chance of being discovered if dressed like a maid.
Half an hour later, Meg had returned, and Juliet had been transformed into a maid. Her auburn hair was tucked under a white coif to try to mask her appearance even more, and the apron pulled tight across the poor gown. Beneath the hem, Juliet pulled on thick walking boots, then snatched up a thick woollen shawl from her collection and hurried to the door.
“Are you certain of this, My Lady?” Meg asked just as Juliet was about to slip through the door.
Juliet looked back, her excitement halting momentarily as she saw the plain fear in Meg’s expression. The jawline was tight, the lips pressed firmly together.
“Fear not for me,” Juliet whispered and placed a hand on Meg’s shoulder. “What I do, I do with my eyes wide open. I know what I risk, but … I cannot stop myself either.”
She knew this was not quite right. Her honest answer should have been,I have no wish to stop myself.She smiled, hoping to comfort Meg with her expression, then slipped out of the room. For a mad second, she thought she heard Meg sniff as if holding back tears, but by the time she looked back, the door had closed between them, and she judged it to have been completely in her imagination.
Juliet made her way through the house slowly, not wanting to draw attention to herself. In the entrance hall, she passed two of the footmen, but they were so busy attending to her business that they barely even looked at her. If they did, they certainly did not notice she was no maid, for they walked on fast.
Juliet slipped out of the main door, closing it as gently as she could behind her, then headed along the driveway to the garden path. She knew exactly where to meet Edward, but she checked the note he had written to her one more time, clutching it in her hand in excitement.
When she reached the statue of Venus, she found it was not alone. Standing before the statue, clothed in a dark jacket, was a tall figure. As a twig snapped under her foot, he looked around, smiling already, for he plainly knew she would come. His eyes darted over her as she neared him, and he chuckled deeply.
“I like the disguise,” he whispered and took her hand.
“I – hmm!” She got no further in her explanation, for he placed her lips to hers in a kiss. To be greeted in such a way, as if it was something he had been longing for, thinking of for some time, made that warmth spread through her.
Suddenly, it was easy to forget Lady Clarissa and her persistent attention to Edward. It was also easy to forget the disapproval of her father. All Juliet cared about was that Edward kept kissing her, his lips soft against her own. His hands curved across her back, and she pulled against him, not wanting the kiss to end.
He parted her lips, stealing a brush of tongue together. The illicitness of it made her gasp into the kiss. Suddenly, it was over all too quickly. When they pulled back, they were both smiling ridiculously, his hand curling through her own, entwining their fingers.
“Come, I have a surprise for you,” he whispered.
Rather than taking any of the paths that led off from the main track, he set off into a thicket of trees. Juliet followed closely behind, pulling the hem of Meg’s gown so as not to be caught on the brambles nearby. At all times, Edward held her hand, and she held his.
“What excuse did you come up with to stay behind?” he asked, leading her hurriedly through the trees.
“A headache. My family still thinks I am abed. And you?”
“I told my family I would be spending the day at the stables in Ascot, paying close attention to the horses. So, they do not believe I am even at the house at all.” He turned back towards her with a gleeful smile. “We are quite safe.”
She smiled at the idea. For some reason, whenever she was with Edward, she did feel safe. It was this dual excitement of the forbidden, the danger, and the safety, a strange sensation she could not quite make sense of.
