Page 62 of Unmasking a Wicked Marquess
Philip blushed a deep shade of red but said nothing.
“Well, you can hardly knock the ladies’ loyalty for so many years, can you?” Edward said coolly as he took a cup of tea offered to him and passed it to his father instead.
“What do you mean?” Philip asked, his voice tart.
“I mean that the two ladies have agreed not to speak for twenty years because of your argument with Lord Clarence. They have supported their husbands rather than their own longing for a friendship.” At Edward’s words, Amelia and Lady Clarence laughed about something together.
Edward felt as if the years had shifted, and he was a boy again, watching his mother talking and laughing with her friend. There was such a contented air between them it made his own body feel lighter. His eyes drew towards Juliet in the garden, for him to find she was looking straight at him.
Is she beckoning me?
He could have sworn she curled a finger in his direction, but he could not be certain.
“It’s just …” Philip struggled for words, but Edward was in no mood to hear more.
“Leave my mother to talk,” Edward urged. “She has her own mind and can decide for herself if she wishes to make an enemy of Lady Clarence or not.”
“Since when have you become so disobedient?” Philip asked, outrage tinging his quiet tone.
“Since I learned to be a man and not a boy,” Edward reminded him. For years, he had not followed his father’s orders. For years, he had been rebellious, and if his father knew everything he had done in his life, he didn’t doubt Philip would disapprove entirely, but Edward was content with that.
They were two different men. They could lead different lives. “If you would excuse me.” Knowing it would infuriate his father further, but feeling as if he could not help himself, he crossed towards the croquet game and approached Juliet.
The way she smiled at him gave him hope that he had not misread her sign just now. She had indeed beckoned to him.
“About earlier,” she whispered as he stopped at her side, her words covered by the cheer as someone scored some points in the game. “I’m sorry, I could not get –”
“It does not matter,” he assured her. “How fares your game?”
“Not particularly well,” she huffed dramatically. “My cousin seems to think I need his assistance in every aspect of the game. Watch, he’ll be instructing me how to walk next.”
“Juliet? Juliet? This way. This will be the right shot for you.” Mr Pensky appeared suddenly at her side and took her arm, directing her to walk in another direction. When she turned and looked at Edward with raised eyebrows at this action, he found it hard not to laugh.
Edward followed the pair around as they played their game. Lady Violet and her husband also played, and Edward frequently fell into conversation with them as they moved around the lawn, though he could never look away from Juliet for very long.
When Mr Pensky actually tried to take her hand when it was still on the handle of the croquet, she nearly dropped the mallet. With a sudden flash of anger in her eyes, something that apparently only Edward sore, she lashed out at the mallet hard and struck the ball. It shot off the lawn and into the trees. Edward bit the side of his mouth so as not to laugh.
“Oh, well, what a shame. I shall go and retrieve it.” Juliet plainly forced the words as she walked off towards the woods.
Mr Pensky looked intent on following her, but Edward acted fast, snatching up his disposed mallet.
“Do not miss your turn, Mr Pensky.” He thrust the mallet so hard towards Mr Pensky, he oof-ed in surprise but took the mallet still. “I shall assist Lady Juliet in finding the ball.”
“Very well.” Mr Pensky turned to play his shot, though he hardly looked pleased by it.
Edward glanced back once towards the terrace, relieved to see that his father was too focused on Amelia’s conversation with Lady Clarence to notice where Edward had gone. He disappeared between the trees.
“Juliet? Juliet?” he whispered in a hiss.
“That infuriating little …” She appeared before him, hitting the mallet so fast between the trees again that he actually had to jump to avoid it hitting his ankles.
“Pah! What’s got into you?” He laughed warmly as she appeared in front of him, flustered and red-faced.
“That man!” She waved an arm behind him. “He will honestly think I need instruction on how to breathe next. Did you see him? Does he honestly think I cannot walk from one end of the lawn to the other without assistance now?”
She was so wild in her anger, so passionate that Edward couldn’t help walking towards her for the chance to be close.
“He is a fool. As great a fool as I ever did see – oh.” She stopped talking as he stopped in front of her, his palms either side of her shoulders as they rested on the tree behind her. “Edward …” she murmured, her eyes raking all over his body. Such hunger for her filled his mind that he was tempted to kiss her. He hovered his lips over hers, and he felt her gasp against him, in danger of dropping her mallet. “We might be seen.”
