Page 74 of Unmasking a Wicked Marquess
Juliet pulled back from him suddenly. Both of her palms had gone to the centre of his chest, and a single eyebrow cocked high.
“Why is she here?” she whispered so quietly he barely heard her at all.
Edward glanced back. He couldn’t see Clarissa, so he presumed she was poking her head out of the door much further down the veranda to call to him.
“Why?” Juliet demanded again.
“I have escorted her to the ball. She asked me to,” Edward explained in a rush.
“Escorting her?” Juliet released him. She moved her hands to the balustrade again.
No … no. This is what is between us?
He felt as if he had been struck by lightning. What a fool he was not to have seen it before. With his own family presuming he would marry Clarissa, there must have been others at that house party who had spoken of it, too. Perhaps many thought he intended to marry Clarissa, and that news had reached Juliet.
“Edward!” Clarissa called again.
“She probably just wants to –”
“No. No more.” Juliet pushed away from him, somehow sliding between his body and the balustrade.
“Juliet, please.” He tried to catch her hand. He had to explain everything. That he was not interested in Clarissa, that they were indeed only friends, that she wished to marry another. Yet Juliet threw off his hand.
“Never speak to me again,” she demanded, her voice cool and cold. It made him stagger back, feeling as if she had set ice over his heart. She turned and walked away.
“Juliet!” He ran after her. He couldn’t let her go, not like this.
She reached the door of the ballroom and strode back inside just as Clarissa walked out. Clarissa’s eyes went wide as she saw the pair of them together, but Juliet didn’t stop; she just kept walking. Edward moved to follow her when Clarissa caught his arm, holding him back.
“Your name is in the scandal sheets enough as it is. Do you want to be seen returning inside with Juliet and then see her name in those same gossip sheets tomorrow?” Clarissa’s question brought him to a sharp halt.
He was torn, his heart feeling ripped in two, choosing between running after Juliet and keeping her safe from his now ruined reputation.
***
“Juliet, what is wrong?” Violet sat down beside Juliet on the rococo settee in their parlour room with a heavy sigh. “I thought after last night, things might improve.” There was such a suggestive look in her eye that it caught Juliet’s curiosity.
Taking advantage of the fact their parents were out of the room, she looked at Violet with wide eyes, silently questioning her. “I saw Lord Ashton follow you outside. Well, I say that. I caused a distraction to enable him to take you outside. Quite expertly too, I might say.”
“Please, do not look pleased with yourself about that.”
“What do you mean?” Violet asked, her smile falling from her face.
Before any more could be said between them, Cecily and Robert re-entered the room. They were both carrying papers between them, Robert muttering about the scandals that the Duke of Lantham’s son was painting in the gossip sheets and Cecily seemingly doing her best to ignore them.
“Come on, Cecily,” Robert was pleading. “You do not believe any of this?”
“No, I do not.” She turned and snatched the scandal sheets out of Robert’s hands and thrust them into the fireplace nearby, watching them all burn.
Juliet winced as she looked at those papers, knowing Edward’s name was mentioned frequently inside them.
“Just because we argued with his parents does not mean the son is an evil man, Robert.” Cecily turned to face her husband, holding her ground with her hands on her hips. “I choose to believe he is a good man.”
“Why? How on earth can you possibly make that judgement after meeting him as mere acquaintances at the Duke of Darby’s house?” Robert asked quizzically.
Then something happened which made Juliet stiffen in her seat. Her mother’s eyes slid from Robert to meet her own.
How much has she guessed?
