Page 9 of Forget Me Not

“And he plans to do so again,” Mr. Barrington said. “I suspect every time he reads of a new peak, he’ll rush off to climb it.”

Yes, that fit the Lucas Jonquil she knew.

“Come sit, Julia,” Father insisted.

She joined him on the sofa but kept to the edge of it. The moment she was permitted to take her leave, she would do so.

“You would do well to make yourself comfortable.” Father likely knew her too well to not recognize her posture of impending flight. “Lucas, I would wager, will appreciate your company.”

“Why should he change that particular tune now? It has served him so faithfully these past years.”

Lucas watched her, confusion written on his once-familiar face. He was older now and, not unsurprisingly, even more handsome than he’d been before. He’d always been rather nauseatingly popular with any and all of the young ladies his age, whether they’d grown up in the area or simply been passing through. She’d heard again and again from her brother how in demand Lucas had been in London. Yes, he was handsome, but he was also fickle.

“We have something to tell the both of you,” Lady Lampton said. Her wide smile and dancing eyes told Julia this was no small thing. “In honor of Lucas’s return, we will be hosting a ball at Lampton Park at week’s end. Is that not exciting?”

Excitingwas not the word Julia would have chosen. She did not care for social gatherings, and she was far from accomplished at dancing, though that social nicetyhadbeen included in her scant formal education.

Across the way, Lucas turned to Mr. Barrington. “I hope you have your dancing slippers handy. It seems we’re to quadrille and allemande until the wee hours.”

“I will leave that in your capable hands,” Mr. Barrington answered.

Lady Lampton looked to him, her expression both eager and concerned. “You will join us, won’t you? We very much wish for you to.”

He dipped his head. “Of course, Lady Lampton.”

Julia leaned a bit closer to her father, lowering her voice. “I am not required to attend, am I?”

Father’s silver eyebrows pulled low. His brows had been silver for as long as she could remember. She had seen him now and then without his hair powdered, and he had only a few strands of gray. “All the neighborhood will be there,” he said. “Some guests will be arriving from out of the county. It will be quite the crush.” He spoke as if that would make hermoreeager to attend. Surely he knew her better than that.

“You know I dislike balls.”

Father gave her a gentle look. “How can you know if you dislike them when you have refused to attend any?”

It was an argument but not an iron-clad one. “I have also never been devoured by wild dogs, but I am entirely certain I would not enjoy that either.”

She, apparently, did not keep her rebuttal quiet enough. “I am relatively confident my ball will be more pleasant than that,” Lady Lampton responded. Enough amusement lay in the words to appease any concern that Julia had given offense.

“I haven’t the slightest doubt in you as a hostess,” Julia said. “I simply don’t care for social gatherings, regardless of who has planned them.”

Lucas sat next to her. He slipped his hands around hers where they rested on her lap. She pulled them free, but that deterred him only a moment.

“Do come, Julia,” he said. “Everyone in the neighborhood would miss you if you were not there.”

She could almost laugh at that. “Who is left to miss me, Lucas? Robert Finley? He, thankfully, quit noticing my existence years ago. Charles Hampton is away at Cambridge. Emma Carter married last year. Your brothers and sister are dead, as are mine. No one misses me, Lucas, because no one is left.”

Lucas’s golden brow twisted in confusion. Lady Lampton watched her with the look of pity far too many had been lobbing at her over the years.

“I will, of course, attend if it is required of me. But insisting I do so with enthusiasm seems remarkably unfair.”

“We will, of course, extend invitations to all the young people who once lived in the area,” Lady Lampton said. “I cannot guarantee all of them will be in a position to attend, but likely some will. You will enjoy seeing them again.”

“I appreciate your thoughtfulness, but we all know that once they have left, few people return.” She let her gaze hover a moment on Lucas before looking once more at her father. “I have full faith you will relay any pertinent details.” She rose. Lucas followed suit. “If you will all excuse me.”

She sidestepped her one-time friend and left with all possible haste.

Chapter Four

“Did I say something toupset her?” Though Lucas asked the question out loud, he didn’t do so in anticipation of an answer.

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