Page 108 of A Deal with the Broken Duke
There was no telling what the future might hold for the two of them. But whatever it was, Juliet knew that it could hardly be more fraught than the past, and she was ready to face it as long as she had Harry by her side.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-SEVEN
News of the engagement had spread quickly. By the following week, it seemed everyone in London knew, and they all wanted to talk about it.
Juliet had mixed feelings about that. If she was going to be the center of attention, it was nice to get attention for something that was making her so happy. But on the other hand, she very much wished that she could just ignore everyone and spend time with Harry. It would have been nice to allow herself to forget they all existed, to spend her days wandering the grounds of her home or his, stealing kisses here and there, perhaps holding hands and dreaming of the future that now seemed so bright.
Instead, they were at yet another dinner party. The Season was beginning to feel interminable.
“I wish you hadn’t had this party at all,” she murmured to Harry, thinking that at least she had been fortunate enough to be seated beside him this time.
He grinned. “You’re not having a very nice time?”
“You know that isn’t it,” she objected. “The party is lovely, and I’m always glad to spend time with you, Harry. But I do wish we could have some time to ourselves without all these people around staring at us like we’re peacocks on display.”
“We’ll have plenty of that soon enough,” Harry promised her. “Just a little bit longer to wait, and then we’ll be married at last. After that, we’ll have every day.”
Juliet nodded.
He was right, of course. And it was a good thing to put on these little performances for the rest of the ton to make sure they were seen, especially given the fact that they hadn’t yet escaped the ever-present threat of scandal.
“Have you heard about Lady Annie?” she asked.
“Do you really want to talk about that?” Harry frowned. “We don’t have to. It’s been taken care of, and if you’d like to just leave it at that, that’s all right.”
“Is there some reason you don’t want me to know what’s going on?”
“It’s not that I don’t want you to know,” Harry said. “It’s just that it’s all a bit unpleasant, and I don’t want to burden you with things that might just make you unhappy.”
“It won’t make me unhappy,” Juliet assured him. “I want to know that she’s facing consequences for what she did to you, Harry. If that’s what’s happening, it will make me very happy indeed.”
He hesitated. “I spoke to the constables about everything she told me,” he said.
“And did they believe you?”
“They did, yes. I think my rank helped, and I was also able to bring in a few members of my staff who did remember having seen someone they didn’t know in the kitchen during the short time Susan and her family were staying with me.”
“I can’t believe Lady Annie actually confessed what she had done to you.” Juliet shook her head. “I wonder what drove her to do that.”
“I think she’s mad,” Harry said slowly. “I think she’s simply out of her mind. The constables certainly seem to think so. It looks like she’s going to end up in Bedlam.”
“Oh,” Juliet breathed.
“Does that disturb you?”
“Well, I suppose it’s far better than if she had been left to walk free, isn’t it?” Juliet shrugged. “After all, given the things she did to you, we have no reason to think she wouldn’t do the same to somebody else, and that’s a risk we can’t take. Better that she be locked away than left to hurt someone else.”
Harry nodded. “I think so too,” he said. “But it is difficult to think that she’ll be in that horrible place. Not that I have any significant degree of sympathy for her, of course. She’s monstrous.”
“I’m just glad to know that we won’t have to think about her anymore.” Juliet picked up her wine and took a drink. “And everyone says Lord Stickland hasn’t been seen in public since that night either.”
“Yes. I think he must be ashamed of the things he’s done, and for a good reason too. I’m sure he’ll emerge eventually. And when he does, he’ll behave as if nothing was ever wrong, as if he never did anything to offend anybody. It’s too much to hope that he might actually learn a lesson from all of this. But at the very least, I feel sure we won’t have to deal with him anymore. He’s had enough of us.”
“And I have certainly had enough of him,” Juliet shuddered. “Did I mention I received a letter from him?”
“He’s writing to you?”
Juliet laughed at the expression of outrage on Harry’s face. “It’s nothing so awful,” she assured him. “Actually, if the letter hadn’t come from him, I would have thought it very kind. He wrote to apologize for causing us so much trouble.”
