Page 22 of A Deal with the Broken Duke
Daniel had returned with a tea cart. He had looked surprisedto see his sister standing there. “Aren’t you supposed to be up in your room?”
“I came down to see Harry,” Matilda had stated.
“Well, Harry isn’t in the mood for a lot of company today,” Daniel had said gently. “I’m sure he’s pleased you came to greet him, but why don’t you go back upstairs and play with Juliet?”
“Juliet doesn’t want to play.”
“Go on. I’ll come and take you to the stables in a little while.”
Matilda had scowled as if the offer hadn’t been quite satisfactory, but she had allowed Daniel to guide her out of the room and close the door behind her.
“I’m sorry,” Daniel had said, bringing the tea over. “I hope she wasn’t bothering you.”
“No, she wasn’t.” There hadn’t been much that could have penetrated through Harry’s grief to really bother him then. “I don’t think she was very happy to see me.”
“You don’t?”
“Well, I’m not sure. She was telling me that she doesn’t think I like her or something. Do you know what might have led her to believe that?”
“No,” Daniel had responded. “But I wouldn’t worry about it, Harry. You know how young children can be. They get ideas in their heads and then they start to think those ideas are true, regardless of how they got there. I know you don’t dislike Matilda.”
“I just wish I knew why she thinks so!”
“I’m sure it’s just a mood she’s in. Please don’t worry about that. You have enough to deal with at the moment. I’ll bet that by the next time the two of you see one another, she will have forgotten all about whatever is on her mind right now. She won’t remember it at all.”
Now Harry couldn’t help but wonder.Didshe remember that? Was she thinking about that moment upon seeing him again?
He had never figured out what she had meant by it all, but Daniel had probably been right. It was probably just a childish moment, best forgotten.
It was less than five minutes later that Juliet came hurrying down the garden path, followed by Matilda. “Harry!” she exclaimed, her voice hushed. ‘What on Earth! I never expected to see you here today.”
“I can’t think why after that letter you wrote to me,” he said. “Wouldn’t you want to have a conversation if you received a letter like that?”
“Well, yes, I suppose I would, but…” Juliet bit her lip. “What if my father saw you?”
“Then maybe I would have asked his permission to court his daughter.” He grinned.
She blushed. The effect was really very pretty, he thought. Her pale skin colored easily, and he noticed, looking at her, that she had extraordinarily long eyelashes.
Who would have imagined that Juliet would grow up to be such a beauty?
“I’m sorry to have to ask you for that,” she said.
“Don’t be sorry. I’m the one who brought it up first.”
“You were joking.”
He nodded. “So were you, at the time, I believe.”
“I was.”
“What changed?”
She shook her head.
“Did that Lord Stickland do something?”
She sighed. “He wants to court me. He made an offer to my father.”
