Page 42 of A Deal with the Broken Duke
“Oh.” Juliet had honestly forgotten about the fact that she had feigned light-headedness as a way to end that outing early. “That was nothing, Daniel. I was only dizzy for a moment.”
“And there’s been nothing else since then?”
“Nothing else like what?”
“No other strange symptoms. No more dizzy spells. No more moments of feeling ill.”
“Nothing,” Juliet confirmed. “I’m absolutely fine, Daniel, and honestly, I don’t know what you’re so worried about. It was a little thing that happened for a few minutes. It was probably just the weather affecting me. Itwasa rather warm day. It’s not unknown to happen.”
“Well, you must come and tell me at once if anything like that happens tonight,” Daniel insisted.
“I’ll be completely fine.” Juliet was mildly annoyed at this. “There’s nothing wrong with me.”
“Just promise that if anything does feel amiss—”
“All right, all right! My goodness! Yes, I’ll tell you if there’s anything wrong, Daniel. But I do wish you would behave normally. I’m the one who has a courtship to contend with here. I’m the one who ought to be nervous about tonight.”
He eyed her. “Are you nervous about it?”
“No, I’m not.”
It was not the truth, but the last thing she needed was to give him something more to fret about than he already had. This evening was going to be complicated enough without having to cope with whatever was bothering him.
“Just make sure you tell me if you feel anything wrong,” he said once more.”
“One would think I was about to be overcome by a plague,” she muttered, but he was gazing rather darkly out the window and said nothing in response to that.
The two siblings said no more to one another for the rest of the journey to Livingston. When they had arrived and disembarked from their carriage, Juliet strode off ahead of her brother and into the manor. She was wrong to do that, and she knew it. He was there in part to serve as her chaperone, and she was thwarting that by running away from him, taking away his capacity to care for her.
But why did he have to be so difficult? He was acting as if she was about to fall ill at any moment, just because she had feigned a moment of dizziness on their walk at the lake. It was ludicrous.
She was hurrying so quickly to get away from her brother that she nearly collided with Lady Annie.
“My goodness!” Lady Annie caught her by the shoulders and steadied her. “Where are you off to in such a rush? Is there a fire?”
“No—oh, goodness! Lady Annie, I apologize.” Juliet was humiliated by her own behavior. “I should have looked where I was going. Forgive me.”
“There’s nothing to forgive,” Lady Annie assured her. “In fact, I’m very glad you and I ran into one another. Well, almost ran into one another.” She giggled.
It suddenly occurred to Juliet that Matilda’s absence from this ball didn’t necessarily mean that she had to be friendless here. Who was to say that she couldn’t make a new friend?
“I’m glad we ran into one another too,” she said. “It was a pleasure to meet you at the lake the other day.”
“Yes!” Lady Annie squealed. “And didn’t I tell you that we were quite likely to see one another again soon?”
“You did,” Juliet agreed. “I suppose I didn’t think it would be this soon. But I am glad to see you again. I’m glad you were right.”
It occurred to her then that Harry wouldn’t be at all pleased to know that she was spending time in Lady Annie’s company, given what he had told her about the nature of their relationship. The courtship between Juliet and Harry was supposed to keep people like Lady Annie at arm’s length, not draw them in closer. Harry would be very frustrated indeed.
But why is that my problem? He was so rude to me. If he was being kinder to me, I would be more worried about giving him what he wants. But he’s being awful, so why shouldn’t I befriend Lady Annie, even though I know he doesn’t want me to do that?
Perhaps Lady Annie was thinking along the same lines. “Is His Grace here?” she asked.
“I haven’t seen him yet,” Juliet replied. “But we are supposed to see one another tonight, so I feel sure he’ll be here eventually.”
“It must be so exciting for you to be courted by such a prominent gentleman,” Lady Annie noted.
“I don’t know,” Juliet said, hoping that she could confide in Lady Annie, hoping that she wasn’t making a mistake to do so. “It can be a bit difficult sometimes.”
