Page 43 of A Deal with the Broken Duke
“Difficult? Why?”
“I’m just not sure the two of us have that much in common.” Juliet hesitated. “I’m not sure I’m exactly what he’s looking for.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Sometimes, when I look at him, I don’t feel as if he’s seeingme.” Sometimes it felt as if what he was seeing was the ugly duckling she had been in her youth.
But Lady Annie nodded sagely. “His late fiancée,” she said. “You think that when he looks at you, he sees Lady Susan. Is that it?”
That wasn’t it, but now that they were on the topic…
“What happened to Lady Susan?”
“She was ill,” Lady Annie recounted. “They say it was some sort of lung disease. It came upon her very slowly, very gradually. I know His Grace wrestled with it for a long time because he always hoped that she was recovering. It would always seem as if she was recovering, and then, her illness would take over again. By the end, she was struggling to breathe. It was very painful for her, I think, and very painful for His Grace to watch. I don’t think he’s ever recovered from that, and most of us never thought we would see him courting another lady after she died.”
“Most of whom?”
“Oh, the ladies of the ton,” Lady Annie clarified. “I don’t like to be a gossip, of course, but there was a great deal of talk after Lady Susan died, and especially after His Grace left for Paris. It was generally understood that he was lost to us, that he would never be seen by anyone again. To have him come back to London, and with a young lady on his arm no less, nobody expected that. You’re the biggest surprise of the Season, Lady Juliet.”
Juliet felt a little uncomfortable. She had wanted this courtship to be noticed, yes, but a part of her resisted the idea of being talked about.
“Ah,” Lady Annie gasped. “Here comes your gentleman now!”
Sure enough, Harry was crossing the dance floor, a somewhat put-out look on his face. “Lady Juliet,” he said when he had reached them. “I didn’t realize that you have arrived, and then I saw your brother. He’s looking for you, you know.”
“I’ll have to go and find him.”
“Will you dance with me first?”
Juliet couldn’t say no. It was important to their charade, and Lady Annie was watching. “Of course,” she said, forcing a smile on her face and allowing him to take her by the arm.
Harry led her to the dance floor, and they fell into step with the couples there.
But Juliet couldn’t relax with him the way she had before.
All she could think was that he was almost certainly thinking about the way she looked, comparing it against the way she had looked a few years ago.
And if he wasn’t doing that, Juliet was sure that he was thinking about her conversation with Lady Annie and resenting her for it.
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
Icannot ask her about Lady Annie. I mustn’t try to find out what the two of them were discussing just now.
It was deeply frustrating to Harry because he wanted very much to find out what they’d been talking about. But he had no right to ask, and besides, he knew that if he acted to try to stop Juliet from speaking to Lady Annie, Juliet would only want to speak to her all the more. Juliet was not and had never been the sort of person to allow anyone to tell her what to do. That was one of the things Harry had always liked best about her.
He tried to focus instead on the fact that he had her here on the dance floor. It was certainly a solution to his problem, since neither Lady Annie nor any other young lady would approach him directly now.
“I’m sorry I didn’t come and find you right away,” he said, doing his best to distract himself from thoughts of Lady Annie.
“That’s all right,” Juliet murmured. “It’s as you told me. You didn’t realize I was here because I wasn’t with Daniel.”
“Why weren’t you with him, anyway? He told me that you hurried away from him as soon as the two of you arrived. I think he was a little upset about that, to be honest.”
“Oh, I’m sure he was.” Juliet sighed. “I’m going to have to apologize to him on the way home. But the truth is, he’s driving me mad at the moment.”
Harry couldn’t help the smile that rose to his lips. Daniel was driving him a bit mad too, though he would never complain about that to Juliet.
“What has he done?” he asked.
