Page 44 of A Deal with the Broken Duke
“He keeps asking me if I’m ill,” Juliet replied.
Harry’s heart sank. He understood exactly why Daniel was asking that question.
He had hoped his friend would forget about it, move on from his fear of Harry’s curse, but that didn’t seem to be happening.
“Areyou ill?” he asked. After all, what if there was genuinely something to be concerned about?
“No, I’m not,” Juliet said rather sharply. “And I don’t know why everyone keeps asking me that.”
“You did seem unwell on the day we went to the lake. I can’t pretend that I wasn’t worried.”
“For heaven’s sake. I’m fine now. Do I seem ill to you today?”
“No.”
But then, Susan’s illness had progressed similarly. Some days, she had seemed perfectly healthy, just as healthy as Juliet seemed right now. On other days, she had been unable to get out of bed. It had baffled the physicians.
And I did promise Daniel that I would leave her alone if she showed any sign of the same thing happening.
He should walk away right now. He shouldn’t be taking these chances. He shouldn’t be risking her at all, and it was wrong that he was. He should leave her alone.
He wasn’t sure why he couldn’t bring himself to do that.
Juliet, meanwhile, just looked irritated. “I’m tired of being asked about whether I’m ill or not,” she said. “It makes me feel as if I have to lie and hide how I’m feeling if I have a moment of weakness in the future.”
“Well, no one wants you to do that.”
“Then you ought to leave me alone about this. I’m not ill.”
“I suppose I can believe you,” Harry relented.
“I have no reason to lie, for heaven’s sake. Why would I?”
“You wouldn’t.”
And he knew it was true. Perhaps if she knew about the curse she would have a reason to think he might lie. She might worry that he would call off the courtship if he knew she was unwell. And Harry knew how important this courtship was to Juliet. She would never do anything that might put it in jeopardy.
But she didn’t know about his curse. He could tell by the way she was talking that Daniel had never mentioned it to her. That meant she wasn’t keeping secrets about her health in order to prevent him from leaving. He could trust what she was saying.
The idea made him relax a little bit.
“You’re right,” he said. “I know you wouldn’t lie. And I promise not to bother you about it any further.”
“Do you mean that?”
“I have no reason to lie either,” he pointed out.
She smiled a little grudgingly, it seemed to him, but it was a smile nonetheless. “I guess you don’t.”
“We should try to trust one another,” he suggested. “It would make this business easier for both of us.”
“I don’t know if I can trust you.”
“Well, why on Earth not? Haven’t I always been a family friend?”
“You have,” Juliet said slowly.
“You don’t think I would do anything that wasn’t in your best interests, do you?”
