Page 88 of The Last Duke She'd Marry
“No, thank you. It’s not a cold night.”
Lizzie curtsied and headed down to the kitchens. Juliet, eaten alive by questions, rushed back into the parlor.
She couldn’t help taking a quick peek at her visitor’s hands. There was a wedding ring on her left hand. Either there really was a Mr. Brandtner, or Lady Vanessa took the trouble to make it seem that way.
“Did you have a good crossing?” Juliet asked, subsiding into a seat on the other side of the hearth.
How absurd to make small talk when she was agog to find out what had sparked this meeting. But she wanted Lizzie safely out of the way before they got down to business. Not for the first time, she was glad that the intrusive old biddy she’d engaged as a chaperone had left three weeks ago to live with a sick relative.
Lady Vanessa’s lips twitched again. She looked like a woman who enjoyed life, not at all the shamed, downtrodden creature of Juliet’s imaginings.
She clearly also thought that social niceties right now were absurd, although she did answer. “No, it was terrible. Luckily, I’m a good sailor. I’m in lodgings in Russell Square for the moment, while I look around for something suitable.”
Juliet noticed that she spoke of her plans in the singular. “Will Mr. Brandtner be joining you?”
Sadness swamped the humor. “Johann died a year ago.”
“I’m sorry,” Juliet said, even as the unworthy thought struck her that perhaps Lady Vanessa had returned to her homeland to rekindle her affair with her first protector.
It’s none of your business, Juliet Frain. You set Lucas free when you refused his last proposal.
But her hands fisted in the loose peignoir, as she fought back a furious command for this woman to keep away from him. The last few months had been packed with unpleasant discoveries about herself. Now it seemed she needed to add dog in the manger to a list that included judgmental, self-righteous, and unchaste.
“Yes, it’s been a difficult time.”
Juliet, however unsympathetic she might be, recognized genuine grief in the response. She felt a pang of guilt. Difficult, she was sure, must be an understatement.
Lady Vanessa went on before Juliet could express a more sincere regret. “I’m here to see what it’s like to live in England again. Germany has too many sad associations for me.”
That traveling ensemble was the height of fashion, and Lizzie had commented on the expensive conveyance outside. Clearly Lady Vanessa was rich. But riches weren’t enough to restore one’s good name.
Did this woman hope to rejoin society? If she did, she was living in dreamland. The beau monde never forgot or forgave a scandal, as Juliet was discovering for herself. She’d imagined that one or two of her friends might try to make contact, but it seemed she’d been banished forever from decent company.
Lizzie came in with the tea and, after fiddling around setting it up, headed off to bed. Juliet picked up her cup, then put it down untasted. “Why have you come to see me, Mrs. Brandtner?”
Her visitor took a sip of her tea, before setting the cup and saucer on the table between the two chairs. “For Lucas’s sake, of course.”
As Juliet considered the implications of this visit, she felt sick. The only way that this lady could know of her existence, let alone where she lived, was if the letter she’d received had mentioned her.
Had Lucas written to his former paramour to boast of bedding the virtuous Juliet Frain? Disappointment as sharp as a saber pierced her. Disappointment and humiliation.
Raising her chin, she spoke with a trace of hauteur. “The duke and I are only the most distant acquaintances.”
She prayed that Lady Vanessa wasn’t au courant with the latest gossip. If she was, she’d know that Juliet was a liar.
Lady Vanessa made an apologetic gesture. “I can’t blame you for feeling that I’ve invaded your privacy. You must have heard that Lucas and I caused a great fuss nine years ago. But once I finally got his letter, I had to come and see you straightaway. I would have come earlier, but it took me an age to discover that Baxter is your man of business. Then it took me even longer to persuade Baxter to give me your direction.”
“As I said, I can’t imagine why you persisted. There’s no special friendship between His Grace and me.”
Her visitor studied her with perceptive eyes. She wasn’t just beautiful, she was clever. Altogether an impressive woman. But then, she’d have to be, if Granville had been so keen to make her his duchess. Granville had the highest standards, after all.
“But that’s not true, is it? I know I’m speaking out of turn and you must be wishing me to the devil, but Lucas told me in his letter that he loves you and wants to marry you, but you won’t have him because of what he did for me.”
Juliet stumbled to her feet, heartbroken anew that Lucas had betrayed her like this. “I’d like you to leave. You have no right…”
Mrs. Brandtner rose more slowly. “Won’t you hear me out?”
“What? So that we can both commiserate about our experiences as mistress to the Duke of Evesham?” Juliet turned away and squeezed her eyes shut to keep the tears from falling.
