Page 60 of Lady of Fortune
“Let’s return, Garnet,” she said. “Give Julia her moment.” Reluctantly he nodded and they began making their way back toward the house. Julia saw the Duke shake Eddie’s hand — strange — and then turn and follow her parents back to the house.
* * *
While Julia spokewith her parents, Eddie took the opportunity to have the conversation he had been dreading yet had been searching for the right moment to begin.
“You’ll take care of her, won’t you?” he asked the Duke of Clarence after Julia’s father led her away.
The Duke turned to him.
“Lady Julia?” He smiled — that arrogant, nonchalant smile that so irked Eddie.
“Of course, Lady Julia.”
The Duke shrugged.
“I do not believe she is mine to take care for.”
Eddie furrowed his brow at his words.
“I was under the impression that you were courting her, with… intentions toward her.”
The Duke smirked, but then, seeing the serious look on Eddie’s face, his expression softened somewhat.
“Look, Francis — it is Francis, correct?”
Eddie bristled but nodded.
“Lady Julia is intriguing. She’s unlike most women I have ever met, which, I have found, is actually a trait to which I am surprisingly attracted. She’s a pretty little thing —”
Eddie could hardly believe the Duke’s words.Pretty? Julia had an angelic beauty unmatched by any other.
“— And she possesses a certain joy for life that is rather lovely. However… I do not find myself longing to see her constantly, to believe that there would be a void in my life without her. She would make a fine wife, sure, but I worry that I may tire of her after a time, and she does not seem to be a woman who would be open to dalliances of any sort.”
He paused, crossed his arms over his chest, and looked down at Eddie, who now recalled Julia’s thoughts that the Duke was involved in some type of strange relationship with Lady Elizabeth Moreland. He wondered now if there was any truth to that theory.
“I am assuming that you, Mr. Francis, may feel differently than I.”
Not wanting to become too vulnerable in front of the Duke, Eddie shrugged with feigned nonchalance.
“Perhaps.”
The Duke snorted.
“You are wearing your feelings all over your face, even in the near-dark. What do you want, Francis?”
“I wish I could be the man for her,” Eddie said after a moment. “I wish with all my might that I could offer her the life she deserves. But I’m a jockey. I cannot give her everything she should have, not as you can. I only ask that you be kind to her, be true.”
The Duke studied him, but then his gaze rose above Eddie to see beyond him.
“Very well, Francis, if that is what you think would be best,” he said. “However, in addition to convincing me of such a thing, I believe there is someone else you must speak with first.”
Eddie turned to find Julia slowly walking up toward him, and he shook the Duke’s hand, acknowledging their unspoken agreement, before turning to the woman he loved, knowing what he had to do in order to set her free to live the life she deserved.
CHAPTER30
“Eddie,” she said, taking a step toward him, and Eddie wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around her and pull her in close, to tell her that she was the one for him, that he could hardly wait to marry her, make love to her, and spend the rest of their lives together.
But instead, he kept his arms at his sides, making no move toward her. When the smile on her face began to falter, it nearly killed him, but he reminded himself that it had to be this way. It would be better in the end — for both of them.
