Page 20 of The Artisan and the Duke
Sherry worried her lip with her teeth before she finally nodded. “I suppose, Ma’am,” she said with a voice full of doubt and worry.
“I’m going to be fine. I just need to clear my head,” Jules said as she stood up.
Truthfully, at that moment, Jules did not know if she was going to come back or not. Right now, she really needed to see her home again and to know that although the Duke had effectively tricked her into becoming his bride, that she was still herself. There was something important about being her own person, and there were people who needed her.
There was a knock at the door. Sherry went to the door and pulled it open. The Duke stood on the other side in his finery. Jules wondered how much the evening coat he was wearing had cost. “Forgive me for barging in,” the Duke said apologetically. “I was just coming to remind you of the dance that Lady Lexington is holding this evening.”
Jules cringed. She had indeed forgotten about the ridiculous engagement. Now she understood the urgency that the Duke had expressed in getting out of the all those dances. “I’m not feeling well,” Jules said softly.
There was a look of concern that crossed the Duke’s face. It almost made Jules rethink her ruse, but she rallied and kept her face placid. “Should I send for a doctor?” The Duke’s question gave Jules an uncomfortable twinge in her stomach, and she wrapped her arms around herself. “Sherry, go fetch Doctor Shannon.”
“No,” Jules said frantically. “I’ll be fine. I just need to rest. You should go to your event and relax.”
The Duke gave Jules an incredulous look. “I do not think that relaxing will happen with you here sick in bed,” the man said.
“Then don’t go, but I do feel as if I need to lie down,” Jules said as she eased over to the bed. “Just do not go calling doctors on me.”
Sherry ushered the Duke out the door. “I’ll see that she’s taken care of,” the maid said with sincerity.
Helplessly, the Duke watched as the bedroom door shut on him. Inside the room, Jules whispered, “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me,” Sherry grumbled. “The Duke is a kind man, and I repay him by lying,” the young woman said with such confliction in her voice that Jules softened.
Jules reached out and grabbed the young woman’s hand as she came near the bed. “I’m deeply sorry, Sherry. I promise that I won’t involve you in anything else that might damage your morals,” Jules said remorsefully. “I truly meant no harm.”
“Oh, I know,” Sherry said with a shake of her head. “It’s just cold feet.”
Jules gave the young woman a questioning look. “You think I just have wedding jitters?”
“Who wouldn’t?” Sherry said compassionately. “Taking on a Duchess title and helping to represent a noble family like the St Claire family is an overwhelming proposition. I know that His Grace sprang the betrothal on you. It is normal for you to wish to run from that.”
Jules blinked at the maid. “How do you know all of that?”
“I listen,” Sherry said. Then she shrugged and said with a wry grin, “And I got married once as well.”
Jules watched Sherry fill the basin at her vanity and then the woman put some extra pillows behind her head. Jules asked, “You are married?”
“No,” Sherry said with a shake of her head. “No, he left me and moved to the Americas to search for his fortune. I told everyone he was dead.”
Jules stared at Sherry for a long moment before she burst out laughing. “Well, he probably is by now,” Jules said laughing.
Sherry laughed too and replied, “That was my line of thinking. If he ever decides to show back up, then I’ll just faint.”
Jules shook her head at the young woman. “Sherry, you are a strange girl,” she said with admiration.
“And so are you, Miss Kelley,” Sherry said with equal affection.
***
“She is ill?” Lady St Claire asked anxiously. “We should get the doctor here to look at her.”
Gregory shook his head. “She was most adamant that we not call the doctor,” he said firmly.
Lady St Claire sighed at her son. She put her hands on her hips. “The woman probably only knows butchers who pretend to be doctors,” Lady St Claire said reasonably. “We need to send for my personal physician.”
Gregory sighed, “I am not a child, Mother. I am the Duke of Thornton, and I said that we will not be calling a doctor. If that does not please you, then I can step down, and Fredrick can take my place.”
Lady St Claire regarded Gregory with irritation. “There is no need to play the actor, Gregory,” she admonished. “I just want to know the young woman is okay.”
