Page 94 of A Marquess' Season of Secrets
“I suggest you put that pistol down before you get hurt,” Nash told him.
“Before I get hurt?” the earl said with a laugh. “I am the one carrying the pistol, Your Grace. It seems that my sweet Juliana has intoxicated you just as thoroughly as she did to me, but I’m afraid only one worthy man can have her.”
“Juliana is not an object,” Nash said. “You cannot force her to marry you.”
“I’d like to see anyone stop me,” the earl challenged.
“Perhaps I won’t stop you, but he will,” Nash told him, indicating at Johnson standing behind him.
Lord Somersby turned to find the valet pointing two pistols at him. “Put down your weapon, Lord Somersby,” Johnson told him politely. “I’m afraid you have no other choice.”
The earl’s hand tightened on his pistol. “You are not going to tell me what to do. Juliana is mine.”
Johnson smiled. “I had a feeling you would say that. Look who I found tending their horses behind the inn?”
Mr Paul, Mr Barrett, and Mr Clooney appeared behind Johnson, each of them holding a pistol. The earl took one look at the men and lowered his pistol until it fell to the floor. The madman had surrendered.
Nash didn’t bother talking to Lord Somersby but asked Johnson to keep an eye on him. Taking Juliana away, Nash asked her many questions to ensure she was well and put his mind at ease. Eventually, she put her hand up to stop him.
“I am fine, Your Grace. All I wish to do now is go home to my parents.”
Taken aback, Nash didn’t know what to say. He had hoped she would come home with him and contact her parents from there.
“Well, uh. ..” he began.
“Please,” she begged. “I just need to be at home. So much has happened, but I am so thankful for all you have done. I truly can never repay you, Your Grace.”
Juliana was putting distance between them; he could feel it. “Well, if that will make you happy.”
“It will,” she insisted.
Nash nodded. “I’ll see what I can do about getting you home.”
“Thank you, Your Grace.”
Nash didn’t know what Johnson was doing about the earl, but he hoped he was giving the man a talking to. Lord Somersby needed to understand that he could never bother Juliana again. Later as Nash enquired about a carriage for Juliana, he realised that his biggest fear had come true: she was leaving him.
Chapter 21
Nash sat in the library surrounded by all the books Juliana had ever read to him. He kept picking them up and putting them back down again without ever reading anything. It was all rather pathetic, but he couldn’t help himself.
It had been days since he last saw Juliana, and he missed her. He was glad she was back home and reunited with her parents but having her so far away from him was no easy thing to bear. Juliana had hardly spoken to him on their way to Northamptonshire despite his attempts to engage her in conversation.
He realised she was still shaken up by all that had transpired in a matter of hours, but he couldn’t deny her silence had hurt him. He had never been this pitiful in his life, and he blamed Juliana for making him feel like a fool.
“Your Grace,” Johnson said from the doorway.
“Yes?”
“Cook has prepared nuncheon for you in the drawing room, or would you rather have it here?”
“I would rather not have it at all, thank you.”
The man sighed. “You must eat something, Your Grace. You have barely touched your food since you returned from Northamptonshire.”
“Sometimes not eating is good for a man. Do you recall when I went on a hunger strike several years ago?”
Johnson smiled. “Your parents did not want to take you on their latest trip to Greece.”
