Page 47 of The Earl's Reluctant Artist

The music rose around them, sweeping them into the next movement.

The earl’s hand remained light at her waist, his steps exact, but it was the silence that had suddenly settled between them that felt strange.

It was not awkward, as she would have expected.

Instead, it was curiously free of strain.

When he spoke again, his voice was low and measured.

“You do not enjoy the Season,” he said as if it were a fact she had just given him herself.

Juliana blinked in surprise before nodding.

“That is plain enough, I suppose,” she said.

The earl nodded.

“To one who also dislikes all the nonsense, it is,” he said.

Again, Juliana was surprised.

“You seem to tolerate it better than I,” she said. “And you are dancing of your own volition.”

The strange smirk returned to Lord Loxley’s face as he shrugged once more.

“You looked as if you might need rescuing,” he said.

She nodded, oddly satisfied to admit her displeasure with the baron’s company.

“I did,” she said, blatantly ignoring the gawking eyes of two debutantes who were staring and gossiping very apparently behind their fans.

“My father has already decided what is best for me. My younger sister must wait until I marry, even though she already has a gentleman vying for her hand in marriage. It is a rule of his that his eldest daughter weds first. Arabella is in love with a poor but honourable naval officer. I am only in the way.”

He looked at her sharply.

“And you mean to sacrifice your future for hers?” he asked.

Juliana lifted her chin.

“I mean to see her married,” she said firmly. “As for my own future, it was never mine to claim.”

She expected the earl to recoil or fall into a genuinely uncomfortable silence when she did not continue explaining. Instead, however, his eyes slowly widened as the song faded to its end.

“Follow me,” he said quietly, offering his arm before she could argue.

As before, she took it, trusting the man she had only spoken to twice, even as he led her to a secluded corner of the ballroom. He did not speak again until they were well out of sight of the other guests. He glanced around with a conspiratory expression.

“My godmother wants to see me settled,” he said. “She means to withhold crucial funds for my estate and tenants if I do not take marriage more seriously. And your father wishes to see you married. We each have our reasons to avoid those outcomes.”

Juliana nodded slowly.

“Yes,” she said cautiously.

He chuckled, this time with something more than dark dread behind it.

“Then why not satisfy them with something that requires no sincerity?” he asked. “A courtship. A false one. It would give you freedom from unpleasant suitors. It would show my godmother I am making an effort. No feelings, no promises. Merely an elaborate performance if you will.”

Juliana nearly stumbled as she tried to find her words.

“A performative courtship?” she asked, uncertain whether she had heard him correctly.

The earl nodded as he steadied her.

“Was that too bold?” he asked.

She shook her head, attempting to understand what was happening.

“No,” she said slowly. “Only unexpected.”

He gave her a nod, though she thought he looked wounded. Or perhaps afraid.

“I should think you, of all people, might appreciate the logic,” he said.

She held up her hand.

“I do,” she said. “Entirely. But you speak as if deception comes easily to you.”

He shook his head fervently.

“It does not,” he said. “But necessity outweighs comfort. My estate has suffered enough for my father’s excesses. If I fail to act, others will pay for it.”

Juliana bit her lip. She should not be considering such a mad notion. She was not sure she even understood. The idea of an arranged marriage was not foreign to her. This, however, was unheard of.

“And if we are discovered?” she asked, surprised it was the only question from her lips.

Lord Loxley did not take long to give his answer, as if he had thought of it before she asked.

“Then I shall claim affection and face the scandal,” he said.

She gave him a long look.

“You would throw yourself upon the sword for me?” she asked.

He allowed a half-smile.

“We should both benefit from the arrangement,” he said. “I am not in the habit of risking myself without cause.”

Juliana turned her head, noting how deeply in conversation the baron was with her parents. He had surely told them of the unorthodox interruption of his dance with her. She could guess how they would react once he did.

“I must think on it,” she said.

The earl’s expression relaxed, as if she had answered affirmatively.

“Of course,” he said. “I can call upon you at your home in two days’ time, if it pleases you.”

She paused for another moment. Was she really entertaining such an outlandish, seemingly impossible plot?

“Very well,” she said as she began to wonder if she had any control over her words at all.

She had meant to ask more questions or raise more concerns.

But it seemed that something within her was attracted to the wildest question she had ever asked.