Page 17 of The Marquess’ Love Gamble (Noble Gentlemen of the Ton)

Chapter 17

“I find food always tastes so much better outside, don’t you?” Alexander said, and Juliette smiled.

It was a beautiful day, and her mother’s garden party was proving a success. The garden was filled with guests, and a quartet of musicians were playing as liveried footmen handed around plates of delicious morsels, and kept the glasses of the guests topped up.

The sweet scent of the flowers perfumed the air, and some of the guests were languishing beneath the shade of a weeping willow, while others strolled along the paths or sat on benches scattered across the lawn. It was an idyllic scene, and Juliette was enjoying herself immensely.

“Undoubtedly so,” Juliette replied, as Alexander helped himself to another dainty cake from one of the footmen’s trays.

“And how do the paintings you bought look? Have you hung them yet?” Juliette enquired.

“I’ve had them sent to Norfolk. My mother can hang them. She’s got a better eye for that sort of thing,” Alexander replied.

“I’m still to meet your mother – and your sisters. I hope they approve of us – at least without actually having met me,” Juliette said, raising her eyebrows.

“Claire and Alice can be… difficult. They’re at that age. But my mother’s overjoyed. Well, at least she’s stopped asking me to consider the daughter of this duke or that earl,” Alexander said, smiling at Juliette, who laughed.

She felt entirely at ease in Alexander’s company. It had been just the same on the night they had met. There had been no awkwardness between them, no difficult pauses in the conversation – just an unexpected sense of familiarity, as strange as it was to admit it.

“And the daughter of a viscount is acceptable?” she asked, and Alexander laughed.

“I think the daughter of anyone would be acceptable. She just wants me to settle down,” he replied.

“And is that what you want, too?” Juliette replied.

They had not yet spoken of their hopes for the future, nor of what their unusual situation meant. But Juliette knew something had changed between them – an understanding that this could be something more. That it was something more. It was an unspoken agreement – words were not needed, only the subtle sense of their being more to what they now shared than at first had been.

“I think so, yes. But seeing Nicholas and Lavinia so unhappy together – whatever their outward appearance might suggest… well, it makes me realize I have to be certain,” he said, and Juliette nodded.

“I feel the same. It’s… like painting a picture,” she said, for it was the first analogy that came into her head.

Alexander looked at her curiously.

“How so? I didn’t know you could paint,” he said, and Juliette blushed.

“Well, I do – after a fashion. And it’s very simple, really – when I paint a picture, I have to be certain it’s absolutely right. I’d refuse to show it otherwise. Every brush stroke, every detail, has to be just as I imagined it,” Juliette said.

She liked to paint, though it was rare for her to show anyone else her work. Her paintings were private, though it was just as she said – if it was not perfect, she would not show it.

“And marriage has to be like that, does it? You have to be certain before you can commit to the idea?” he asked, and Juliette nodded.

“That’s right,” she replied, making no further commitment as to what she was saying – or not saying.

He smiled at her and offered her his arm.

“Shall we talk across the garden?” he asked.

Juliette hesitated for a moment.

“Oh, but I said I’d talk to Henrietta. She didn’t want to be left alone,” Juliette replied, feeling suddenly neglectful of her friend, even as Alexander smiled.

“I think she’s all right,” he said, and he pointed over to where Henrietta was talking animatedly with two officers of the militia who Juliette’s father had made the acquaintance of at a recent regimental dinner.

Juliette smiled, taking Alexander’s arm before the situation could change.

“Then I’d be delighted,” she replied.

The gardens behind Juliette’s house were deceptively extensive, stretching across a formal lawn to the rose garden, and on into a shrubbery and small wood, where a wall bordered the furthest expanse.

Here, beneath the trees, where dappled sunlight broke through the canopy above, bluebells were growing in abundance, carpeting the ground in a sea of whimsical blooms. Juliette and Alexander walked arm in arm along a path through the trees, enjoying one another’s company, away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the gathering.

“I’d like to see some of your paintings. What is it you paint? Landscapes? Portraits?” Alexander asked.

Juliette felt embarrassed. She did not think her paintings were particularly good, and she had certainly never been asked to show them to anyone before – apart from her cousin, who always lauded her, whether the paintings were good or bad.

“Portraits, usually. Though if I were to travel, I think I’d paint the places I visited,” Juliette replied, for she had always imagined painting on the Italian peninsula or in the alps.

Mountains fascinated her, and the thought of depicting their soaring crags and menacing summits on canvas would be a challenge she would relish.

“You must show me. Who have you painted?” Alexander asked.

Juliette blushed. She did not like to admit her main subject was Nicholas – not that he knew it, either, of course. In his absence, she had contented herself with painting pictures of him in all manner of settings, imagining him in Venice or Florence. It embarrassed her to think of it, but under her bed were numerous depictions of the man she now realized to be nothing more than an unrequited fancy.

“Oh… Emily, mostly. And my mother’s dogs,” she said.

Her mother was a breeder of spaniels; she had a dozen of them. Juliette’s attempts at painting them had been somewhat unsuccessful, given their tendency not to sit still for longer than a few minutes at a time.

“Perhaps you’d like to paint me,” Alexander suggested.

“Well… I could try, I suppose. But would you sit still for long enough?” she asked, and Alexander laughed.

“I could try, I suppose,” he replied, raising her eyebrows at her.

They had come to a part of the garden where the trees gave way to the shrubbery. Juliette used to play there as a child, hiding from her nanny and governess and reading all the books she wasn’t allowed to read inside. But now, Juliette was surprised to hear the hiss of voices arguing with another in hushed tones, and raising her hand, she pointed forward to where the path entered the shrubbery.

“It’s Nicholas and Lavinia,” she whispered, for sure enough, there was no mistaking the angry voices of the supposedly happy couple…

“I knew about the man from Kentucky, Lavinia. But you didn’t tell me anything about… this,” Nicholas exclaiming.

“And why should I tell you everything about my past? It’s private,” Lavinia retorted.

“Because I’m going to be your husband, that’s why. You embarrassed me,” Nicholas replied.

“And I could embarrass you a lot more if I wanted to. Don’t forget that, Nicholas. I know your secret,” Lavinia replied.

Juliette glanced up at Alexander in astonishment, and now he pointed towards a large rhododendron bush, indicating for the two of them to hide lest they should be seen.

“You don’t know anything – I don’t know it. All I know is what you told me happened. There’s no proof of it. If I want to call the whole thing off, then…” Nicholas began, but Lavinia interrupted him.

“Then it won’t just be yourself you’re ruining, Nicholas. You sister, too… imagine the association,” he said, and Nicholas sighed.

Juliette’s heart went out to him. She could picture the anguish on his face. Lavinia was a cruel and unforgiving woman. How could she behave in such a way, and what was the secret she was keeping?

“How dare you bring Henrietta into this, I…” Nicholas retorted, but Lavinia now stormed out of the shrubbery, hurrying along the path with a look of thunder on her face.

“I’ll do whatever it takes, Nicholas,” she called back, and with that, she was gone.

Nicholas emerged from the shrubbery a moment later. He looked a broken man, his shoulders hunched, his head bowed, as though he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Juliette slipped her hand into Alexander’s, watching as Nicholas walked away, shaking his head sadly.

“How awful,” Alexander said, and Juliette nodded.

“I just don’t understand. What’s the secret she’s keeping?” she said, but Alexander shook his head.

“I don’t know, but I can hazard a guess. She’s tricked him into something – made him think there’s some scandal involving the two of them. I wouldn’t be surprised if her mother was in on it. I’ve heard of such things before. A gentleman in Nicholas’ position can easily fall prey to such a wicked scheme.

The threat of revealing the scandal leads to a proposal of marriage. You don’t need me to tell you the value of a match with a man like Nicholas. It would solve all Lavinia’s problems – and that of her mother, too,” Alexander replied.

It was a terrible thought, but one Juliette could not help but find convincing. It made perfect sense. But whatever the truth might be, Juliette could only feel terribly sorry for Nicholas after overhearing what they had overheard.

“But what do we do now?” she asked.

“I don’t think there’s anything we can do. We still don’t know what’s behind it all. Nicholas obviously thinks he’s found a way to trump her. But he hasn’t. She’s still got a hold over him, and she’s going to make him pay for it. I’m only glad… well, I’m glad you’re not mixed up in it,” Alexander said, as now they emerged from the shrubbery and made their way back along the path to the lawn.

But Juliette was mixed up in it. She still cared deeply for Nicholas, and despite no longer having romantic feelings for him, she certainly did not want to see him hurt.

“No, I suppose you’re right,” Juliette replied, shaking her head sadly.

“Well, I suppose there’s a silver lining to it,” Alexander said, and Juliette looked up at him in surprise.

“What do you mean?” she asked, for she could see no advantage to such a sad situation – certainly not for Nicholas.

Alexander smiled.

“Well, it means the two of us can… part ways. We won’t need to carry on with this charade, will we?” he replied.

Juliette was taken aback, even as she knew he was right. If it had all been a ruse, there was no longer any reason why the two of them should keep it up.

The thought of it saddened her terribly. Her feelings for Alexander were growing ever stronger, and yet now he was telling her she could look forward to what surely lay ahead when Nicholas and Lavinia went their separate ways. And yet it was not as simple as that. It was not what Juliette desired – not at all – and she could hardly believe Nicholas would simply replace Lavinia with her…

“Oh… yes, well… I suppose. It all depends, doesn’t it?” she replied.

Alexander looked at her and smiled.

“Oh, but I think it’s certain – they won’t last,” he replied – but Juliette had not meant it like that.

What it depended on was Alexander and his feelings towards her. Their ruse did not need to continue as such. It could be what so many others thought it to be – what Juliette, too, now wanted it to be. Again, she felt a fool for having read too much into what was occurring between them, even as it was beginning to feel entirely real.

“Well, I suppose we’ll have to see, won’t we?” Juliette replied, as now they emerged onto the lawn.

Nicholas and Lavinia were talking to Gregory and Emily, looking every bit the happy couple. But while Juliette still did not know the full story, she knew enough to realize it was Nicholas, and not Lavinia who was suffering, and though she would gladly see the couple go their separate ways, the consequences of their separation for herself were now sadly, all too plain to see.