In the early morning sunlight, two young ladies hurried across Grosvenor Square. They kept their heads down and their faces hidden as best they could.
At the corner of South Audley Street, they paused. The younger, Lady Juliet Lilbourne, glanced up for the briefest moment and surreptitiously gripped her companion’s hand.
“Good luck,” she murmured.
“And you. Take care, Juliet.”
Their hands parted, and Juliet walked into South Audley Street. In spite of her hurry to be safe indoors, her feet seemed to drag. An ominous weight seemed to crush her whole being.
About a quarter of the way down the street, she dared to look up again. At the house of her betrothed’s parents, a maid was scrubbing the front step, calling cheerfully to the girl performing the same service at the house next door. Keeping her face turned away from the neighbor’s servant, Juliet took the two steps to the open front door.
“Oh, good morning, my lady,” the maid exclaimed, pulling her bucket out of the way. “I didn’t hear the carriage.”
“Good morning, Sally,” Juliet murmured hastily and walked into the hall.
From a room upstairs, she could hear the unmistakable tones of Lady Alford, her betrothed’s mother. She sounded agitated, as she often was, though Juliet could not make out the words. A low, soothing male voice attempted to calm her. From this distance, Juliet couldn’t tell if it was Lord Alford or his son. Though it was ridiculously early for any of them to be up and about.
As she moved toward the stairs, regal footsteps approached from the back of the house.
Juliet, remembering she still carried her valise, stopped and set it down.
“Good morning,” the dignified butler, Johnson, intoned, treading across the hall. “We were not expecting your ladyship.”
“No, my plans have suddenly changed. Could you ask Lady Alford to—”
“Her ladyship,” Johnson interrupted, “is not at home.”
Juliet blinked. She had just heard her ladyship’s voice and was about to point out Johnson’s mistake. And then the truth struck her like a blow.
She was the Earl of Cosland’s daughter, beautiful, courted, and popular. No one had ever refused to receive her.
Outraged, she held the butler’s relentless gaze. “When will her ladyship return?”
“I could not say, madam.”
“Guess,” Juliet commanded.
Only by the faintest twitch did Johnson betray emotion. It looked like irritation. “If I were to guess, I would say not today.”
“But that is ridiculous!” She had nowhere else to go. Her parents were at their Yorkshire estate. She had been staying with Lady Alford, who had always been kind and welcoming. And then she had been summoned unexpectedly to her duty as lady-in-waiting to the Princess of Wales. There was only one possible reason that things could have changed so drastically between yesterday evening and this morning.
Lady Alford knew.
And yet, how could she have learned so quickly?
Panic surged. Lady Alford had been her best, her only hope to nip this scandal in the bud.
“Johnson, I need to see her ladyship,” she said intensely.
“Perhaps if you were to write first.”
From nowhere, a footman had appeared and picked up her valise. He pretended not to see her involuntary grab for it and walked with it toward the front door.
They are throwing me out! Oh, dear God, what do I do now?
In desperation, she threw her shoulders back and glared at Johnson. “Bring Mr. Catesby to me this instant, or I promise you, I shall scream so loudly it will wake the entire street. Then, you may explain that to your noble neighbors.”
Johnson’s eye twitched again.
“You have twenty seconds,” Juliet said.
With the gesture of one finger, Johnson halted the footman’s progress and sent him scurrying for the stairs instead. Juliet stepped forward, picked up the valise, and walked into the reception room.
“Thirteen seconds,” she observed mildly.
But she was shaking with mortification. To be forced to threaten a kind hostess in such a vulgar way! But equally, to be condemned, unheard, as she was being… She had never imagined Lady Alford would treat her in such a way. But hopefully, Jeremy, Mr. Catesby, would be able to reach her when she had calmed down.
She wasn’t truly counting and had no idea what she would do if she was simply left cooling her heels for hours in this bare, soulless room. But she did hear swift footsteps on the stairs, then hurrying across the hall. Jeremy strode into the room, his lips tight.
He didn’t close the door, and when she started toward him instinctively, he actually raised his hand as though to ward her off.