seemed likely to wag his tail off. “Not sure about the monster, though.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I’m taking the monster away. I won’t come in, but give my regards to your parents.” With an airy wave and a smile at Juliet, he set off down the terrace steps once more.
She couldn’t help feeling lost.
“Who the devil is that?” Jeremy all but exploded. “I beg your pardon, Juliet, but I have never encountered anyone of such insolence.”
“Don’t you like him?” Ferdy asked in surprise.
“The man called me a weasel!”
Ferdy’s gaze flew to Juliet’s. The laughter surged so hard, she couldn’t speak.
“Have to…” Ferdy began in a strangled voice and then simply turned and strode back to the house.
Since her laughter seemed too likely to turn to tears, Juliet combatted both with anger. “What do you expect, Jeremy? You did not behave well. And you still have not even asked me how I got home that day. A housemaid is entitled to better conditions of dismissal than I was accorded. You believed some filthy scandal rag rather than even ask me, and more or less threw me into the street with nothing.”
“I offered you—”
“Twenty pounds,” she said with contempt. “I imagine it would cost you considerably more to pay off an opera dancer.”
“Juliet!” he protested in shock.
“I am an earl’s daughter. And you broke not only your promise to me, but every rule of human decency I can think of. You are a weasel.” She walked past him and back into the house without troubling to see if he followed.
*
Inevitably, her mother was still trying to build bridges between them and placed her beside Jeremy for dinner. Fortunately, Ferdy was on her other side, so the silence between them wasn’t too noticeable.
It was only when the fish course had been taken away and the meat course was being placed on the table that Jeremy said suddenly, “I do owe you an apology.”
Surprised, she turned her head to find him gazing earnestly at her.
“You are right. I acted cruelly and without thought, merely giving in to my pain with no thought of yours. Or of the truth of the matter.”
He appeared to mean it, so she replied, “I accept your apology.”
“It does not mean,” he added hastily, and broke off, biting his lip.
She raised her eyebrows. “It does not mean what?”
“That our engagement is resumed,” he muttered. “It will take time.”
For a moment, she could only gawp. “No, it won’t, Jeremy,” she said flatly. “For it will never happen. There is nothing you or anyone else can say or do that would make me marry you. Pass the sauce, Ferdy.”
“I have made you angry again,” he said miserably.
“Oh, I am beyond anger. It doesn’t matter. I am glad to be on civilized terms with you, Jeremy, but under no circumstances imagine I want or will tolerate, more than that.” She put a forkful of food into her mouth, barely even tasting it, though when she’d swallowed it, she said, “You should have some sauce with that. It’s really very good.”
Chapter Thirteen
On his journey north into Yorkshire, Lord Barden had plenty of time to reflect on his Great Plan of Revenge.
The first part—the presence of the young ladies at Connaught Place after the departure of the princess and anyone else who might have counted as a chaperone—had gone better than he had hoped. The girls might have hidden, but several people had glimpsed them, and many people knew they were there. And he had personally seen to the circulation of the newspaper in the right quarters. Such as to the Alfords and to Lord Cosland up in Yorkshire.
Oh yes, the women were ruined. But that was only the beginning. Taking advantage of that ruin proved to be somewhat more difficult.
He had begun the journey north in a filthy temper because he had been forced to abandon his plan for Hazel Curwen. This annoyed him on many levels, not least of which was that he had wanted Juliet’s father to be aware that the Curwen girl had recently become his mistress. It would all have added to the insult and humiliation of the offer he was about to make. The offer which the mighty Earl of Cosland could not refuse.
Only when the horses were changed at Kidfield and he began the last stage of his journey to Hornby Park, did he begin to think much about Lady Juliet. He had paid little attention to her, avoiding her at both ton parties and the princess’s residence. Her