Duke Looks Like a Groomsman - Valerie Bowman Page 0,26

my sister company while I go take a closer look at the flowers across the lake? I’m convinced they’re buttercups and I haven’t seen buttercups in an age.”

Before Rhys had a chance to reply, Mary had lifted her skirts, spun around and took off along the bank toward the far side of the lake.

Julianna raised her hand above her eyes and squinted. She didn’t see any buttercups. Was Mary mad? She watched in agonized silence until her sister disappeared behind a small copse of trees on the far side of the small lake.

“Did you tell her?” Rhys’s quiet question made Julianna jump. She hadn’t expected her sister to orchestrate private time between herself and a groomsman, for heaven’s sake.

This entire outing was not turning out the way she’d hoped at all. She’d expected to rile Rhys by making him perform a variety of petty chores designed to make him want to quit pretending to be a servant. Instead, she found him lowering himself onto the blanket across from her, his wrist lying atop his propped-up knee, staring at her as if it was the most normal thing in the world for them to be alone together this way.

Julianna spared a glance toward the opposite side of the lake. She shouldn’t allow Mary out of her sight. Mary was her responsibility, after all. But for the life of her she couldn’t bring herself to move from her spot. When she spotted Mary’s light pink gown just inside the tree line across the lake, she exhaled a sigh and turned back toward Rhys to answer his question.

“Tell her? Tell her what?” she finally managed to choke out.

“Who I am?” he replied, arching a brow.

“Of course not,” Julianna replied. “I promised you I wouldn’t tell anyone.”

Rhys narrowed his eyes. “They why did she leave so suddenly? I’m willing to believe she enjoys flowers, but that was quite a hasty retreat for a jaunt to see a buttercup.”

Julianna had to press her lips together to keep from smiling. It had been a hasty retreat indeed. In fact, she hadn’t known her sister had it in her to move so quickly. “Yes, well, she seems to think I have a bit of an infatuation with a certain groomsman.”

Rhys looked truly surprised. He pointed at himself. “No. Me?”

Julianna inclined her head and smiled. “Yes, she informed me that I blushed earlier in your presence.” Even as she said the words, Julianna regretted them.

“Was that why you blushed?” he said, a hint of arrogance creeping back into his tone.

“Certainly not,” she replied with a conspiratorial smile that belied her words.

Rhys laughed. “Have designs on a groomsman, do you?”

Julianna froze. This would be another opportune time for that lake creature to appear. She mentally counted to five. No luck. “She said she didn’t blame me. She thinks you’re handsome too.”

Rhys’s brows shot up. “Too?”

“I mean…she thinks you’re handsome.” This time Julianna was seriously considering jumping into the lake to find the creature herself. Much more expedient and it would keep her from saying more idiotic things.

“I see,” Rhys replied. He leaned forward and began putting empty plates back into the basket. “So, I’m to believe your sister is trying to give you time alone with a groomsman?” Skepticism rode his brow.

“It does appear that way,” Julianna replied, nodding. “Believe me, if she knew who you truly are, she’d be more likely to stamp on your foot than rush away so we could be alone. She knows how…” She let her sentence die away and swallowed.

He paused and met her gaze. “Stamp on my foot, eh? Why’s that?”

Julianna turned her face away. She’d been so close to saying something she never wanted him to know. That Mary knew how upset she’d been when he’d left her that Season.

“She knows the Duke of Worthington is the man who…” She could not bring herself to finish the sentence. It had been too long. The hurt too deep.

“The man who what?” Rhys prompted.

“The man who once courted me,” she blurted, hoping her answer would bring an end to this torturous conversation. She needed to change the subject, quickly. “May I ask you something?”

“Of course,” he replied, continuing to put the items in the basket. “As long as I may ask you something in return.”

Julianna honestly had to consider it for a moment. She did have a question for him, one she wanted him to answer truthfully, but what if his question in return was too difficult for her to answer?

“Very well,” she