least he bloody well hoped not.
Chapter Two
Julianna Montgomery looked out toward the tables from her second-floor bedchamber at Viscount Clayton’s estate. She and her sister Mary had been placed in one room and Mama in the adjoining one. They’d arrived for the house party just this morning and Mama had insisted they ‘rest.’
Julianna had always disliked resting. It was so very uninteresting. She’d much rather be out riding. She traced her fingers along the cool glass of the window and stared off across the gardens and meadow beyond the back of Lord Clayton’s estate.
Clayton’s stables were renowned in the ton. Julianna couldn’t wait to get out and see them. If the rumor mill was to be believed, two of his mounts were descended from the famous Godolphin Arabians. The only other nobleman she knew who had a descendant of the Godolphins was… Ugh. The odious, awful, lying Duke of Worthington, also known as Detestable.
Julianna shook her head, chiding herself for thinking of him. He wasn’t worth her thoughts. She’d decided that at the beginning of the last Season—ahem—her third Season. The fact that Detestable was the reason for her being unengaged during her third Season still made her nostrils flare. If that despicable, lying, disingenuous… No! That was not helping. Insults still counted as thinking of him, and she refused to do so.
What had she been thinking about before Detestable had entered her thoughts? Oh, yes, horses. The Arabians. They were the only reason she’d agreed to accompany Mama and Mary on this particular jaunt to the countryside after all. Well, that and the fact that Mary had asked for Julianna’s help looking for a match. Julianna no longer needed to look for herself now that she was well and truly engaged to the most eligible man in the ton. Thank you very much.
Fine, perhaps the Marquess of Murdock was the third most eligible if one was being precise. In truth, the good-for-nothing Duke of Worthington was the most eligible, but he was a rogue and a scoundrel and a—not helping!
The second most eligible gentleman was the Marquess of Bellingham, but he didn’t count either. For one reason, he was a confirmed bachelor who’d never expressed the slightest interest in marriage. For another, it was rumored he worked for the Home Office and was deeply engaged in his work. But even if those other two things weren’t true, the Marquess of Bellingham was the closest friend of Detestable and that alone made him completely unacceptable to her. Julianna wanted nothing to do with that odious man.
She’d spent her first Season pining after him and her second Season being wooed by him. Everyone who was anyone within the ton had been convinced an engagement between them was imminent. It had even been hinted about in the paper. The Times for heaven’s sake. So when the duke left for the countryside quite suddenly, directly before the end of her second Season, a bit over a year ago, it had been a shock to everyone, including Julianna, when not only had Worthington not offered for her, but he’d cut off their acquaintance entirely.
The last time she’d heard from him, in fact, had been in the form of a poorly written letter many months after his departure, that had offered few details as to his change of heart and absolutely no mention of when she might see him again.
She’d spent a good portion of the first half of her third Season searching every crowd and guest list for him. It wasn’t until the Season was half over that Mama, bless her, had sat her down and given her the talk. The one Julianna had needed all along. The one in which Mama reminded Julianna that she had two choices in life. She could sit around waiting for Worthington to reappear, or she could act like a true Montgomery and get about the business of securing the next most eligible match.
“He’s not worth your thoughts,” Mama had said during the talk, giving Julianna her new chant, one she repeated to herself over and over in the weeks to come. “Let alone you wasting your best months for him.”
Julianna may have gone to her bed that night the tossed-over, would-be intended of the Duke of Worthington, but she’d awakened the next morning the determined, future-intended of the Marquess of Murdock. Murdock was handsome, rich, and charming. Who cared if he wasn’t quite as handsome, rich, and charming as Detestable?
Julianna had gone on to meet her goal