To Catch A Duke (22 page)

"Thank you."
 
Benjamin offered Lady Amy a bow.
 
"I was uncertain as to whether or not
Lady Julia would accept, but I am pleased to see that my fears were
unfounded."
 
Then he inclined his
head.
 
If this woman had befriended
Julia, then she was a friend to him as well.
 
"And please, since we are all friends now, call me Benjamin."

"Benjamin, thank
you."
 
Amy nodded her
approval.
 
"You and Julia belong
together.
 
Though I have only known both
of you a short time, I believe that it's true."

A tightness constricted Benjamin's
chest for he was surprised how much it meant to him to have Lady Amy's
approval.
 
"You honor me, my
lady.
 
I can only hope that..."

He wasn't able to finish his
thought as Lady Henrietta pushed her way through the crush of people to reach
them.
 
She was nearly out of breath, but
she marched up to the group, determined as any military man he'd ever
encountered.

"Ah, the good and noble Duke
of Radcliffe," she sneered, and he knew it was because he had rejected
her.
 
Given the slightly glassy look to
her eyes, he also wondered if she had snuck into their host's liquor
supply.
 
"Such a fine, upstanding
gentleman, one who is magnanimous enough to marry poor, disfigured Lady
Julia."

Beside him, Julia stiffened, but it
was Lady Amy's reaction that interested him the most.
 
"Lady Henrietta," she snipped icily as she drew herself
to her full height, almost regal in her bearing, "I do not know what you
are about, but I would ask that you please refrain from insulting my
friends.
 
To do so insults me as
well."
 
Among the
ton
, there
were a few people that most would not wish to risk insulting.
 
The Duke of Radcliffe was one.
 
The Earl of Evanston, as well as his wife
and daughter, were among the others.

"As if you don't
know."
 
Henrietta was just as icy
now though not nearly as imposing.
 
"I know all about that bet at White's.
 
How the duke himself claimed the bet just morning."
 
She turned to Julia, and if looks could have
killed, Julia would have been struck dead where she stood.
 
"He must have already lifted your
skirts, my dear, to know precisely how far down those scars went!"
 
She was enraged at having been denied her
sought-after prize and was striking out at those whom she felt had wronged her.

"Lady Henrietta, that is
enough!"
 

Benjamin hadn't seen Lady Evanston
approach the refreshment area, but given the scene Henrietta was making, he
wasn't surprised to know that everyone was watching them.
 
He risked a glance at Julia, prepared to
whisk her away if necessary, but he was both proud and astounded that she was
standing tall and meeting everyone's eyes rather than flinching and looking
away.

"Admit it.
 
You ended the bet and the only way you could
do that was if you saw her naked!"
 
There was an unholy light in Henrietta's eyes, and Benjamin wondered if
she might do Julia some serious harm.
 
It was time to end this farce now, he decided.

"Yes," he said evenly,
his tone one of boredom.
 
"I did
end the bet.
 
But rather than collect on
it I simply paid off the wagers for everyone in the book once I knew that I
loved Julia and intended to ask her to be my duchess."

His response must have shocked
Henrietta for she openly gaped at him for a moment before snapping again.
 
"But how did you know?"

Shrugging, he reached for Julia's
hand.
 
"I was there when the animal
attacked her.
 
After all, our families
were long-time friends.
 
I helped the
doctor treat her when he needed an extra set of hands.
 
She was four years old at the time.
 
A mere child."

"Then why didn't you collect
sooner?" Henrietta demanded, unwilling to give up, whatever alcohol she'd
consumed making her braver, albeit far more foolish, than she normally would
have been.

"Because I didn't know of the
bet until three days ago," he countered, even though he was certain
everyone in the room knew that was a lie.
 
"I am a member at White's, but I do not gamble, nor do I spend much
time there.
 
Once I did find out, I made
it a point to end that nonsense as soon as I possibly could.
 
I do not want my future duchess to be the
subject of such gossip."
 
He
sniffed disdainfully.
 
"And if you
wish to secure yourself a husband, Miss Cartwright, I suggest that you learn a
little bit of decorum.
 
You are making a
proper cake of yourself."

Then, Benjamin did the most unkind
thing he could think of, the one thing guaranteed to show his utter distain for
Henrietta and her ravings.
 
He turned
his back on her, giving her a direct cut.

To his surprise, both Lady Amy and
her mother did the same, leaving the other woman fuming, but unable to
respond.
 
After all, the Countess of
Evanston was the hostess for the evening's gathering and a cut from her spoke
more than any words every could.

Henrietta stalked off in a swirl of
skirts and perfume, but Benjamin found that he could not rest easy until he was
certain that she was gone.
 
When he was
certain that she had departed, he turned back to find Julia gaping at him.

"You cut her.
 
For me."
 
There was disbelief in her voice.

"For us," he corrected
gently.
 
"I did it for us.
 
I do not want anyone to think that I am
anything other than completely devoted to you.
 
For I am.
 
I ended that silly bet
for you, so that no one could use it to hurt you again.
 
You deserve all that and more, Julia.
 
So much more."

"I love you,
Benjamin."
 
It was the only thing
she could think of to say.

"And I love you."
 
At the moment, Benjamin wanted to show her
just how much, and he was tired of waiting.

He bowed to both the countess and
Lady Amy.
 
"If you will excuse us,
I believe that my intended has an ague about her that needs to be taken care of
promptly."

Benjamin thought the countess might
protest, but instead, she simply gave him a knowing smile.
 
"Normally, I would not approve, but in
this case, I believe I can make an exception."
 
She gestured towards the steps leading to the back gardens where
they could slip away unnoticed.
 
"Go.
 
I have a feeling I
shall see both of you again soon.
 
At
your wedding, most likely."
 
Then
she swept off, taking Amy with her.

"We don't have to leave if you
don't want to," Benjamin said to Julia once the other women were
gone.
 
"Only if you feel like
it."
 
He paused and then added.
 
"Not to mention that people will
talk."

"I don't care."
 
Julia offered him a seductive look.
 
"I love you, Ben, and I don't care who
knows it.
 
Tonight, and every night
forward, I am yours so long as you'll have me."

He grasped her hand and squeezed it
tightly.
 
"Forever, Jules.
Forever."

With a tug, she began pulling him
through the crowd toward the terrace, heedless of how it might look.
 
"Excellent because I have plans for
you, my lord."
 
Then she gave him
one last grin.
 
"Now let's go home
so you can seduce me properly.
 
Again."

1818 - Late August

"Does it still hurt overly
much?"
 
Benjamin lightly traced the
line of the bullet wound on his wife's hip up to her waist and then to just
below her ribcage.
 
It began just where
the ragged scar his father had inflicted on her ended, and each time he saw it,
his heart tugged anew at just how close he'd come to losing her.
 
"I thank God every day that Landover is
a lousy shot."
 
It scared him
sometimes how much he loved her, but he wouldn't change it for the world.

"I thank God that he's been
banished, never permitted to return to England."
 
Julia, Benjamin's wife of only a few days rolled over in bed and
snuggled into his caress, seemingly unable to get enough of her husband's
affections.
 
"And no, it does not
hurt.
 
Not much anyway.
 
Gibbs says that by Christmastime, you will
still see the scar, but the redness will have gone down considerably."

She felt rather than saw her
husband roll his eyes in response.
 
"That man.
 
I am still not
certain why you felt the need to invite him to our wedding.
 
I don't care if he and Amy
are
smitten with each other.
 
They made
proper fools of themselves at the breakfast, you know.
 
Not quite the thing to be done."
 
Then he tweaked her nose, letting her know
that he was kidding.
 
For the most part.

Linking her hands through his,
Julia slid her thumb over the back of his hand, enjoying the way his cock
tightened and rose against her hip in response.
 
"They are smitten, but she is running out of excuses to justify
seeing him.
 
I simply gave them another
one.
 
If only she would just admit that
she cares for him, they could run off to Gretna and be done with it."
 
Then she sobered for a moment.
 
"And you must admit that it was
beneficial to have him here when the Marquess of Berkshire decided that it was
time to depart this earth.
 
I'm simply
thankful that the festivities were mostly concluded and many of the guests had
already departed."

The death of the marquess had taken
everyone who had gathered at Seldon Park for Julia and Benjamin's elaborate
nuptials by surprise.
 
Then again, the
marquess was in his sixth decade, and he drank far more than he should, even
for a man half his age.
 
Blackwell had
confided to Julia in private that it was a wonder the man had lasted as long as
he did.
 
From merely looking at him, the
doctor had concluded that the marquess had essentially drank himself to
death.
 
The official cause of death
would be heart ailments, of course, because it would be unseemly to admit that
the Marquess of Berkshire had any sort of vice, even though the
ton
knew
it was true.

It had also not gone unnoticed by
either of them that Nicholas had been the first to offer his comfort and
condolences to Lady Berkshire.
 
Julia
had seen the look that had passed between them and prayed that her brother knew
to be careful.
 
The countess would be in
mourning for at least a year, and it would not take much to incite another
scandal, especially so soon after the one they had just weathered.
 
Then again, she was also confident that Nicholas
knew what he was doing.
 
He would not
make such a silly mistake.

Then, her husband kissed her and
all thoughts of Lord and Lady Berkshire, as well as her brother, flew from her
mind.
 
In that moment, there was only
Ben.

"There is that," Benjamin
agreed as he leaned back into his pillow, pulling Julia with him.
 
"And everyone did say that you were a
lovely bride.
 
By far the toast of the
season."
 
He kissed the top of her
head as his hands roamed lower to stroke the sides of her breasts.
 
"Thank God I convinced you to marry me
before some other rogue swooped in to claim you."

"As if there would ever be
another man for me."
 
She arched up
into his touch.
 
She doubted that she
would ever grow tired of his hands on her body.
 
"There has never been another.
 
There never will be.
 
Besides, I think everyone showed up just to make certain that I wasn't
with child and create even more scandal."

After the Evanston ball, Julia and
Benjamin had both disappeared, almost overnight, from London society.
 
They had made their statement to the
ton
and, after they'd departed, the whispers had begun, many of them fueled by Lady
Henrietta's rage when she realized that she would never capture the duke's
heart, if for no other reason than that Julia had possessed it all along.
 
The first banns had been cried at the
Rosemont family chapel two weeks later, fueling speculation that Julia was a
fallen woman.
 
After all, the gossips
reasoned, why else would she have fled the warm bosom of society so soon after
she'd been welcomed into it?

Lady Letitia had even gone so far
as to suggest that Julia had brought on her own ruination in order to trap
Benjamin into marriage, a rumor quickly silenced by both Nicholas and Lady
Evanston.
 
After that, it had become
clear that, for reasons that few were privy to, Julia was under the protection
of the countess, and most of the rumors had ceased.
 
That didn't mean, however, that society as a whole had lost their
curiosity.
 
So when the invitations for
the wedding of the Duke of Radcliffe to Lady Julia Rosemont had been sent out,
every person, down to the last, had affirmed their intentions to attend.

That had made Seldon Park rather
crowded, but since she and Benjamin had escaped to Spring House after the
wedding breakfast, she hadn't minded quite so much.
 
Now that it was just the two of them, as well as a skeleton staff
to keep the house running, she liked it even better.

"We could work on that, you
know," he teased her as he rolled her again so that she was beneath him,
his hard length poised at her entrance.

Quirking an eyebrow, she gave him a
saucy wink.
 
"I think I should like
that very much, my lord."
 
Then she
moved so that he slid into her easily, and she sighed in contentment.

When she'd left home at the
beginning of the season, she could have never imagined the events that awaited
her - both the good and the bad.
 
Still,
she wouldn't trade any of them.
 
If
those things hadn't occurred, it was unlike that she would be here with
Benjamin now.
 
As his wife.
 
They might have gone on indefinitely, both
afraid to alter their relationship.
 
Because of what had transpired, they had finally admitted their feelings
and for that, Julia could not be sorry.

Nor was she sorry when she looked
into Benjamin's eyes and saw the depth of her own love reflected back her.
 
She was his.
 
He was hers.
 
She was also
confident that they would remain that way until the end of time.

She hadn't set out that season to
catch a duke, but she had.
 
And for
that, she would be forever grateful.