To Catch A Duke (9 page)

"You do the lady much
discredit," Radcliffe seethed, knowing that if he killed the marquess now,
he would probably be hanged.
 
Even if
society as a whole would be better off without the man.
 
"She is far more clever than that, and
we have been friends all our lives.
 
You
cannot destroy something that has endured for so long."

"I can," Landover
retorted, a nasty smile twisting his face.
 
"I know your secret, Radcliffe, and when she learns it as well,
things between you will end."
 
Then
he pulled back on his horse and started to turn away.
 
However he paused a moment and turned back to Benjamin.
 
"I do think it interesting, however,
that you never once denied loving the chit.
 
Perhaps this will hurt you far worse than I had originally thought.
 
All the better, I think."
 
Then he was gone, dashing off through the
park and disappearing into the bustle of London.

Benjamin sat astride his horse for
a few moments both calming himself and gathering his wits.
 
The threat from Landover was bad enough but
the other man had implied that he knew Benjamin's secret.
 
No one knew.
 
Or at least he didn't think anyone did.
 
Those that had known, save for one, were dead.
 
Most of them had been gone for many
years.
 
So how could Landover, someone
nearly five years Benjamin's junior, know what had transpired that day?
 
He couldn't.
 
The marquess would have barely been out of leading strings or, at
the very least, short pants.

Still, the way he'd said it, the
phrases he'd used - words like "failing Julia" - implied that
Landover knew.
 
Or thought he did.
 
Either way, the implications were not
good.
 
That meant that, after all of
these years, he now had to find a way to tell Julia the truth about their past,
as well as keep her safe from Landover.
 
Even if she ended up hating him when she learned the secret, Benjamin
would not allow the marquess to take her innocence.

He also pondered what Landover had
said about Benjamin loving Julia.
 
There
was no reason to deny it, really.
 
They
were old friends.
 
He did love her, but
only as a brother.
 
That was all.
 
That was all it ever could be.
 
There was no room for any other kind of love
in his life, especially not with his best friend's sister.
 
And especially not if she ever learned his
secret.

"Are you feeling well, my
lord?" Julia asked Benjamin later that night as they took their seats in
his theater box.
 
When he didn't reply
and instead continued to scan the other boxes, clearly looking for someone, she
tried again.
 
"The flowers were
beautiful.
 
Thank you.
 
The roses were my favorites, even if they
were inappropriate."
 
Still no
response.
 
"After the performance
tonight, I shall go seek out some random costermonger and ask him to ruin
me."

That got his attention.
 
Just as she'd planned.
 
"What did you say?
 
Good God, my lady, do not even jest about
such a thing!"

Laughing, she settled back into her
seat, happy to have brought him out of his mood, if only for a moment.
 
"At least I am now certain that I have
your attention, my lord.
 
A lady does
not like to be ignored."

"Point taken," he said
sheepishly, trying not to laugh along with her.
 
That could not lead to anything good.
 
"Still, we must be careful after this morning's articles.
 
There is someone out to do you harm, and I
told you already about my encounter with Landover in the park this
morning."
 
He had, of course
omitted the part about his secrets.
 
He
did not need Julia to know about that.

She opened her fan and began to
swish it lazily in front of her.
 
"Oh, pooh.
 
You know as well
as I that there is little that can be done to me that my scars have not already
done."
 
In that moment, she was
very much Society Julia and not the Country Julia that he had known for so
long.
 
Strangely, he found that he
couldn't take his eyes off her.
 
Nor did
he want to.
 
She was truly captivating.

"You are still seen as the
innocent that you are," he reminded her, clearing his throat and
attempting to reign in his unruly thoughts.
 
"There is that."

Julia didn't reply at first and
instead scanned the crowd as he had done only moments before.
 
"There is that," she parroted back
to him, and he had the impression that her mind was now elsewhere.
 
He frowned.
 
This was supposed to be a great night out at the theater for her, not
yet another event that would make her unhappy.
 
He'd seen to it, right down to the gown that she wore.

It was magnificent if he did say so
him self.
 
Madame Brigette did exquisite
work, which was why he'd secretly hired her, through Nicholas, of course, to
design Julia's wardrobe for town.
 
The
gown she wore tonight hadn't been completed when the rest of her wardrobe had
been delivered but to Benjamin's eye, it had been well worth the wait.

The cool green satin gown flowed
around Julia's lovely form, accentuating her hips until it pooled at her feet
where he knew she wore dainty satin slippers encrusted with crystals and seed
pearls that matched those at both the bottom of her gown.
 
The bodice was a tight affair, tighter than
necessary to Benjamin's eye, though he swore to himself that he wasn't looking,
and covered in more crystals and seed beads.
 
The entire thing was trimmed with lace and other bits of frippery.
 
It was completely too much and yet just enough
at the same time.

With her coppery hair and whiskey
eyes, she looked good in green, he thought as he studied her, trying not to be
too obvious.
 
Since this was the second
night they were out together, he knew that there would be more talk tomorrow,
and probably more in the gossip columns as well.
 
Julia swore that she did not care.
 
She reminded him again that once the season ended she would
return to the country, never to be seen again.
 
He could go on about his life, much as he had before.

When the season had first started,
that had seemed more than appropriate, not to mention that it was her stated
wish to do so.
 
Return home.
 
Go back to Seldon Park.
 
Now, after spending only two scant days in
her company, Benjamin was beginning to think that it was nothing short of a
tragedy.

Julia had matured over the years,
he was quickly discovering, and, since he had not seen her frequently, he'd had
no idea that she'd blossomed into an intelligent, confident woman with a quick
wit and an even quicker tongue.
 
The air
of sadness he'd always associated with her still clung to her, much as he'd
expected, but now, it didn't seem as if there was a reason for it.
 
Rather, it remained almost because it was
expected.
 
Because of the scars.

He wanted to know more about her,
the woman and not the child he'd known.
 
After only two days, he was fascinated, even though he knew he shouldn't
be, and his meeting with Landover earlier had only increased his desire to
protect her.
 
Benjamin was also
intrigued by her new sense of fearlessness and her unwavering belief in
herself.
 
She knew precisely who and what
she was, without pretense.
 
She saw him
for what he was as well.
 
To her, he was
simply Benjamin, the older boy she'd shared sweetmeats and lemonade with as a
child.
 
He was not the Duke of Radcliffe
or an endless supply of money and jewels, the way other women viewed him.
 
It was, quite simply, refreshing.
 
Much like she was.

Tonight, she was breathtaking.
 
He'd told her that when he'd picked her up
earlier in the evening, but she'd waved away his words and instead told him to
go pester another woman.
 
However, he'd
also seen the blush begin to creep up her neck and knew she'd been
pleased.
 
Few people ever told her she
was pretty and meant it.
 
He did.

"Have I told you how lovely
you look this evening?"
 
He felt
like saying it again, this time loud enough for others to overhear.
 
"Because, my dear, you are
ravishing."

"Go on with you, Lord
Radcliffe," she said turning back to him, but he could see the sparkle in
her eye, and knew that he'd pulled her out of whatever dark place she'd been
sliding into.
 
"You know I don't
believe you."

He gave her a cheeky grin of his
own, surprised at his own good humor.
 
She did seem to bring out the best in him.
 
"I do, but it is the truth.
 
To me, you are perfect."
 
Oddly, he found that he meant the words.
 
She
was
perfect.
 
Everything about her was perfect.
 
Funny that he'd never noticed before.

Benjamin could tell she was
resisting the urge to roll her eyes.
 
"You are blessed with a devil's tongue, aren't you?"
 
She reached over and patted his hand
sweetly.
 
"But that is why I adore
you, you know.
 
You can always make me
feel better."
 
Then she laid her
hand over his as the theater darkened so the performance could begin.

Except that Benjamin didn't notice
the dimming lights or the performers on the stage.
 
All he felt was Julia's hand on top of his, the heat passing
between them, and the spark of
something
that seemed to jump between
them.
 
It was unexpected and, quite
honestly, a bit frightening.

In all of their years together,
he'd never truly seen Julia as a woman, as a potential lover or even a
wife.
 
She was simply Julia, his best
friend's sister.
 
The girl he had vowed
at a young age to protect with his life.
 
He never saw her scars.
 
Not
really.
 
She was just Julia and
eternally a child.

But she wasn't.
 
Not any longer.
 
Now she was a woman in her prime, well out of the schoolroom and,
many would say, firmly on the shelf even though she had never officially
debuted until this year.
 
Except that
Benjamin could not bring himself to see her thus.
 
She was, he thought, more beautiful now than she had been at
eighteen.
 
Or even twenty.

And he wanted her.

There, in the darkness of the
theater, Benjamin Sinclair, the Duke of Radcliffe, was struck by the
realization that he wanted Julia Rosemont.
 
He wanted to kiss her.
 
He wanted
to see her naked in his bed.
 
By God, he
wanted to make love to her.

And in that moment, he wondered how
he would ever be able to make it through the next few weeks without pulling her
into a secluded alcove at a ball somewhere and thoroughly ravishing her.

The question plagued him all
throughout the performance, none of which he really saw.
 
Oh, there was intermission, and he greeted
those who dropped by his box to visit with his usual chilly distain tempered a
bit by his wit and charm.
 
It was, after
all, what he was known for.

He also glowered at the young bucks
who came to get a peek at Julia.
 
After
the columns in the papers that morning, it seemed that every young man of the
ton
wanted a closer look at "the not-so-young, yet still lovely, woman who had
captured the usually rakish duke's interest," to quote directly from Lady
X, which most of the young pups did.

There was also a steady stream of
women, many of whom simply came to view the woman they viewed as competition
for Benjamin's heart.
 
He could have
told them not to bother, that they had a snowball's chance in hell of holding
his attention, especially after his moment of discovery while sitting next to
Julia in the dark.
 
Still, silly chits
that they were, they came and preened for him, while either making snide
comments about Julia or ignoring her completely.

By the time Miss Amy Cheltenham
arrived with her mother, the Countess of Evanston, Benjamin was seething.
 
He wanted to yank Julia, who was bearing up
remarkably well, all things considered, from her seat and promptly take her
home to safety.
 
If there was a kiss or
two somewhere mixed in, then all the better.
 
He wasn't certain about Julia, but he was hungry for it - and more,
should she be willing to give it.

Much to his surprise, however, Miss
Cheltenham and her mother both greeted Julia warmly after curtseying to him,
and Julia responded in kind.
 
The three
of them spent a few moments chatting pleasantly, and while he could not hear
what they were saying, Julia laughed brightly, something she had not done in a
very long time.

He also noted that neither Miss
Cheltenham nor her mother stared at Julia the way others did.
 
It was as if they truly did not see her
scars, just as he did not.
 
That was
unusual, especially for women of their rank, so high above the rest of the
ton
that they were almost royalty themselves.
 
Benjamin felt himself warming a bit to the woman and was a bit
disappointed when they departed, not for himself but rather because Julia's
smile dimmed a bit.

"They were nice," he said
as they settled back into their seats for the second part of the
performance.
 
"I had not expected
that."

"I thought I had mentioned
before that Lady Amy has always been kind to me."
 
There was a tone in Julia's voice that he
could not interpret.
 
"I know that
the others came to stare and gawk, and to warn me away from you, particularly
Henrietta.
 
But I do like Amy, as well
as her mother, and think that they like me as well.
 
They are different from the rest.
 
Were there more like them, I think my time here in London would
have been more enjoyable."

Pain.
 
There was more pain in her voice. He could sense it now, that
certain something he'd been unable to identify in her voice a moment ago.
 
The very thing he had sworn would end when
he started to escort her to various events.
 
This was not the way it was supposed to be.
 
Julia was supposed to be happy, not upset.

Unable to stand it any longer,
Benjamin rose as silently as possible and pulled Julia with him.
 
If anyone was watching them, which he was
certain they were, it would appear that they were simply leaving the
performance, which wasn't unusual.
 
Most
of the
ton
only wanted to be seen and didn't really give a damn about
what was occurring on the stage.

Together, they walked through the
dim hallways of the Drury Lane theater, her hand tucked in the crook of his
arm, just like the perfect escort he was pretending to be.
 
He nodded to some of his acquaintances as
they passed, and bowed briefly to some of the ladies he'd known over the
years.
 
He also thought he saw Landover
lurking behind a column but quickly put thoughts of the man out of his
head.
 
He wasn't important tonight.
 
Landover could wait until the morrow.
 
Tonight, there was just Julia.