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The Rake's Redemption(9)

By:Sherrill Bodine


The cock crowed and Dominic stretched languidly under the down coverlet.  Another sleepless night. But instead of the dreams of Culter Towers  that left him drenched in sweat, or tossing in blinding fury, or full of  painful longing for his father and what once had been, his dreams had  brought a longing for her. At last a woman he might trust. A woman like  the one woman he had carried in his soul since that night on the  Peninsula when a soldier spent his dying moments painting word pictures  of his young wife at home. In spite of the years of corruption or  perhaps because of them, Dominic had cherished that vision and idealized  that woman until she became the unattainable goddess all young men  yearn for. But he was no longer a young man who believed in dreams. They  had all died for him and Jules in one night at Culter Towers.

Juliana had for a moment wiped away the pain of that night. And she had  offered him hope for the future. He had seen it in her eyes, reflecting  the brilliance of the moon, softening under his touch. He had felt it,  when her hands so shyly had crept to his chest, no coyness, but instead a  wonder of recognition in their touch. For the first time the wall he  had built around himself had not protected him; Juliana had touched his  heart.

But the years of corruption had taught him to beware, and those years  intervened now, warning him to go slow, to be sure. This morning he  would see her again and perhaps the cold light of day would temper the  hope coursing through him. Yes, carefulness was the tack.

Breakfast, anticipated so anxiously by Juliana and Dominic, passed in  the same congenial fashion as the day before. The constraint that had  made her fainthearted when she entered the small private parlor slowly  disappeared as she listened to Freddie again complaining about  Timmings's absence. How silly she had been to suffer through such a  long, sleepless night! Dominic, too, was the same charming man who had  rescued them two days ago.

He treated her with consideration and reserve, if she thought his eyes  deepened when they looked at her, if she imagined the lines had softened  around his mouth, then that was all a hum. After all, he was a great  lord and had probably kissed many girls in the moonlight. Aunt Sophia  had at least warned her about that. Nothing had changed except in  Juliana's mind. Obviously the accident and Dominic in the garden had  affected her more strongly than it should have. After all, she was not a  miss suffering her first kiss in the moonlight either! She did not know  what she had expected this morning, but it was not this pretense, so  artfully done, that nothing had happened between them last night.                       
       
           



       

But perhaps he was right. It was only a kiss. She would never allow  herself to acknowledge the truth. New and frightening emotions were now a  part of her world, and they had been born in the marquis's arms.

Juliana determined to put this confusion behind her by staying well out  of the marquis's path, until a sudden spring thunderstorm kept them all  indoors after luncheon. When Sophia suggested they play a hand of whist,  Freddie, grinning widely, hastily produced playing cards and placed  four chairs around the small square table in the private parlor.

"You have found the way to Freddie's heart, Sophia," joked the marquis,  looking at his friend with amusement. "If the London belles used your  method, then perhaps one of them could bring him up to snuff."

"Bring him up to snuff?" Sophia inquired innocently. "Lord Liscombe is still unwed?"

"Good God, ma'am, I should say, indeed!" declared Freddie in horrified tones.

The marquis looked at Sophia's blank face in admiration. "I also share Freddie's sad plight," he murmured.

Sophia's dimple appeared and she had the grace to look slightly embarrassed.

Juliana was mortified. Her aunt had been uncharacteristically forward  and Dominic obviously knew what was on her mind. Brooding in her own  miserable confusion, Juliana had forgotten her aunt's interest in  Dominic and his matrimonial status. She certainly hoped he was not  conceited enough to imagine that his eligibility was of the slightest  interest to her! Especially after allowing him to kiss her. Of course,  with his looks women had no doubt been throwing themselves at his feet  for years, so it could not be wondered at if he had a terribly swelled  head.

His shapely head appeared to be just the right size and attached firmly  to his broad shoulders; he played whist with the same sangfroid she had  first noticed about him. Only in the garden last night had it seemed to  slip.

Nevertheless Juliana found him an entertaining partner and an astute  player, and she had played since she was old enough to count. Her father  had often asked her to fill a table once he discovered she had a good  memory and a quick mind.

She was blissfully unaware that Dominic was making a careful effort to  please and to keep the atmosphere in the inn relaxed and informal.

Freddie, however, had not been fooled. Amused, he had taken Dominic  aside earlier. "Dom, never seen the master rake at work in this style  before. Surprised at the gentle tone of your flirtation. If I didn't  know you better, think the lovely Juliana had caught your fancy."

Dominic had shrugged it off then, but truth to tell he didn't quite  understand himself the reasons for his uncharacteristic behavior.

Glancing over the rim of his cards, he caught Juliana staring intently  at her hand while her small white teeth raked her full lower lip. In the  garden when he had succumbed to the need to take her in his arms and  taste the sweetness of those lips, he had been unprepared for the depth  of emotion she stirred in him. So stirred, he admitted ruefully, that he  had retreated back behind his walls of defense. He had been told too  many times for it to hold any meaning that his charm was lethal, but he  sensed that Juliana had not fallen victim to it in the usual fashion.  Careful, my lord marquis, he mused, you are dangerously close to falling  victim to her charm. Looking at her lovely face, the soft cheeks  slightly flushed with excitement, and having the dreary afternoon  lightened by the musical, rippling sound of her laughter when she found  the right card, caused Dominic, connoisseur of beautiful but heartless  women, to want to believe that perhaps he had been wrong, that despite  the past a woman could be trusted.

Juliana glanced up at exactly that moment, and the expression in  Dominic's eyes caused her to cease thinking for an instant as if someone  had doused her with ice-cold water. She was so bemused she did not  notice the commotion coming from the hallway until the door burst open.  Only then could she tear her gaze away from the marquis's face.

The loud argument in the hallway shattered their peace and privacy, when  a corpulent woman, wearing a voluminous red cape glistening with  raindrops, pushed open the door and disdainfully scanned the room. "I  told you so, Charlotte! I just knew that was the Vane carriage in the  Wainwright's yard as we passed!"

Sophia gasped and fell back in her chair. "Good God! It is Lady Grenville and Charlotte!"

Lady Grenville's protuberant eyes darted around the room taking in all  of the occupants until coming to rest firmly on Sophia's face. "What is  the meaning of this, Sophia?" Shifting her gaze to Juliana, she puffed  her heaving bosom even higher. "And you! You should know better! A  member of my own family alone in an inn parlor with these  …  these  …  men!  Have you an explanation for this outrage?"                       
       
           



       

Dominic, resigned to the loss of this idyll, smiled quite naturally  before stepping forward. "Ma'am, I am the Marquis of Aubrey. May I be of  service?"

Lady Grenville's face turned an unhealthy crimson before she screeched  at the top of her lungs. To everyone's shock, she cast herself into  Dominic's arms. He staggered only slightly under her considerable  weight.

"Dominic, my dear, dear boy!" she boomed only a bare inch below his  right ear. His magnificent blue eyes flickered once as she continued to  embrace him before tearing herself away to grasp the arm of the tall,  slender, fair girl standing behind her. "Charlotte, come meet your  cousin Dominic!"

Her flushed face beaming, Lady Grenville gave a breathy cry of delight  when her daughter, in a spring muslin with a flounce of blond lace at  the hem, walked forward. "I barely recognized you!" she continued loud  enough for the postboy to hear. "You have changed so since we last met  at Culter Towers."

Dominic's brows went up, but he gave no other sign of surprise, merely  bowing over Charlotte's hand, saying, "How do you do, Miss Grenville.  May I introduce Lord Freddie Liscombe." Smiling, he looked at Juliana  and she moved to his side. "Of course, Juliana is known to you." Dominic  glanced around at Sophia who seemed rooted to her chair. "Sophia, are  you all right?" asked the marquis gravely.