The Heart of a Duke(15)

“Well done.” Emily laughed.

He thought so, but from Julia’s expression, he surmised she was of a different opinion. He wondered if she wished Black Angel had flipped him onto his arse.



THE CHANDLERS WERE a close family. As the afternoon wore on, Daniel witnessed firsthand the tight-knit bond they shared and had a better understanding of why Julia would postpone her wedding to care for her family. After leaving the antics of Punch and Judy, they perused various games, savored a vendor’s mouthwatering pastries, and lightened their pockets on various trinkets.

Julia tilted her head back to laugh at a comment from Emily, affectionately looping her arm through her sister’s. Earlier, Jonathan’s triumphant shout during a game of ring toss had elicited Taunton’s praise, and his hand had brushed over his son’s hair in a casual caress. Interactions had flowed between them in a smooth, calm current. No darkness simmered beneath the surface, no undercurrent disrupted their relations.

No Edmund.

Daniel scowled. There was freedom in not being shackled with family ties, and he coveted his freedom. After all, independence was all that his family had ever given him.

His father’s time had been divided between his estate responsibilities and grooming Edmund for the title, carving out those sporadic bites of time for the spare heir. As for his brother, well, their fraternal bond was but a tenuous thread Edmund had severed early. Unfettered by family ties, Daniel came and went as he pleased. He answered to no one, and he liked it that way. Shrugging off the recollection, he returned his attention to Julia.

She bent over, her expression a picture of grave concern as a village girl prattled on about her bandaged finger, which she thrust in Julia’s face for closer inspection.

He had observed Julia mingle with the villagers, engage with vendors, and skillfully evade zealous peddlers seeking her patronage. She was kind and personal, yet not overly familiar. She had inquired after the welfare of someone’s prized pig and award-winning roses and had listened with the same attention she paid to this tyke’s account of her tussle with Robbie’s tomcat.

The knee-scraped animal rescuer he recollected from his childhood was long gone. As was the vulnerable young girl he had once comforted in his arms when Edmund had tricked her into hiding in a root cellar, not bothering to tell Daniel he was to search for her. She was like a familiar childhood book but with new, unexplored chapters. He wanted to revisit her story and devour every word.

Julia touched her lips to the girl’s wound, kissing it better and earning a smile from the apple-cheeked child. Daniel frowned. He blamed another kiss, the one that never should have happened, for his fascination. It created an inexorable pull toward Julia.

With no other woman had he felt this relentless tug, like an anchor tied to her prow. Over the years, he had discovered there were benefits to the fairer sex that he had overlooked, having his nose buried in business ledgers as he struggled to launch a company. Like most lusty young men, he had found that he liked those benefits . . . very much.

Julia straightened and joined her family at an adjacent tent. A gust of wind molded her skirts to her slim hips, and he bit back a curse. In the midst of a crowded thoroughfare, beside his brother’s beautiful fiancée, was not the time nor place to recall those benefits. She was not his and never could be.

“You don’t enjoy the performance?”

Daniel jerked at the amused voice and found Emily beside him, regarding him with a caught you look. Heat itched up his neck as he studied the exhibit he had been neglecting. Jugglers threw spinning balls into the air, adding wooden stakes into the spiraling mix. Gasps rose from the audience when knives were tossed into the frantically whirling objects.

“If I appear too interested, they might ask for volunteers. I have need of my limbs, find I prefer them attached to my body.”

“I don’t know if staring at my sister is any safer. You do recall that she is betrothed to Edmund? Your twin brother? Has been for years?”

Definitely caught. His smile faded. “So you both keep reminding me.”

“Mmh. I saw Julia when she returned home yesterday.” He stilled, but Emily’s attention remained on the performance. “She looked flustered and incredibly distracted, which is not like my sister at all.”

“Really?” He kept his tone neutral.

“Really,” she confirmed. “I could not figure out what had her so bothered.” Emily looked at him then. “Until I saw you.” Her gaze strayed to Julia. If he was not watching her, he might have missed her next words, so quiet were they. “I do not know why you decided to return home or how long you intend to stay, but your arrival is opportune, for my sister could use a distraction. And”—her eyes lifted to his, a teasing spark in them—“it would not hurt for her to be pink-cheeked and flustered as well.”