"Dominic, what luck! Need a word with you, my boy."
With a nod from Dominic, his tiger jumped down to assist Rodney onto the high seat. "How is Sophia? And the boy, Ben?" Dominic asked carefully.
"Fine. Fine. It is Juliana that … "
"Juliana!" His horses shied and he relaxed his tense grip on the reins as they trotted away. "She isn't ill?"
"No, no. Fine in that way. But Sophia is concerned that she ain't found a husband."
Dominic became aware of strange stirrings in his chest. "I wasn't aware Juliana was hanging out for a husband."
"She might not be keen on it. But Sophia's fondest wish is to find her a dashing husband. You for instance."
Permitting himself the smallest of smiles, Dominic glanced at his uncle. "I'm sure Sophia did not suggest me for this honor."
"Well, not precisely you. Someone like you. Must find a way to help Sophia. Do anything for the woman, Dominic. Dashed if I wouldn't … Just let me off here at White's."
Tossing the reins to his tiger, Dominic jumped down and assisted Rodney to the cobblestones. "Coming in are you, Dominic? Be thinking about likely candidates, will you, my boy? Mean a lot to me."
Leaving his uncle in the card room, Dominic opened the heavy doors to the library. The quietness of the room settled over him, and several of the older members glanced up from their deep wing chairs as he made his way to a desk. At a wave of his hand a servant brought paper, pen, and ink pot. He must do this quickly before he changed his mind. He knew how to help Sophia achieve her goal and this was the first step.
Quickly he penned a note and addressed it to Mrs. Juliana Grenville. Before he could change his mind, he gave it to the waiting servant with delivery instructions.
Sprawling back against the hard chair, he stared at nothing, letting himself remember those days at the inn when he had first realized Sophia was interested in eligible parties. He had found it amusing then. But that had been before he had discovered the only woman he had ever wanted and decided he could never have her. Now he would help find someone truly worthy of her. Someone as fine and decent as Will Grenville.
Three days later a scrawny maid in a lacy, bibless apron admitted Juliana to the front parlor where Sophia sat in front of a hot fire in the carved marble fireplace. The heat felt welcome to Juliana, for she could never seem to stay warm these days after her long, chilly vigil beside Ben's bed.
"Did you notice the family resemblance between our new parlor maid and Smithers?" Aunt Sophia remarked when she entered. "Bella is his first cousin twice removed. He promoted her from scullery maid."
Juliana laughed aloud for the first time in days because, with her rawboned hands and long chin, Bella did bear a striking resemblance to Julius, the one puppy her late papa had insisted on keeping from the last litter Claudius had sired. She knew Aunt Sophia had meant to make her relax and she had succeeded admirably.
This afternoon her aunt was clad in a jonquil frock with puffed sleeves that showed off her nicely rounded shoulders. With her dark hair pulled up in a yellow ribbon and small curls framing her face she looked younger than her thirty-nine years.
"Are you going out, Aunt Sophia?" Juliana asked, reclining on the settee.
"Yes. Rodney is taking me driving in the park just as he has every day this week," her aunt replied with a self-satisfied air, before turning a stern gray eye on her niece. "It certainly wouldn't hurt you to get some fresh air. Young Ben has been raising havoc in the kitchen for days. Even his father has ordered him back to his own quarters, but still you hover over him. The least you could do is accept Dominic's kind invitation to go for a short ride. You know you miss your horses dreadfully."
"Aunt Sophia."
"Don't tell me!" Aunt Sophia held up her hand to protest her niece's confidences. "What you do next to put poor Dominic in his place, I'd rather not know. He was goodness itself when Ben was sick. Sending fresh fruit every day and keeping the house full of flowers. But if you still harbor these absurd feelings of persecution, I want to hear none of them!" She sighed deeply, shaking her head. "Of course, you may be correct and I wrong. As your chaperon I should, perhaps, be encouraging you to stay away from such a rake."
Surprise widened Juliana's eyes. "Aunt Sophia, are you saying that Dominic is someone I should be protected from? If so, why do you wish me to ride with him?"
"Of course, you don't need to be protected from Dominic! Even though several ladies of the ton have made morning calls for the express purpose of informing me that Dominic is a rakehell. However, I, as you very well know, am an excellent judge of character." She waved her hand dismissively. "Believe me, my dear, if Dominic ever paid the slightest degree of attention to any one of their daughters, the tattle mongers would be in raptures, for he really is quite wonderful."
"You are right, Aunt Sophia, Dominic is … has been wonderful since Ben's illness. I was foolish to say such things the night of the ball. Obviously I misjudged him. I will ride with him today."
Sophia gasped, nearly choking on a bonbon she had just popped into her mouth.
"Well, it is the least I can do," Juliana remarked, raising her chin in defense. "I have had both Freddie and Lord Edgemont to tea this week. It hardly seems fair to exclude Dominic when he has been so kind."
"Don't bristle at me, love. I couldn't agree more." Bella came in bearing tea, plain biscuits, and small plates of paper-thin sandwiches topped with watercress.
Juliana stared at the frugal fare. "Surely you aren't going to serve Lord Rodney this!"
"Of course. You have probably not noticed, but Rodney has already dropped over half a stone. Is that not marvelous? I hope he can continue to make such excellent progress without his elixir. It is nearly all gone."
"You have been giving his lordship Mrs. Forbes's potion!"
"Of course. I told you it might come in handy one day and so it has." Deciding the tea had steeped long enough, Aunt Sophia took off the cozy and poured the steaming liquid into white teacups. "Drink your tea, dear, and then change for your outing. Wear that russet velvet habit. It looks magnificent with your coloring."
Juliana was ready thirty minutes before Dominic arrived. She watched for him from her bedroom windows. She paused only briefly in front of her mirror to arrange the short-crowned hat more becomingly over her curls and smooth out the skirt of the matching habit before she went to the head of the staircase.
When Smithers admitted the marquis into the foyer, a slight rustle of her skirt caught his attention. He glanced up and saw her. She seemed to glow when the sunlight filtering through the high windows caught her, making her velvet habit gleam and shine with her every movement as she descended the staircase. He resisted an impulse to go to her and catch her in his arms. Instead he waited for her to cross the foyer and then raised her gloved hand quickly to his lips.
"I'm pleased to see you, Juliana. You look lovely today," the trite conventional pleasantries he had mouthed to dozens of other women came easily to his lips.
Her smile was warm and sweet, as she had seldom given him, and he almost forgot his intentions. Almost. Rod had told him Sophia's fondest hope was to see her niece happily settled. That was why he had to proceed very carefully if he was to help Sophia attain her goal. And what little honor remained to him demanded that he help Sophia in her quest for Juliana's happiness. To be seen with the Marquis of Aubrey would bring Juliana's credit high, indeed: as long as he was very careful that his attention was not too marked. Too much attention and she would be fuel for the gossip mill just as he was. He knew his world well, and had carefully considered how to promote Juliana's interests. Somewhere in the ton there must be a man worthy of her, all she needed was to be brought to his notice. Freddie or Lord Edgemont, who seemed to be running tame in the house, were not quite fine enough, he had decided grimly.
Freddie had said Dominic's horses were among the finest in London, and he had not exaggerated. Dominic rode his white Arabian stallion, Bucephalus. But for Juliana he had chosen a rich brown gelding with a proud carriage. She stroked its nose once before Dominic tossed her in the saddle.