Page 9 of Regency in Color

Chapter Four

Juliana sat on the sofa in the drawing-room, poking her fingers again and again as she attempted to practice the needlework that Lady Roxburrow insisted upon filling the time with while they waited on callers. Not that any gentleman paid her a visit. She was damaged, and everyone knew it. A fact Lady Eleanor made very evident last night.

Lady Roxburrow paced in front of the unlit fireplace, tightly wring a kerchief through her clenched fingers. She finally stopped walking and sagged dramatically onto the chair opposite of Juliana.

She tossed her head back over her seat’s edge and pounded on the chair’s arm. “What are we going to do?” she moaned, shaking her head from side to side. “We’re more than halfway through the season, and you’re no closer to finding a match than you were at the start.”

“You could ship me off to France and settle me in a small cottage in a remote village,” Juliana said, keeping her voice neutral as if she hadn’t spent countless hours plotting her escape from London. “I won’t need much to live off of, and soon after I’m gone, people will forget I ever existed. The shame of me will be lifted from your family name.”

“Do not jest, girl. This is serious.”

Juliana placed her needlework aside, relieved to have an excuse to be rid of it. “I know, and I’m not.”

She truly wasn’t. After last night's debacle with Colin and Lady Eleanor, Juliana had absolutely no intention of ever showing her face in society again. Spinsterhood was no longer a possibility; it was an inevitability. Come what may, she would never put herself in a position to be so thoroughly humiliated ever again.

“I think it’s a perfect solution. We both know I will not secure a husband. I truly won’t need much to live on, and eventually, I might be able to earn enough with my paintings to no longer require anything from you. I just need a chance.”

Lady Roxburrow leaned forward, her rigid finger jabbing the air between them. “Now, you listen here. Lord Rox—”

A quick rap on the door halted the rest of what promised to be another of Lady Roxburrow’s long-winded speeches about a woman's duty to find a husband, give him an heir, and run his household.

The butler stepped into the room and announced, “Pardon me, my lady. There is a caller here for Miss Drake.”

Juliana and Lady Roxburrow exchanged stunned glances.

Recovering first, Lady Roxburrow asked, “Who is it?”

“The Duke of Herstshire.”

Juliana choked on air. Apparently, her hearing had gone from poor to unreliable because there was no way Colin was currently at her townhouse, requesting to see her.

Lady Roxburrow hopped out of her chair with a lithe swiftness Juliana hadn’t known her usually sluggish form possessed. She hurried over and stood behind Juliana. In what Juliana assumed as meant to create a picture of a loving guardian encouraging her ward, Lady Roxburrow placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Hurry off then,” she said, shooing the butler out of the room. “Send him in.”

“Wait! No!” Juliana objected a little too late. The butler had already quit the room.

“Hush up, girl,” Lady Roxburrow hissed. Her grip tightened on Juliana’s shoulder. “You better be on your best behavior.”

Juliana’s stomach clenched, then collapsed in on itself when Colin walked through the door. The walls closed in on her, gradually squeezing the air out of the room.

He strolled in, his long strides erasing the distance between them a little too quickly. In the light of day, he looked as handsome and sinful as Lucifer himself. The sapphire-blue of his dress coat made his eyes glimmer like twin jewels. His—

Wait.

Juliana brushed the fog of infatuation aside and looked at him with sober eyes. His now wrinkled dress coat was the same he’d worn last night. Dark smudges underlined his eyes, which had a suspiciously glassy quality to them. His hat sat crooked atop his ruffled chestnut hair. And a light shadow covered his chin and jaw.

He hadn’t been home.

“Good afternoon, ladies,” he said, his voice slightly slurred.

He’s foxed!

“Good afternoon, Your Grace,” Lady Roxburrow crooned, ignoring his disheveled condition. “We are so happy you came to visit. To what do we owe this great honor?”

“I came to speak with Ju . . . ” He cleared his throat in a blundering attempt to cover his slip. “Miss Drake. I came to speak to Miss Drake. If you would allow me the privilege.”

“Certainly!” Lady Roxburrow crooned. “I was just telling Juliana what a lovely day it is. Perhaps the two of you would like to take a walk?”