“I’ll kill her,” seethed Giuliana, pacing the entryway of her home. “I will wrap my hands around her throat and squeeze the life from her. I swear I will, Alastair!”
The Duke pulled her past the ornate staircase and into the parlor. A fire burned casting dim light through the space.
“It won’t do to have you making threats in the middle of the hall,” he admonished, easing her into a sofa. His thoughts ran much the same way. He’d throttle her himself if he had half a chance.
“She’s trying to drum up support to have all noble marriages require full support of the Elite! What sort of lunacy is that?”
“It’ll never pass, of course, and just lead to mutiny.” He assured her, taking a seat at her side. Giuliana leaned against him, head resting on his shoulder.
“It’s a targeted attack. Why is she being like this?”
Alastair rubbed her back. “I wonder if I should call on her.”
“And what? Submit to her charms and marry her?”
“She wants something and I don’t think it’s me.”
“Then what? To see me fall? I don’t even know her.”
The fact that Ms. Dunstan unabashedly targeted Giuliana with little fanfare rankled her. It was her time for revenge but this brat was coming for her instead. She’d be the one to pay the Dunstan household a visit, not Alastair.
“You’re going to see her tomorrow, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I will. I think it’s what she wants,” she replied, wrinkling her nose. None of this happened before. It’s like she knew what was going to happen as well and decided to play an elaborate game of chess. This life vered too far off course. But Ms. Dunstan was already far from what she had previously been. She had no gentle demeanor or soft words. No, she greeted the Elite as if they were old friends.
“Be careful. We still don’t know anything about her.”
“She should be careful.”
“It’s late, Giuliana, I should head out before your father wakes up and finds us unchaperoned.”
Rolling her eyes, Giuliana muttered, “As if you’d try anything with me.” She scooted away from him, rubbing her temples. “I will not be home for tea tomorrow.”
“Should we meet up downtown?” He suggested, hand extending toward her.
“I won’t have the time, my lord.” She tucked a curl behind her ear, easing further out of his reach. “I will be with Sir Jasper. He asked me to lunch.”
Alastair leaped to his feet, voice raising in annoyance. “You’re going to meet up with that man after he gleefully told you about Ms. Dunstan’s plans?”
“He was a good friend to me. Why wouldn’t I?”
“H-He’s in love with you!”
She snorted and waved him off with a hand. “He’s not. He told me himself.”
“He went out of his way to tell you that he’s not in love with you?”
“Is that so very odd?” She picked at crumbs on her skirts, an air of indifference surrounding her.
“It’d be like me saying that to you.”
She turned a thoroughly confused pair of eyes on him. “But I already know you don’t love me, Alastair. So, why would you need to say it again? You made yourself very clear with your words and actions.”
“I...I...what? How did I make it clear I don’t love you?”
The door to the parlor opened and the earl shuffled in, hiding a yawn behind his hand. “Not that I don’t love having you over, ALastair. It is late and your shouting is keeping us all awake.”
“I’m not shouting!”
Father and daughter exchanged a look, lips pursed and brows raised. The Duke’s shoulders fell and he cleared his throat.
“Forgive me, Lord Seabright. I’ll be on my way.” He strode to the door, pausing near the earl. “Do deign to call on me, Lady Giuliana, if you have the time after your date tomorrow.” He laced his tone with ice causing the earl to shiver. Giuliana turned her head toward the fire, mumbling about the frailty of men. They heard his angry stomps echoing in the main hall.
Giuliana rose to her feet and walked to the sideboard. She poured a hefty snifter of brandy, breathing in its aroma. Her father followed suit, eyeing his only child with concern.
“Dare I ask what happened?”
“He’s throwing a fit because I am going to lunch with Sir Jasper Pinnick tomorrow.” She chugged her brandy. “He’ll get over it.”
“Sir Jasper is back? I’m certain Alastair loves that.”
“He’s never liked Sir Jasper, so he’s annoyed.” She poured out another glass and glanced at the earl. “Oh, I got abducted again. No survivors.”
“When?”
“Before we went to the ball.”
“And then you went to the ball?”
“Of course.”
The earl took the snifter from her hands. “You need to sleep then instead of getting into arguments with your fiance.”
“Alastair started it!”
He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter who started it. Just go to sleep and speak with him tomorrow.”
Giuliana agreed to her father’s suggestion though she had no intention of following it. The Duke would have to beg for her forgiveness before she spoke to him again. Acting like a child all over Sir Jasper. So what if he had been in love with her? Giuliana never had boys or men pay her much attention. Was it wrong to indulge a little and feel appreciated?
He smiled at her freely and offered compliments without pulling teeth. She was still young and had been connected with a man who saved his charm for other young ladies. Well, until lately, but she didn’t like that false flattery he showed in public.
Just once, she wanted him to look at her with stars in his eyes.
“I’m going to bed, Papa,” she said at last. “I doubt I’ll be at breakfast.”
“That’s fine, my dear. Sleep well.”
The earl shook his head watching his daughter slump from the parlor. He did not have the slightest idea what happened to her the past month. He enjoyed the changes since she had been so repressed for so many years. But, he also hated the rumors that swirled about her and that new arrival, Ms. Dunstan. He had long done business with Baron Dunstan, but never heard the man talk of his daughter.
Then again, they weren’t friends, so personal talk usually didn’t factor in their communication. Even so, Baron Dunstan asked about Giuliana and the Duke often. Maybe she’d been a sickly child. No one wished to talk about children that might not live to adulthood.
The earl had a mind to pay his own visit to the Baron’s business to ferret out his intentions. It did not do to have a mere baron’s daughter wage war against a future duchess of the realm. Perhaps this Ms. Dunstan was a fool. No one in their right mind had the gall to speak so freely against the Seabright Household.
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