The Wily Wastrel Page 19

  They talked of a number of things but eventually their thoughts turned, almost at the same moment, to London and their plans for the future.

  “We shall need,” James said slowly, “some other way to account for my wealth than gambling. I should begrudge every moment I had to spend being seen at the gaming tables to support that nonsensical tale. And I should far rather spend such time with you.”

  Since these words were accompanied by a kiss to the palm of her hand, Juliet found herself blushing. “Nor should I like it,” she said, “to have everyone say I drove you to the gaming tables by my shrewishness! Could you say, perhaps, that you had invested your previous winnings on the Exchange?”

  James shook his head. “I could but I should rather not do so. Suppose it were to plunge? I should have to pretend that I had lost everything.”

  Juliet nodded. She was silent a moment then cautiously she said, “Could we say that I had brought a far larger portion to the marriage than had been supposed? I do not see how my parents could deny it without looking very odd.”

  “And perhaps,” James said slowly, “we could also say that George had increased my allowance handsomely, now that I am a married man. He could not deny it without looking mean and having someone ask him why he had not.”

  They looked at one another, their eyes agleam with mischief. It was Juliet’s smile that faltered first.

  “How shall we go on?” she asked. “With the experiments and your inventions, I mean.”

  He understood. “I should be reluctant,” he said, feeling his way, “to expose either of us to the ridicule and censure of those who would not approve of what we do. And yet we cannot stop.”

  “No, we cannot!” she echoed in shocked tones.

  James smiled and kissed her hand again. “It is not just that we should suffer if we stopped,” he explained. “But Harry may have need of our help again. Or even Philip for his mill. But there is a risk if any of Napoleon’s supporters should guess at our work.”

  “So it is danger, not just censure you fear,” she replied slowly.

  He nodded. Juliet fell silent and waited, knowing that James knew the London world they would live in far better than she did. And she trusted him. Nor did he fail her.

  “The boy. He is quick of mind and might make an excellent assistant. If so, he can oversee the work when we cannot be there. For there will be such times,” James said.

  “Even so,” she added thoughtfully, “there will be occasions when we do not notice the time. How shall we explain our disappearances then?”

  He stared at her a moment and then a smile, a mischievous smile, lit his face. “We could say,” he told her with an air of innocence that deceived neither of them, “that we are unfashionably taken with one another. We will not need to explain further, for the imaginations of our listeners and the gossipmongers of the ton will supply all the rest of the explanation that might be needed.”

  “And it shall have the advantage of being at least in part the truth,” she said, with the same air of spurious innocence. “We shall become the most frivolous couple in London and no one will suspect us of deeper things.”

  “I shall wear my most elaborate waistcoats,” James said with a grin, “and perhaps even adopt a patch. Do you think a pale pink coat would be going too far? No one would think to take me seriously then.”

  “And I could wear all the frills I despise,” Juliet countered with a grin of her own.

  “There will not be anyone who thinks we have two thoughts to rub together between us!” James finished up the game.

  They clasped hands in perfect accord. After a moment, however, Juliet’s smile wavered a trifle. “I don’t like being thought a fool and an antidote,” she said.

  He kissed her hand yet again. “No, nor I. But it will not be forever. Once this accursed war is over, it will not matter so greatly if people guess what we do. And you are, you will always be, beautiful to me.”

  And what was there to say to that? Juliet was not about to object to such flattery. She thought wistfully of the new gowns Mrs. Wise had made for her. Well, she would just have to wear them for James when they were alone together. Somehow the thought was not altogether unappealing.

  “I shall be glad of the day when we need no longer pretend,” she said with quiet sincerity. “I do not like the notion that either of us should pretend to be who we are not. I should rather set a fashion to encourage others to do what you have done, what we shall do together.”

  It was his turn to nod. “Perhaps,” he suggested slowly, “we could begin by inviting one or two unusual thinkers to our house. And then more. We could hold salons and appear to become interested in science and mechanical things. Then, when the war is over, and thus the danger to us is also over, and it is safe for us to do so, we may begin to do our work more openly.”

  They smiled at one another then in perfect accord.

  This, thought Juliet, was why she had fallen in love with the man and why, through all the years of their lives, she knew she would never tire of being married to him. How could she when he was the other half of her soul?

  A moment later he startled her yet again.

  “Why do you allow your family to distress you so?” he asked.

  “Why do you let yours dictate what you will or will not allow society to know?” she countered.

  He hesitated then smiled. “You are right, of course. We are kindred souls in that regard. But it need not continue to be that way.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked warily.

  He frowned in that endearing way of his that had Juliet wanting to smooth the crease between his brows. “We plan, for reasons of our own, to continue to play the parts our families have decreed for us. But that does not mean that in private we must let them dictate to us so. We could begin to demand that my brother and your parents treat us with the respect we deserve.”

  “Do you actually believe they will listen?” Juliet asked doubtfully.

  He smiled now and kissed her hand once again, thoroughly distracting her so that she almost missed his next words.

  “I believe,” he said with a firmness that warmed her, “we shall only find out if we try. We shall visit your home, and the moment your parents treat you with the least disrespect, we shall stop them. You are my wife and I will not tolerate such a thing.”

  He said it as though it were entirely his part to decide the matter, Juliet thought. What foolishness! But then, it would seem that even now her husband had a great deal to learn about her and about the whole notion of marriage. If he thought she would tamely allow him to fight all her battles for her, he would soon find he was mistaken. Indeed, she planned to fight a few on his behalf as well.

  ———

  Harry’s ship tossed on the rough water but he stood as steady as if the water were smooth as glass. He was going back to Spain. Back to Wellington and back to the war. But his thoughts were on home. On his brothers, on their peaceful lives. He did not precisely envy them, but neither could he prevent a twinge of something like that emotion.

  Still, he had to be here. Something drove him, something he could not even name. Duty. Honor. They were part of it, of course, but not the whole. All his life he had known he had a destiny. Perhaps now it was about to be fulfilled.

  But that was too fanciful for the major and he turned on his heel and went back below decks. Back to where one of his fellow travelers needed his help.

  ———

  In the depths of Dover Castle, two men slipped through the tunnels. No one saw them go, no one would notice their escape for several hours.

  And in the town below there was a group of men who were also making good their escape. “For there is no knowing how soon they will lay information against us,” one said. “We’d best be gone afore they do.”

  “It goes against the grain to leave,” another protested.

  “P’r’aps. But I’d rather swallow me pride and leave than be clapped up into jail. There be other towns and
other spots to do what we does best. And that’s summat we can’t do if they catches us ‘ere.”

  There was some grumbling, but even more nodding of heads. And one by one they began to slip out of the inn by the back way. Some would find new occupations. The others would meet up at the appointed spot at the appointed time. And their work would begin anew farther up the coast.

  ———

  Two days later, Juliet and James paused on the steps of her parents’ home. “Are you certain you wish to be here?” he asked, concerned by her sudden pallor.

  She nodded firmly, though it took her a moment to gather her courage to speak. “I must be here.”

  At his look of surprise, she went on, “All my life I thought I wished only to escape. To find a place where I could do the things I love. And now I have—with you. And I find that I wish to come back here. To face my parents on my own terms instead of theirs. I should not,” she said, pausing to smile tremulously, “have the courage to do so were it not for you.”

  Troubled, James asked, “Was it so terrible a childhood for you, then?”

  “Terrible? No. Only lonely, I should say. Always believing there was something wanting, something wrong with me,” she answered with a painful smile. “But with you I have found peace. I know that must sound fanciful, but it is the truth.”

  In answer, he kissed her hand. And then, holding it clasped firmly between his, he led her up the steps and into her parents’ home.

  Epilogue

  James and George and Philip and Sir Thomas Levenger raised their glasses in a toast. Athenia sat stiffly by her husband’s side, but Emily and Agatha and Juliet smiled at one another knowingly. Over the past year, Juliet had come to know them all well.

  “To my brothers, who are finally settling down,” George said.

  “To young lovers,” countered Sir Thomas Levenger.

  “Like Lady Levenger and yourself,” Philip added with an impudent grin.

  “To life,” James said simply.

  “To the newest Langford!” Juliet said softly, looking down at Emily’s child.

  “To the next one to come,” Emily countered, looking pointedly at Juliet’s increasing middle. “It would seem the book was helpful?”

  “What book?” Agatha asked, her eyes bright with interest.

  With a glance to make certain the men were paying no attention, Emily grinned at her aunt and said softly, “Come, Juliet and I will show you.”

  Lady Darton watched them, patently torn. As they disappeared through the doorway, she rose to her feet and said to the men in her most austere voice, “I mistrust the levity in their voices. I had best go and see this book they were speaking of.”

  When Athenia was gone as well, George shook his head and raised his glass again. “To the ladies,” he said, “none of whom will we ever be able to understand.”

  With amused glances, James and Philip and Sir Thomas raised their glasses as well. “I don’t even try,” Philip said solemnly.

  James and Sir Thomas nodded. George appeared scarcely to have heard him. After a moment he said, “You know, speaking of libraries, it’s deuced odd. I can’t seem to find the Bible. The one our father had that was his pride and joy. I meant to write in the birth of Philip’s son.”

  So intent was he on his own thoughts, that George did not even notice the alarmed look that passed between the others. He was somewhat surprised, however, when Philip turned the subject by speaking with rather more haste than was seemly. He said the only thing he could think of to distract his older brother.

  “Odd? I shall tell you what is odd! You increasing James’s allowance upon the event of his marriage and not increasing mine under the same circumstances.”

  Too late Philip realized that James was frantically trying to signal him. But he could not miss the astonished gaze George turned on both of them.

  “Now that is another odd thing. Just lately, I have heard all over London that I did so and yet it is not true. I—”

  But what he meant to say they never did find out because Sir Thomas immediately demanded, “Well, why the devil not? For both your brothers?”

  “I, but, that is to say, Philip has a profession! He hasn’t needed an allowance from me for some time,” George retorted, offended. He glared at Philip. “You haven’t received one since you inherited that tidy estate when you did. So what is this nonsense about anyway?”

  He didn’t wait for an answer but turned on his other brother. “And you, James, did not ask me to increase your allowance either. You know very well I did not. Indeed, you gave me to understand that Miss Galsworth brought a more handsome settlement to the marriage than any of us knew. So I wish you will tell your brother so.”

  James held up his hands placatingly. “Please, none of this matters. Philip and I can contrive to manage as we are. But perhaps, George, it would be as well not to try to deny the rumor. That would only serve to keep it alive. And people might ask the same question Sir Thomas just did.”

  “Excellent advice,” Philip agreed, a mischievous glint to his eyes. “One wouldn’t want to be forever answering to those who would otherwise consider you a clutchfist.”

  “No, no, one wouldn’t!” George said, nodding vigorously even as he blanched at the image conjured up by his brother’s words.

  Sir Thomas then managed to neatly turn the subject yet once again, this time by repeating the latest on-dit about a peer who unmistakably was clutchfisted.

  James watched with patent satisfaction. He wondered, though, just what book it was that the ladies were off looking at. And why it had caused them such merriment. Eventually he went looking for Juliet to find out.

  Juliet was in the library with Emily and her aunt Agatha and Athenia. They were all giggling together like schoolgirls. At the sight of James standing in the doorway, however, Philip’s wife hastily thrust a book behind her and all four blushed becomingly. Juliet instantly rose and came to meet him, her spectacles still perched, charmingly in his opinion, on her nose.

  There was a quiver in her voice that sounded suspiciously like suppressed laughter as she said, with none too convincing innocence, “Did you wish to speak to me, James?”

  He did not at once answer her. He could not. His attention was caught too firmly by the curious way in which Athenia was avoiding his eyes. When she realized he was staring at her, she rose to her feet looking oddly unsteady, and said in a voice he had never heard her use before, “Tell me, James. Is George still with the others?”

  He nodded, not trusting himself to speak. She smiled thinly and walked toward the doorway, swaying slightly in a manner that in any other woman he might have called seductive. But not Athenia! The notion was unthinkable.

  Still, he could not help wondering just what the ladies had been doing, for he would swear there was a softness, a hint of something smoldering, in Lady Darton’s eyes as she passed by him.

  When she was gone and Juliet repeated her question, James managed to bring himself back to the present. He could not resist teasing his wife just a little. “I, er, thought it time I took my leave. That matter we were discussing on the way over. But there is no need for you to come, if you would prefer to stay.”

  “No need to come?” her eyes blazed with anger. “When it was my notion in the first place? You are very much mistaken, sir, if you think you can leave without me.”

  James chuckled and reached out to pull her close, oblivious to the interested eyes of Emily and Agatha and Athenia.

  “Somehow I did not think you would let me do so,” he said, placing a kiss on her forehead.

  She smiled that shy smile that had become so dear to his heart. And he could not resist hugging her closer, even if it did dislodge her spectacles. How, he wondered, had he come to be such a fortunate fellow?

  A discreet cough recalled them both to their circumstances, and James and Juliet hastily took their leave of everyone. A short time later their carriage was headed for the workshop.

  “George was not to know,
but Harry has sent word that the information my signal scheme sent across the channel has helped Wellington to win a major victory.”

  Juliet squeezed his arm. “I am so glad!” she said fiercely. “I hope this dreadful war will soon be over and Harry safely restored to you.”

  Only the way the corners of his mouth tightened betrayed the depth of James’s own emotions. And the curtness of his nod as he acknowledged her words. Truth be told, he was glad to pull the carriage to a halt at the workshop and not have to put into words how he felt.

  Inside they found Daniel, the boy rescued in Dover. Except that he was rapidly becoming a young man, a very useful one, and at the moment he was grinning. “I’ve done it, sir,” he said.

  Moments later, all else was forgotten as three heads pored over the latest experiment. Somehow it was a fitting way, Juliet thought, to celebrate the first anniversary of her marriage to James. Though mind, she did have other plans for later, for when they were back home again.

  Looking at the book with Emily and Athenia and Lady Levenger had reminded her of some of the things she had not yet had the chance to try. And there was, after all, that very special night shift Abigail had made for her under Mrs. Wise’s direction. It was so sheer one could almost see through the fabric and Juliet smiled to herself at the thought of James’s reaction when he saw her wearing it.

  The expression on her face was quite sufficient to make James decide to hurry, just a bit. For the first time in his life he had the sense, these days, that his experiments could wait, that there might be other things that mattered more. Such as his smiling wife.

  Daniel perhaps said it best when he told them scornfully, “Yer ought to go home and come back in the morning. Billing and cooing as ye are, yer attention ain’t on things here.”

  Somehow they could not find the heart to disagree.