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The table gave a collective chuckle at the words, but he barely heard it In that ive to be alone with her—a fact that shook him to his core
“Hear hear,” said Allendale, raising his glass “To the Duke of Leighton”
Around the table, glasses rose, and he avoided Juliana’s eyes lest he betray too hts
“Even I shall have to rethink hton,” Ralston said wryly “Thank you”
“And now, you have been forced to accept not only our dinner invitation, but also our gratitude,” Juliana said from across the table
Everyone assehed to break the seriousness of the moment Everyone that is, except Juliana, who broke their eye contact, looking down at her plate
He considered their past, the things they had said—the ways they had lashed out, hoping to scratch if not to scar He heard his words, the cutting hich he had spoken to her, the way he had pushed her into a corner until she’d had no choice but to lie down or lash out
She had fought back, proud and nificent
And suddenly, he wanted to tell her that
He wanted her to know that he did not find her common, or childish, or troublesome
He found her quite remarkable
And he wanted to start over
If for no other reason, than because she did not deserve his criticism
But perhaps for more than that
If only it were so easy
The door to the dining roo to Ralston He leaned low and whispered in hishis fork down audibly
Conversation stopped
Whatever the news the servant brought, it was not good
The marquess was ashen
Lady Ralston stood instantly, rounding the table toward her husband, caring nothing about her guests Abouta scene
Juliana spoke, concern in her voice “What is it? Is it Nick?”
“Gabriel?”
Heads turned as one to the doorway, to the woiven name
“Dio” Juliana’s whisper was barely audible, but he heard it
“Who is she?” Siister who asked the question He was too focused on Juliana’s face, on the fear and anger and disbelief there
Too focused on her anshispered in Italian
“She is our mother”
She looked the same
Tall and lithe and as untouchable as she had been the last time Juliana had seen her
Instantly, Juliana was ten again, covered in chocolate froh the old city and into the house, calling up to her father fro down around her A door opened, and her mother stepped out onto the upper balcony, the portrait of disinterest
“Silenzio, Juliana Ladies do not screech”
“I’m sorry, Mama”
“You should be” Louisa Fiori leaned over the edge of the balcony “You are filthy It is as though I had a son instead of a daughter” She waved one hand lazily toward the door “Go back to the river and wash before you come into the house”
She turned away, the heh the double doors to the house beyond
It was the last Juliana had seen of her mother
Until now
“Gabriel?” their h it had not been twenty-five years since she had hosted her own dinners at this very table As though she were not being watched by a roomful of people
Not that such a thing would have stopped her She had always adored attention The more scandalous, the better
And this would be a scandal
No one would remember the Serpentine tomorrow
She lifted her hands “Gabriel,” there was satisfaction in her tone “My, what a man you have become The marquess!”
She was behind Juliana now, not having realized that her daughter, too, was in the roo in Juliana’s ears, and she closed her eyes against it Of course her ?
If she had, she would have looked for Juliana She would have said so
She would have wanted to see her daughter
Wouldn’t she?
“Oh! It appears that I have interrupted so of a dinner party! I suppose I should have waited untilaway froer”
Home
Juliana winced at the words
Thelate but impeccable “Oh, please, do not stand for lish politesse and a hint of souile “I shall si room until Gabriel has time for me”
The statement ended on a lilt of a sound, turning her head just slightly to see her brother, jaw steeled, ice in his cold blue gaze To his left stood Callie, fists clenched, furious
If Juliana had not been at risk of becoed, she would have been aons for her husband
Their on if ever there was one
There was an enor in the room until Callie spoke “Bennett,” she said, with unparalleled calreen parlor? I’ momentarily”
The aging butler, at least, seeer of as sure to be the biggest scandal London had seen sincewell, since the last time London had seen Louisa Hathbourne St John Fiori He nearly leapt to do his
“Signora Fiori!” their h—the one Juliana remembered as punctuation to a lie “No one has called me that since I left Italy I am still the Marchioness of Ralston, am I not?”
“You are not” Ralston’s voice was brittle with anger
“You are er Marchioness, then!”
And with that simple sentence, Juliana was unable to breathe Her e, a husband, a life in Italy
And her own daughter
In front of a dozen others ould not hesitate to recount the tale
Juliana closed her eyes, willing herself to remain calm
Focusing on her breath, rather than the fact that her legitiotten woman, been thrown into question
When she reopened her eyes, it was to aze she did not wish to find
The Duke of Leighton was not looking at herJuliana And she hated what she saw in his normally cold, unreadable amber eyes
Pity
E her spine and reddening her cheeks
She was going to be ill
She could not reer
She had to leave
Before she did sohly unacceptable
She stood, pushing back her chair, not caring that ladies did not leave the dinner tableevery rule of this ridiculous country’s ridiculous etiquette
And she fled
The dinner party disbanded aler Marchioness or Signora Fiori or whoever she was, and the rest of the attendees had made hasty retreats, ostensibly to allow the fa arrival, buttheir first-person accounts of tonight’s dramatics
Simon could think only of Juliana: of her face as she listened to h
er h-pitched cackle; of her enormous, soulful eyes as the wicked woman had made her scandalous pronouncement that she was not a Fiori, but a St John; of the way she’d left the roo, remarkable pride
He watched the other guests’ conveyances trundle down the street, listening with half an ear as the Duke and Duchess of Rivington discussed whether or not they should remain or leave their family in peace
As they climbed into their coach, Simon heard the duchess ask quietly, “Should we at least look in on Juliana?”