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Julie jumped as she heard a familiar male voice. She couldn’t quite place it before she turned and regarded the Duke of Rutland.
“Your Grace.” Julie sank into a curtsy and pushed Mary’s hand down with her so that her sister curtsied too.
“Your Grace,” Robert said in a solemn voice. “I don’t believe you’ve met my sister-in-law, Mary.”
Mary smiled up at him with her usual smile, and when Robert clarified the duke was his father, she came up to him and gave him a hug. Julie bit her lip for the expression of surprise on the duke’s face.
“I didn’t expect to see you here,” the dowager said in a dry voice. Although Julie fancied, she saw a flicker of curiosity on the elderly woman’s face.
“Clydesdale came down to me earlier this week. Insisted I attend. Something about lending support for the family,” Rutland shrugged and looked ahead as if staring into the void.
“Thank you,” Robert said a little hoarsely, and Julie squeezed his arm in a comforting gesture.
“I told you when we met,” the duke said matter-of-factly. “If there’s anything more important than reputation, it is family.”
Julie felt her eyes water. What a difference it was from her own father. She’d always heard that Rutland was peculiar but also cold and uncaring. She thought him so too when she met him at the fateful Christmas house party. Especially after she heard that he and her father had negotiated their children’s betrothal. Now, however, she’d have to revise her view of him.
He cared about Robert. It was obvious. And by extension, he now cared about Julie and Mary. After a short, polite talk, Rutland accompanied Mary around the ballroom, just to make sure that everyone saw his approval of his son’s actions and of his daughter-in-law and her sister. After that, he’d left. Robert explained Rutland disliked crowds and that coming here tonight was a great show of support on his part. Julie felt so warm inside she was about to burst from joy. Was this how it felt to have an actual family?
The first bars of waltz interrupted her reverie. Mary was intercepted by the Duke of Somerset for the dance, and Robert slowly turned to Julie at that moment and asked her to dance.
“It’s not fashionable to dance with one’s own wife,” she whispered lightly, fanning herself vigorously, for she suddenly felt hot. Robert grinned at that.
“And we are such a fashionable family, are we?”
Family. The word stole her breath. Paired with the way he looked at her with humor and gentleness shining in his eyes, she could not refuse him even if he asked her to jump off the bridge into a freezing lake. Besides, he was right. The chances were, they would never be invited to another ball again after tonight’s escapades. She placed her hand on his arm, and they moved onto the dance floor. They were drawing the gazes from the crowd, Julie noted. People started whispering behind their fans the moment they passed them by. Julie held up her head and pretended not to notice.
As they stepped into the dance, Julie was taken into the world of a fairytale. She had her prince, clasping her in his arms, twirling her around a beautiful ballroom, looking at her as if they were the only people in the world. He was an elegant and sure dancer. Julie didn’t have to think about steps or following the music. She magically followed his lead as if she were born in his arms. They danced in silence, occasionally smiling at each other and just enjoying the closeness.
Now that they were alone, however, Julie remembered her earlier confrontation with Robert’s former mistress. At least she hoped, Vanessa was his former mistress. She hadn’t had the time to study the envelope that Vanessa slipped into her hand. Julie was busy with Mary all day, and later it just slipped her mind. Now, however, all kinds of thoughts were whirling inside her mind.
She didn’t believe Vanessa’s words for a moment. Of course, she didn’t. Why did the nagging headache originate in her skull then? Julie started feeling flustered and hot.
“Are you all right?” Robert looked at her, his gaze troubled now.
She nodded and smiled slightly. “I think I was too nervous for Mary’s sake. And now all the twirling and the smell of flowers are making my head spin a little.”
Julie didn’t lie. The smell did make her nauseous. Anything else they would have to discuss later, at home. The waltz was coming to an end, and Julie was grateful for that.
“Do you want me to escort you outside?” he asked, still frowning down at her.
“Don’t you have the next dance with Mary?”
He nodded sharply at that, and she smiled.
“I’ll cool down in the corridor a little, but I will meet you after the dance?”
Another nod from her worried husband. At that moment, the music ceased, and Robert took her by the arm and silently led her away from the dance floor.
Julie left the ballroom as soon as Robert took Mary for the next dance. She felt hot and a little nauseous. The hotness was definitely the result of a packed ballroom and dancing in her husband’s powerful arms. But the aromatic smell of flowers and people’s perfume was adding to the sensation, making her ill. She stood with her back to the corridor wall and fanned herself.
She heard the music and knew that Mary’s waltz with Robert was underway. She smiled to herself, thinking of her tall and muscular husband dancing with her tiny sister, and she wished she could see them dance. She took a couple of deep breaths, getting ready to re-enter the ballroom and witness Mary’s dance with her favorite man when she heard the steps coming down from the side of the ballroom. The next moment the steps reached her, and she was seized violently by the arm.
“You little bitch, how dare you,” the familiar voice sneered in her ear, and the next thing she knew, she was being dragged away down the corridor, then thrust into an empty room.
