The Rake's Redemption (3 page)

Mrs. Forbes’s garden was one of the loveliest spots Juliana had ever seen. Pink, white, and yellow roses climbed the low rosy brick wall of the courtyard. A burst of blue and white asters bordered the kitchen garden, so the scent of flowering trees, roses, and herbs mingled warmly.

Goodness, Juliana, what are you doing! she scolded herself and hastily withdrew her fingers from his firm grasp where she had allowed them to rest. She seated herself on the cool stone bench, clasped her hands in her lap, and raised her eyes calmly to his face. “Thank you, my lord marquis.”

He gave her another slow—Juliana blushed to even think it—beckoning smile. “Will you object to my sitting with you for a moment?” he asked. She moved slightly to make room when he sat crowding the bench. He half turned toward her. “I trust you are feeling no more ill effects from your accident.”

“No, indeed! Last night Mrs. Forbes sent me a sleeping draught so that when I awoke this morning I felt as good as new.” She looked solemnly back into his arresting face and tried not to let it affect her pulse. “And, of course, Aunt Sophia’s first bowl of gruel always has amazing restorative properties … for one lives in mortal fear of the second.”

Cornflower blue eyes lit with amusement. He reached toward her. Unable to help herself, Juliana stiffened, but he appeared not to notice as he plucked a rose from the bush directly behind her right shoulder.

The marquis smiled with luxurious charm, placing the pink rose, drops of dew still clinging to its petals, or her lap. “I prefer to deliver my flowers in person.” His deep, rich voice made her feel decidedly warm.

“It is very lovely. Thank you,” she murmured, raising the bloom to her lips. She had no idea why she should find it so difficult to behave normally around this man. After all, she was no green miss. She had been married!

Suddenly, from behind a clump of berry bushes, a tiny birdlike woman carrying an enormous garden basket appeared. The marquis rose to his feet giving the woman a smile that was, no doubt, famous throughout England. Although it had not been directed at Juliana, she felt its tug. Where was the arrogant, overbearing marquis? At the moment he looked very much like a sweet, slightly mischievous boy whom she wanted to hug. The woman with the garden basket obviously did not share her feelings.

She gave a crack of laughter. “Don’t try your tricks with me, young lord. Won’t work.” Her mouth curved into a grin, causing her brown face to crease into a network of tiny lines. “Although you are bonny. More so than most.”

Bowing deeply, the marquis took her thin, heavily veined fingers to his lips. “You are a joy, Mrs. Forbes. May I present Juliana, Sophia’s niece.”

Juliana had guessed that this woman could be none other than the redoubtable Mrs. Forbes. The vivid, dark brown eyes that surveyed her face were full of a lively intelligence. “Glad to meet you, young lady. I see my herb drink helped you.”

“Very much! Thank you. I am most sorry for any inconvenience we have caused you.”

“Nonsense,” replied Mrs. Forbes in a practical spirit. “Good to have you young people here. Sophia’s in the kitchen brewing up a sleeping draught now. Lord Liscombe is with her. That’s why I came out here looking for these.” She held out a palm full of garlic bulbs. “That young lord shows too many late nights and too many bottles of brandy. I have just the potion for him.”

Juliana carefully controlled her face when Mrs. Forbes’s eyes flickered across it and then to Dominic, whose unholy grin was nearly her undoing.

“Come along, both of you. Elixir must be brewed before you leave for London.” Mrs. Forbes shook her head with such vigor, her large bun of grizzled white hair jiggled precariously. “Terrible place the city. Terrible!”

Was there ever a merrier look than the one the marquis flashed at her before bowing with a deep flourish and following Mrs. Forbes back into the kitchen.

The inn’s kitchen was large. Fires blazed in enormous fireplaces at each end of the room, but the air was surprisingly fresh and cool, for a breeze worried the crisp curtains at huge windows on opposite walls. Rows of wooden shelves laden with jars of all sizes lined the stone walls and a long, polished oak table dominated the room. Aunt Sophia stood over a small black kettle slowly adding herbs to a boiling mixture while Freddie, coatless and with his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, stirred with a long-handled wooden spoon.

So intent were they on their duties that they didn’t notice Mrs. Forbes’s entrance until she went to the pot to carefully examine the contents. She sniffed the steam. “Ah, yes. More mandrake root. Juliana, fetch that small jar of brown powder on the low shelf next to the window. Here, my lord marquis, chop these leaves.”

Juliana watched Dominic shrug out of his coat, paying earnest attention to Mrs. Forbes’s instruction of the precise method to chop herbs. Smiling, Juliana crossed toward the shelves. At the window she noticed white and red cloth balls hanging. She expected to find the scent of cloves and cinnamon, but moving closer discovered the balls scentless.

Frowning, she carried the small jar back to the table. “That is odd, Mrs. Forbes, your pomanders have no scent.”

“Not pomanders, young lady. It is my herb potion to keep out insects.”

Brushing a droopy brown curl from her forehead, Aunt Sophia turned from her pot. “Ingenious! I noticed that the kitchen was free of such troublesome creatures.”

“But the bags have no scent. What keeps them out?” Juliana asked, fascinated by odd-shaped roots and strangely colored powders and fluids placed neatly about the room.

“Scentless to you, young lady. But not to insects. Works nearly as well as my potions to keep out field mice.”

“I say, Mrs. Forbes, wherever did you learn about herbs and potions and the like?” Freddie asked, his face red and glowing from the heat, his neck cloth twisted under his left ear.

Lifting her head to a proud tilt, Mrs. Forbes’s eyes touched them all one by one. “My grandmother was a Romany princess. She taught my mother and then me all the old ways.”

“A gypsy princess! Did she teach you to read palms? Always wanted my palm read,” Freddie declared with a wide grin.

“Palm reading is for gorgios at the fairs,” scoffed Mrs. Forbes. “To tell the future … yes … sometimes. My grandmother had the eye. But not my mother.”

Juliana glanced at Dominic and found him smiling that wonderful heart-stopping smile. “A tribe of gypsies camps on my grandfather’s lands in Kent every spring. When I was young, I climbed down the creeper outside my bedroom window and went to the woods to listen to their music.”

“Yes,” Mrs. Forbes nodded slowly, her eyes resting thoughtfully upon Dominic. “Music is the gift of God to the gypsies. Robbie has the gift. After dinner tonight perhaps he will play for you in the garden.”

“That sounds wonderful!” exclaimed Juliana. She had a long-standing fascination with gypsies after once sneaking off to a local fair with George and Will. They had proven unsatisfactory companions, however, for when she had wanted to enter the colorful tent where an old gypsy woman sat gazing into a crystal ball, they had dragged her back to the pony cart and driven home. “I look forward to hearing Robbie play,” Juliana continued wistfully.

“There are dark circles under your eyes, miss,” replied Mrs. Forbes. “I have brewed a new elixir for you, so you must rest today. That is what you need, rest and quiet, and that you shall have. Then tonight we shall see.”

Fully rested after a long dreamless sleep in her bedroom, no doubt brought about by Mrs. Forbes’s marvelous potion, Juliana sat at the window under the dormer. She looked out into the garden through which Lord Liscombe and the marquis were returning from their ride. They were apparently sharing a jest. When the marquis flung back his head, his thick golden hair gleamed in the sunlight, and Juliana thought him a handsome sight indeed. Laughter made him almost approachable. It was difficult to believe that he was the same autocratic lord who had tried to order young Ben and gone so far as to take over the fixing of her coach. She preferred him the way he had been today in Mrs. Forbes’s kitchen and now, his face full of delight. Bringing the pink rose to her lips, she reveled again in its sweet scent. It was impossible not to feel the marquis’s charm even though she had no personal interest in him whatsoever. When Sophia joined her at the window, she quickly concealed the rose.

Staring down at the two young men, Sophia sighed, “Do you suppose, Juliana, that the marquis might be what you are looking for?”

“Aunt Sophia!” Juliana cried, nearly tumbling off the window seat so great was her agitation. “Of course he doesn’t fill my needs! He is neither middle-aged, nor I am sure, is he lonely and lacking female companionship.”

Sophia smiled mischievously. “I am quite sure he does not!”

“Also, dear Aunt, he may very well already possess a marchioness.”

“I had forgotten about that,” replied her aunt, looking a little guilty, but she immediately brightened. “He doesn’t behave like a married man. But we must discover his matrimonial status as soon as possible.”

“Aunt Sophia, what has come over you!” Juliana felt curiously anxious about Sophia’s newfound gaiety. Somehow Sophia appeared to be getting younger the farther away from Wentworth Park they traveled. She is only thirty-nine, Juliana suddenly remembered, not really old at all.

“Have I grown an extra nose, dear?” Sophia asked pleasantly, her special smile making her truly lovely.

“Oh, Aunt!” Juliana laughed, launching herself from the window seat to take Sophia’s hands and plant a cheerful kiss on her cool cheek. “I was just realizing how young you really are. We should be looking for a husband for you.”

Sophia smothered a smile. “Such nonsense. The marquis would not suit me at all.” A strange look came over her features. “I am very pleased we decided to go to London. We must make the best of it.” She slipped an arm around Juliana’s shoulders, giving her a quick hug. “I’m famished. I can hardly wait to see what Mrs. Forbes has in store for us tonight.”

Dinner, Aunt Sophia would have said, was an interesting combination of unexpected dishes. Certainly it was a vast improvement over parties at The Willows. When one dined with Sir Alfred and Lady Grenville, one always dined on mutton. Monotonous as it might be, it was often the only source of entertainment.

Juliana felt Aunt Sophia’s burst of gaiety was catching. The air of excitement was so strong in the small parlor she could almost touch it. Freddie, seated to her left, took great pains to entertain and, indeed, his stories, no doubt carefully edited, about life in London caused both Juliana and her aunt to smile.

At just the right instant Dominic entered the conversation with a witty aside that enhanced the tale and brought them all to laughter. He spoke with ease and knowledge on any number of subjects, encompassing politics, the late French wars, literature, and humorous
on-dits
concerning the beau monde.

Juliana studied him carefully, for although she tried not to admit it, he held an odd fascination for her. It was not only his arresting face and his athletic body, but his mind was a storehouse of delight that she was beginning to have an alarming eagerness to explore.

As though he felt her regard, Dominic turned to her, smiling, and Juliana’s heart quickened. His fingers touched her hand. “Come, Juliana,” he murmured softly, drawing her to her feet. “I believe your wish is about to be granted.”

Startled and a little frightened that he could have read her thoughts, she stared at him for an instant before following his gaze to the doorway where Mrs. Forbes stood with Robbie, who held an ancient violin.

The night sky blazed with stars and the air was unseasonably warm for May. By moonlight Mrs. Forbes’s garden was a fairyland of shadows and scents.

Sophia eschewed the heavy lavender-scented quilts Robbie spread upon the ground and sat on the stone bench beside Juliana. It seemed natural for Dominic to sit on the grass at Juliana’s feet, his thick golden hair so close she would have only to reach out her hand to run her fingers through the curls.

Goodness, the lump on my head must have addled my brains, she told herself sternly. Folding her fingers tightly together, she looked up to where Robbie ran his bow tentatively over the strings of the violin. Soft notes filled the garden weaving a gentle serenity. She could hear Sophia sigh softly beside her, and Dominic leaned his head back against the edge of her bench. Suddenly the mood changed, great trills of notes enticed them to keep time to the lively music while Mrs. Forbes tapped her tambourine. Juliana could envision bare feet stamping and bright skirts twirling to the sparkling tune.

Then suddenly Robbie was singing and the violin became sweet, haunting strings. The theme of the music was earthly passion. The songs sprang from every country and every age of Romany wanderings. Songs eerie with the yearnings of long-forgotten lovers, with lost tears and remembered laughter. Songs that spoke directly to the heart.

She looked at Dominic. The moonlight defined his profile. Perhaps he felt her gaze, for he turned and rested his wide and solemn eyes upon her.

Drugged with the beauty of the music, she did not look away when she should have, but instead let the sweetness of the moment fill her with a warmth that ran like fire through her blood.

The last note faded into the darkness and Juliana, dragging her gaze from the marquis’s face, looked hazily around her. Tears stood in Aunt Sophia’s gray eyes. Freddie, looking very young, nibbled thoughtfully on a thumb while gazing at Robbie.

Juliana caught Mrs. Forbes’s eyes from where she stood near her grandson’s shoulder and felt that for some minutes she had been watching her. Her browned and work-worn hand suddenly touched Robbie’s arm, and he lowered the violin to his side.

They all sat silent, faintly dazed, until Mrs. Forbes spoke. “It is late. Robbie will see you to your rooms now.”

They rose in silence, the magic of the haunting melodies having bewitched them, and Sophia placed her hand on Freddie’s arm, moving back into the inn.

Juliana lingered in the midst of Mrs. Forbes’s garden, unwilling to let her feelings go. She felt as if she had just come awake after a long sleep. Life was different somehow. The world had moved forward without her. Taking this trip to London was the right choice. She’d lived in the past with memories and regrets for too long. It was time to begin anew.