‘It is my intention to walk back to Banford Park if you will not return me there.’
‘That really is not necessary—’
‘I consider it very necessary, Lord St Claire,’ she scorned. ‘Against my better judgement I allowed myself to be persuaded into taking a carriage ride with you. My reserve has been completely borne out by your ungentlemanly behaviour towards me just now.’ She put up her parasol against the sun’s rays and turned and resumed her walk in the direction of Banford Park.
‘Juliet?’ Sebastian could only stand and watch in frustration as she ignored him to continue her walk. Her face might be hidden by her raised parasol, but the ramrod-straightness of her back was more than enough to tell him of her anger.
Chapter Four
Juliet’s temper had not abated in the slightest by the time she returned to Banford Park, some twenty minutes or so later. So it was perhaps fortunate that it was the Earl of Banford and not his Countess who chanced to greet her as she stepped inside the house; Juliet had not had the chance as yet to finish last night’s conversation with Dolly Bancroft!
The Earl eyed her quizzically. ‘You look slightly … flushed, Lady Boyd. Perhaps you would care to join me in my study for some morning refreshment?’
‘I fear I am not good company at the moment, My Lord.’ Juliet was feeling hot and bothered from her walk, and still flustered and out of sorts from this latest debacle with Sebastian St Claire.
He gave her an understanding smile. ‘Has my wife been causing mischief again?’
‘Oh, no—Well … Yes, actually,’ Juliet acknowledged flatly when she saw the Earl’s patent disbelief at her initial denial. ‘But it is not all Dolly’s fault,’ she allowed fairly. ‘I am sure Lord St Claire can be very persuasive when he chooses.’ She was not altogether sure how much she could say to the Earl concerning her suspicions about his wife’s friendship with St Claire.
‘And have you found him to be so?’ her host asked gently.
‘Not in the least!’ Juliet assured him vehemently.
Too vehemently? Perhaps. But after this morning Juliet intended being more on her guard than ever where Sebastian St Claire was concerned.
‘Perhaps Lord St Claire has deceived Lady Bancroft into believing him to be more agreeable than he is?’ she suggested tactfully.
‘Do not look so concerned, my dear Lady Boyd.’ William Bancroft said softly. ‘I assure you that any friendship between my wife and St Claire has always been of a purely platonic nature.’ He looked serious. ‘I think that perhaps you should be made aware that, although he has certainly earned his reputation with the ladies, St Claire does not choose to “persuade” as often as the gossips care to imply that he does ….’
Juliet felt the colour warm her cheeks. ‘I must warn you, My Lord, that I really cannot even think of joining you for refreshment if you intend to continue discussing Lord St Claire with me.’
‘As you wish, my dear.’ The Earl stepped forward to place a hand lightly beneath her elbow. ‘Tea for two, Groves,’ he instructed the butler lightly, before guiding Juliet down the hallway to his study.
Much to Sebastian’s chagrin, for once in his life he was completely at a loss to know what to do next where a woman was concerned.
He had allowed his desire for Juliet, when holding her aloft in his arms this morning, to overrule his awareness of that guardedness he sensed inside her, and had subsequently paid the price for that miscalculation when she’d walked off and left him. There had been no opportunity to see or speak to her since then.
Consequently, he sat broodingly at the dinner table that evening, watching Juliet down its length as she conversed easily and charmingly with Gray, sitting on one side of her, and the elderly and courtly Duke of Sussex on the other.
Sebastian’s censorious glance towards his hostess for this arrangement was met by a pointed glance in her husband’s direction, telling him that the Earl was the one responsible for the distance between Juliet and himself at the dinner table.
That Juliet had somehow succeeded in charming the Earl of Banford came as no surprise to Sebastian. Nor the fact that Gray and the Duke of Sussex seemed equally as enchanted by her company. What man could look at her—dressed this evening in a deep green silk gown, her hair an abundance of ebony curls, several of those curls temptingly loose against the long length of her creamy throat—and not be charmed?
Certainly not Sebastian. He found his hooded gaze shifting often in her direction as she chatted softly with her dining companions—whilst his own meal seemed to progress with excruciating slowness, and culminated in his imbibing far too much wine and not eating enough food.
If this continued he would be foxed before the meal even came to its painful end!
Even as Juliet responded to the polite dinner conversation of Lord Gideon Grayson, she was aware of St Claire’s dark and brooding gaze fixed upon her whenever she chanced to glance up.
‘Do not be too hard on him, Lady Boyd,’ Lord Grayson drawled, after one such irritated glance. ‘I assure you Sebastian is not usually so marked in his attentions,’ he added dryly as Juliet looked at him enquiringly.
She frowned her annoyance. ‘You are the second gentleman today to leap to his defence, sir!’
Gideon gave a rueful shrug. ‘Sebastian is a capital fellow.’
‘So I am informed,’ she said, obviously unimpressed.
‘But you still doubt it?’
Of course Juliet doubted it; so far in their acquaintance St Claire had tried—and failed—to seduce her at every opportunity that presented itself!
Lord Grayson raised his brows at her censorious expression. ‘Has it not occurred to you that perhaps you should be thanking Sebastian rather than cutting him so cruelly?’
Her eyes widened. ‘Thanking him for what, pray?’
‘Has your time here not been a little easier today? Your fellow guests a little less … cool in their manner towards you?’ he asked.
Juliet thought of the picnic lunch she had enjoyed earlier today—a picnic lunch that her tormentor had been noticeably absent from! Surprisingly, several of the ladies had included her in their conversation as their party sat in the shade of one of the oaks beside the river that ran through the extensive grounds of Banford Park.
‘I am sure you must be aware that Sebastian is considered something of a setter of fashion,’ Lord Grayson continued lightly. ‘If he has decided it is time to welcome you back into Society, then you may be assured the rest of the ton will quickly follow his example.’
‘And I suppose you are telling me that Lord St Claire was demonstrating that “welcome” earlier today, when he did not even have the good manners to introduce us properly?’ Juliet pointed out.
Lord Grayson looked at her for several seconds before answering. ‘No, I cannot claim Sebastian had your own comfort in mind at that time …’
‘Then—’
