Juliana, accustomed to the petty stings of being employed as a companion, ignored the disdain inherent in the other womans words. He is a generous man, she allowed dryly.
Of course, he doubtless wanted to meet Clementine, the older woman went on placidly, explaining the oddity of a nobleman acknowledging someone of as little status as Juliana. It is quite fortuitous, really, that he knew you and could gain an introduction.
Juliana swallowed her anger, looking away from her employer. She reminded herself that Mrs. Thrall was a woman of little sense and a deficient upbringing. She did not mean to be rude and hurtfulfrankly, Juliana thought, she did not consider Julianas feelings enough to intend to hurt herand she did not know what she was talking about. Nicholas had come over because he was glad to see her, not because he wanted to meet Mrs. Thralls daughter.
But as the evening wore on and Juliana watched Clementine flirt with her bevy of admirers, and take to the floor time and again to dance, her certainty began to erode. The girl was obviously devastatingly appealing to men, whereas she herself
She looked down at her plain dark gown and sighed. She was dressed like a governess, her hair pinned into a plain knot. A companion was not paid to attract attentionespecially in this case, where Mrs. Thrall would have squelched any semblance of a beauty that might compete with her own daughter. How could any mans eyes not be drawn to Clementine rather than to her?
CHAPTER TWO
JULIANA FOUND HERSELF brooding over the matter the rest of the evening. She did not believe that Nicholas had merely used her to get an introduction to Clementine. But she was realistic enough to think that he must have noticed the girls beauty when he was introduced to her. Nor could she help but wonder if his desire to call on her had as much or more to do with Clementines appeal as with his friendship with Juliana.
It wasnt that she thought Nicholas was interested in her in a romantic way, she told herself. She had long ago given up those girlhood dreams. She was a grown woman and well aware that she did not even know the man; all she had known was the boy. But he had been very dear to her at one time; it hurt to think that his motivation for calling upon her might be only interest in the silly but beautiful Clementine.
All the way home, Mrs. Thrall and her daughter pelted Juliana with questions about the handsome and highly eligible Lord Barre. How old was he? Did he have a London residence? Was he as wealthy as everyone said?
He is thirty-one. But as to the rest, I really dont know, Juliana replied, gritting her teeth. We did not speak about any of those things while we were dancing. And I have not seen him since we were young.
They say he is fabulously wealthy, Clementine said, her eyes shining.
I heard that he made a fortune in the China Trade, Mrs. Thrall said. Not an occupation for a gentleman, of course, but, then, his lineage is impeccable.
And the fortune is great, Juliana murmured.
Exactly, Mrs. Thrall agreed, nodding her head, blissfully unaware of any sarcasm in Julianas words.
I heard he made his money in smuggling during the War, Clementine put in. Sarah Thurgood says her aunt told her that he was a spy, as well.
Did she say for which side? Juliana asked.
No one knows, Clementine told her, her eyes wide. He is reputed to be a very dangerous man.
Very wild in his youth, Mrs. Thrall added knowledgeably.
He has been much maligned, Juliana started hotly. This was the sort of statement she had heard about Nicholas from the time she met him.
Everyone says Clementine began.
Everyone doesnt know him! Juliana snapped.
Really, Juliana Mrs. Thrall gave her a dark look.
Juliana stifled her anger. Her quick tongue was what had most often gotten her into trouble as a paid companion. It had been a hard lesson, but over the years she had learned not to argue with her employers.
Im sorry, maam, she said now. I did not mean to contradict you. It is just that I know Lord Barre has often been adjudged much more wicked than he really is.
Mrs. Thrall smiled at her in a condescending way that made Julianas fingers curl into fists in her lap. You must take my word for it, my dear, as one who knows a bit more about the world than youwhere there is smoke, theres fire.
Fortunately, Julianas ready sense of humor came to her rescue, overcoming her anger. The woman stated the old adage as if she were imparting the greatest wisdom.
Of course, Juliana choked out, and pressed her lips together to keep from chuckling. What did it matter, anyway, what someone as foolish as Elspeth Thrall thought about Nicholas Barre?
She settled into her corner of the carriage, only half listening to Clementine chatter on about what dress she should wear on the morrow and what hairstyle would look best. When they reached the house, she went upstairs to her bedroom, a small, sparely furnished room at the end of the hallway closest to the servants stairs. As a genteel companion, she was not tucked away in an attic room with the servants, but her bedchamber was hardly what one could consider comfortable. Juliana thought with some longing of her accommodations when she had lived with Mrs. Simmons.
Ah, well, she reminded herself, even a small room and putting up with employers like Mrs. Thrall was preferable to continuing to live on the charity of Lilith and Trenton Barre.
With a grimace, Juliana began to undress, her mind going back to her life at the Barre estate. She supposed it was seeing Nicholas tonight that made her think of it, for she had managed to bury such memories long ago and normally did not even think about that time.
Juliana had been eight years old when her beloved father, the scholarly youngest son of a baron, had died. She remembered lying in her bed at night, listening to the soft sounds of her mother weeping in the room next door. Juliana had been too frightened to cry herself.
Overnight, her world had been turned upside down. Not only was her father gone, but the smiling, warm mother she had known all her life was gone, as well, replaced by a pale, sad, anxious woman who paced the floors, twisting her handkerchief between her hands when she wasnt collapsed on the sofa or her bed, crying. First the maids had left, and then, finally, their housekeeper, and angry men had come knocking on their door at all hours. Those visits invariably left her mother crying.
Finally they had left the small house in which they had lived all Julianas life, packing only their clothes and her mothers jewelry, and moved into a set of rooms in a house where several other people lived. Her mother, Diana, spent her time staring dully out the window and writing letters. Periodically Diana would take out her small jewelry box and open it, then search through the contents, finally selecting a set of earrings or a bracelet. She would leave their rooms, admonishing Juliana to be quiet, and return a few hours later, her eyes red and a bag of sweets for Juliana in her hand.
Only years later had Juliana come to understand the terror that her fragile, pretty mother had faceda woman with a young child and no money or skills, eking out a living for them by selling her small stock of precious jewelry, aware that before long this source of money would run out, too, and they would be left utterly penniless. The familys sole source of money had been a small trust left to her father by a grandmother, added to by the small sums of money he brought in from his scholarly articles. Both incomes had died with her father.