“I’m trying to make it nothing,” Ellis said. “She doesn’t make it easy.”
Rook threw up his hands. “She’s suffered enough.”
“I know!” Ellis lunged forward and caught Rook’s arm. “Because of me. This is all because of me. So let me fix it.”
Rook yanked away from him and looked him up and down. “Your desperation has always been dangerous. It’s what started all this mess in the first place. So we’re going to do this Harcourt’s way.”
“The gentleman’s way,” Ellis sneered.
Rook’s gaze flickered, but he nodded.
“You know he’ll still come,” Ellis said. “He’ll threaten your wives and my brother and Juliana because it entertains him to do so.”
He saw Rook knew that. That he understood the truth even if he wasn’t ready to do what needed to be done about it. He sighed. “Well, we’ll face that if we must.”
Ellis backed away. “She’s changed you,” he said, softly and with disbelief. It wasn’t meant as an insult. Just an observation that made him long for…
Well, a great many things he shouldn’t long for.
“I’m glad she has,” Rook said.
“So am I,” Ellis admitted. “But you are wrong, even if you refuse to face it.” He let out a long sigh. “Just talk to Juliana. Help her. Because I can’t. I am poison, and I will destroy her if she keeps pushing. I won’t be able to stop myself.”
He turned and walked away. Returned to the window he had come in and stepped out. He heard Rook say his name, but he ignored it. He moved out into the night. The only place he belonged. He just had to remember it and act accordingly.
Chapter 13
Juliana sat on her bed in her father’s house, scribbling in her diary. It wasn’t her usual type of entry, which was heavy with reflections on her life and cheeky descriptions of those she knew. Today she was making a list. Things to do to make Ellis see her worth and accept her help in his grand scheme, whatever that was.
There was a knock on her door and she answered without glancing up, “Come in.” When the door opened, she said, “Mary, do you think you could lay out my blue silk for tonight? The one with the gold gathering?”
“It isn’t your maid.”
She jerked her face up to see Thomasina and Anne standing at the entryway to her chamber. For a moment, she was pleased, because despite the fraught feelings in their current situation, she was always happy to see her sisters. Especially now when they were so often parted.
But the seriousness of their expressions sucked the joy from her chest. Replaced it with anxiety when Thomasina ducked her head and Anne pursed her lips.
“I did not expect you two,” Juliana said carefully as she closed her journal and slid it beneath her pillow. She got up and smoothed the front of her gown. “To what do I owe this pleasure? And why didn’t you have me come to the parlor where we could have tea?”
Anne shut the door behind them as they entered. Thomasina flinched at the sound of it closing and said, “We wanted to talk more privately. I do miss our chats at night in our bedchambers.”
Anne glanced at her. “She is too clever not to see pastthatlie, love. Rook and Harcourt are downstairs discussing something with Father. I think it’s best they don’t hear what we have to say.”
Juliana’s heart rate doubled at both the look and the tone. “That doesn’t bode well.”
“Sit down,” Thomasina said, taking her hand as she led her to the chairs before the fire. Three of them, just as there were in each of their rooms so they could commiserate together.
Juliana did as she’d been told, buffeted on each side by her sisters, and held her breath as she waited for whatever was going to be said.
She wasn’t surprised when it was Anne who spoke. “We know about the Donville Masquerade.”
Suddenly it seemed the room was thrust underwater. Everything sounded tinny as her blood rushed to her ears. Her sisters stared at her, but there was no doubt in their eyes.
“I-I don’t know what you mean,” she said after what felt like a lifetime. Of course, she knew they would never believe her. They had always been able to root out the lies in each other. “I don’t even know what that is. Donville Masquerade? That sounds like—”
“Juliana,” Thomasina interrupted gently.
She cut herself off. There were two choices before her. She could continue to prevaricate and shift and try to get her sisters to change the subject. An unlikely outcome, considering how certain they seemed of the accusation.
