“Yes,” she agreed. “Especially when you are an only child without a mother.”
His full lips formed a thin line, and she could see the sympathy in his eyes.
She moved to the bench next to the fountain and sat down, her legs suddenly heavy and weak. Though she had grieved endlessly for her mother, the pain of her loss stayed close to the surface. At any time, she found herself feeling weepy if someone said something to remind her of the loneliness she carried with her.
“May I join you, Lady Julia?”
He respected her enough to ask for the privilege to sit beside her. Most men of her acquaintance would have invited themselves, not considering her feelings. How could she deny him? Or was this charming, kind side of the duke a way for him to trick her into trusting him? How could she ever be sure?
“Yes,” she finally said, seeking the warmth his nearness provided.
Their legs brushed lightly as he positioned himself beside her, his thighs spread, his wide shoulders set with confidence, his gaze heavy upon her, seeking answers to his unasked questions. “I miss my father and mother often. Nothing will ever ease that pain, for the loss is too great. Take comfort in having your father, Lady Julia. From what I know of him, he’s an honorable man, well respected.”
Yes.She did take comfort in having a father that loved her as best he could. What important man with many demands upon his person could take the time to truly understand a daughter? If she had been born his son, their relationship would have been different. “I love my father, Your Grace—but a mother is a daughter’s dearest parent.”
“Yes,” he said, patting her hand. “Give it more time, you won’t be in mourning forever, I promise.”
Chapter Fourteen
Would he sayanything to seduce her? Apparently, for the duke found himself revealing pieces of himself he had always kept locked away in his heart—even from his sisters. He and Julia shared so much in common, broken hearts, children of dukes, and fierce loyalty to friends, but they still could not be more unlike one another. She was like a tower sitting alone in a field, admired for its distant beauty, but forgotten if not in direct line of sight. And he—the nightingale—the sought-after songbird that either earned the praise of the peerage or the revulsion of thetonfor his loose morals.
All eyes stayed on him when he entered a room. A fact he sometimes regretted. With Julia, though she was beautiful, she had worked diligently to be forgotten, absent from the marriage mart, and most certainly missing from society as a whole, until now.
He had overheard women whispering about her tonight—her golden loveliness—her father’s admired reputation—but mostly about the poor girl whose heart had been irrevocably broken by her mother’s death. Pity was Lady Julia’s shadow. And it overwhelmed her desirable traits, making many unsure how to approach her. That, and her friendship with Lady Willa, a woman in trade—though few would openly admit it.
They were both victims of circumstances, both innocent of any wrongdoing. Alonzo stared admiringly at her, the flickering light from the torches all about them giving her an otherworldly countenance, perhaps that of a fairy or a brutal Valkyrie. It all depended on the face Lady Julia decided to show. When she smiled, the world sat at her feet, but if she frowned or appeared to be in deep contemplation, the world became a grimmer place.
“What was it like traveling the Continent? Performing for kings and queens?” She gazed at him, her expression neutral.
“Truthfully?”
“I would have it no other way, Your Grace.”
“Invigorating.”
“A brisk walk could accomplish the same.”
“Yes.” He chuckled. “But this sort of rejuvenation goes beyond the physical, Lady Julia. I daresay it touches the soul.”
She nodded, her curiosity unhidden now. “You thrive off the attention, then. Seek it if it’s not thrust upon you?”
He sighed, for anything he said in answer would surely be held against him. “I sing first for myself. My father could not contain my voice when I was a boy. And my mother, God bless her, fought him every day to let me express myself, to pursue what she swore was a gift from God.”
“I cannot disagree with her—it should be shared.”
“I am glad you feel that way.”
“But not exploited,” she was quick to add.
“Indeed? And how do you feel I have taken advantage of my talent?”
She coughed primly, staring up at him with unblinking eyes. Honesty seeped from her every pore, that much he knew of her, as did beauty in its purest form. “The scandal sheets do not lie, do they?”
“Ladies of your stature should not have access…”
She rolled her eyes, the most unladylike thing she had done this evening. “Yes, I know. You disapprove of women reading for personal enrichment. It should only be done to improve upon the things society deems appropriate to prepare her for domestic duties, like entertaining a husband and his friends, managing a household, and raising children.”
“There is no shame in fulfilling those duties, is there, Lady Julia?”
