Rhys pulled her into his arms and hugged her. “I should have told you then, too.”
Inside the coach, Kendall cleared his throat. “May we go home now? I hate to mention it, but it’s quite late, and standing about in the street doesn’t seem particularly prudent, even if we are in Mayfair.”
Rhys and Julianna both laughed.
“Yes,” Rhys replied, “but you’ll have to drop us off at my town house, because I intend to thoroughly compromise Lady Julianna here so that her father has no choice but to approve of our marriage.” He paused and looked at Julianna. “With your permission, of course, my lady.”
“Permission enthusiastically granted, Your Grace,” she replied with a laugh, sparing a blush for Kendall, before allowing Rhys to help her up into the coach.
They set off at a fast clip toward Rhys’s nearby town house.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Minutes later, Kendall’s coach pulled to a stop in front of Rhys’s town house.
“I promise that if asked, I will insist that I know nothing about either of your whereabouts and that I have neither seen nor heard a thing tonight,” Kendall announced with a resolute nod.
“Thank you,” Rhys said to the earl, inclining his head as he helped Julianna alight from the coach.
“I will also neither confirm nor deny the rumor that is certain to begin that the Duke of Worthington tried to scale the wall of the Duke of Montlake’s town house in order to declare his love for Lady Julianna,” Kendall added.
Rhys frowned at his friend. “Why would you think such a rumor would start?”
“Because I intend to start it, of course,” Kendall replied with a wink before pulling the door to the coach shut and ordering his coachman to drive home.
Moments later, with Julianna by his side, Rhys managed to sneak into his own house. They giggled like school children as they stole up the darkened staircase to his bedchamber, Rhys still limping all the way.
Inside the large room, candles were lit on the mantelpiece and either side of the bed. A sapphire blue bedspread covered the enormous bed. Two chairs and a small chaise sat in front of the fireplace, which took up an entire wall. The opposite wall was comprised of windows from floor to ceiling and large damask sapphire curtains had been drawn closed in front of them.
The door from the adjoining room that housed Rhys’s wardrobe cracked open.
“I won’t be needing your assistance tonight, Gilbert,” Rhys called to his valet, a sly smile on his face.
The door shut again as quickly as it had opened.
“Don’t you think you should allow him to look at your ankle?” Julianna asked with a laugh.
“Not tonight. He can look at my blasted ankle tomorrow.” Rhys hopped over to her and pulled her into his arms. “Tonight is for us.”
Julianna kissed him and then pulled away.
He frowned. “We don’t have to do this, you know.”
“Are you jesting?” she replied with another laugh. “I’ve been waiting for this for well over a year. Besides, something tells me Papa won’t agree to our match if we don’t give him something to…ahem…agree with.”
Rhys scratched at the back of his neck. “Yes, well, I just hope he doesn’t call me out.”
Julianna shook her head. “He won’t. He’ll be angry at first, to be certain, but in the end, Mama will convince him it’s for the best. Mama can always convince him.”
“Will you always be able to convince me?” he asked, kissing the edge of her lips.
“I hope so,” Julianna replied with a smile.
Rhys pulled her close and kissed her thoroughly. “I love you, Julianna. I cannot wait to marry you.”
“I love you, too, Rhys,” she said before turning quickly and pointing to her back. “Unbutton me.”
Rhys chuckled. “You don’t waste any time, do you?”
