“At your service,” Julian said, bowing to them. “I haven’t seen either of you in quite a long time. I don’t blame you for not remembering me, Lord Moreland, Lady Moreland.”
Cass’s mother continued to eye him up and down before turning back to Lucy. “I want Cass here this instant,” she demanded.
Jane and Garrett were obviously attempting to assist Lucy in herding the little group into the nearby drawing room. Unfortunately, they were having as much luck as Lucy was. “I told you, Lady Moreland. I’ll be quite happy to go get Cass just as soon as you—”
Cass’s mother narrowed her eyes on Lucy and pointed her finger at her. “I don’t care if you are a duchess now,Your Grace.” She sneered the honorific. “I will not have you leading my daughter down the primrose path with you. All this time I’d been under the impression that the two of you were at a house party together until my niece here came to my home yesterday after her carriage broke down nearby and informed me that you were both here, only a few miles away.”
Julian’s head swiveled toward Lucy. “Your Grace?”
Jane and Garrett groaned.
Penelope looked as she did when they were children and she’d tried to solve a particularly difficult maths equation, a cross between pure confusion and a bit of nausea.
Cass’s parents both stared at Julian as if he’d lost his mind.
“Surely you recognize your hostess, the Duchess of Claringdon? Though I daresay she brings the title down a bit,” Lady Moreland said.
Lucy winced and turned her head sharply to the side as if she’d been slapped.
That was it. Cass marched down the stairs. She’d been a coward for far too long. She couldn’t allow Lucy to be treated with such disrespect by her parents, devil take the consequences.
“Mother!”
All pairs of eyes turned to look up at her.
“Mother?” Julian echoed the word, looking back and forth between Cass and her mother.
Cass marched down the stairs and made her way to the center of the group. “I will not allow you to speak to my friend so indecorously in her own home.” Cass put her hands on her hips and glared at her mother.
“It’s all right, Cass—” Lucy began, reaching out as if to soothe her.
Cass brushed her friend’s hand away. “No. It’s not all right. They’ve had weeks to get used to the fact that you married Derek and I didn’t, and it’s high time they began treating you with the respect due your title.”
She knew that with each word, she was revealing herself to Julian. And she was still being a coward because this way, this way might be like quickly ripping a bandage from a wound, but everything would be out. Everything would be obvious.
She couldn’t look at Julian but she could feel his gaze on her, watching her, piecing everything together.
“You demand that I treat this little baggage with respect?” her mother said in a voice that clearly indicated how shocked she was that Cass was standing up to her.
“Yes, and if the duke were here, he’d toss you out for being so impertinent to his bride.”
“Yes, I’m about to toss you out as well,” Garrett added.
Cass’s mother opened her mouth to speak again but Julian intervened. He turned to Lucy. “Wait a moment. Am I to understand from this bit of conversation that you are, in fact, Lucy Hunt, the Duchess of Claringdon? Derek’s wife?”
Jane and Garrett winced.
This time Penelope piped up. “Of course she is, Captain Swift. Who did you think she was? You’ve been staying at her house for the last week.”
Julian narrowed his eyes on Lucy, who had the grace to look apologetic. “I thought her name was Lady Worthing.” He continued to watch Lucy, but he addressed his remarks to the others.
“I sort of… invented that title,” Lucy offered, biting her lip. Oh, this was not good. Lucy never bit her lip.
Julian quickly snapped his head to the side to confront Cass. “And you? You’re not Patience Bunbury, are you?”
Penelope’s mouth dropped straight open. “What nonsense are you talking about? That’s my cousin Cass. She’s been writing to you for years. Don’t you remember her?”
Tears burned the backs of Cass’s eyes but she held them in. She didn’t have the right to cry. She didn’t have the right to do anything, anything other than stand here and let Julian realize the truth. And hate her for it.
