"What else are you looking for in a husband?" she asked.
Amanda pondered the question a moment more. "I would like for him to play chess. If I'm to live away from Aunt Mabel, I'd like someone with whom to play chess."
Juliana doubted James had time for chess, either. Which was why she was surprised to hear Rachael say, "Lord Stafford definitely plays chess."
"However do you know that?" she asked.
Having finished sewing the coat, Rachael knotted the thread. "When Griffin came out of the card room last night, I overheard him saying he'd lost thirty guineas to Lord Stafford playing chess."
"Thirty guineas!" Although Juliana enjoyed a hand of cards now and then and certainly understood the appeal of a bet, she wasn't sure she approved of wagering significant sums. Surely that sort of money could be better spent elsewhere—donated to the Foundling Hospital, for instance. "I had no idea Griffin gambled such high stakes."
"I don't expect he usually does," Rachael said, looking amused. "He seemed a bit foxed, which isn't usual for him, either. In any case"—she smiled at Amanda—"Lord Stafford does enjoy chess."
Juliana jumped on that positive attribute. "See, there's more to him than appearance and status."
"He's also a physician," Claire reminded her.
"That, too. Which means he's intelligent and he cares for people."
"He limps," Amanda pointed out.
"Only slightly. And does it signify?"
"Indeed, it shouldn't." Corinna looked up from her easel. "He sounds like a paragon. Why don't you marry him, Juliana?"
"Don't be a goose. I have a duke courting me."
How quickly her dismal prospects had changed. Was it only yesterday she'd despaired of finding a husband? Not only had the duke danced with her twice at Lady Hammersmithe's ball—making brows rise and tongues wag—but toward the end of the evening he'd very kindly asked if he might pay her a call tomorrow afternoon.
She'd accepted, of course. She wasn't an idiot. There wasn't a man in London more perfect than the duke. Maybe she wasn't in love yet, but she was certain she would be soon.
"By the end of the season, I may be the Duchess of Castleton."
Amanda's mouth dropped open. "You'd marry the Duke of Castleton?"
"Wouldn't you?"
"No!" She looked horrified at the mere idea. "Everyone knows he's a by-blow."
Everyone but Juliana, evidently. During all those seasons she'd missed while in mourning, it seemed she'd also missed some fascinating gossip. "What do you mean?"
"It's an open secret," Rachael explained. "The previous duke was away for a year, looking after his interests on the Continent, when his wife conceived a child here in London. To this day, no one knows who sired the child. It really doesn't signify, though, since the last duke arrived home before the current duke was born and acknowledged him as his son."
"It signifies to me," Amanda disagreed. "Marriage to a known by-blow would taint my family."
"How?" Juliana asked. "He's a duke, for heaven's sake. His parentage hasn't affected his standing in society. He's accepted in the best circles."
"I'd never be certain of my children's true heritage. For all we know, the duke could have been fathered by a footman!"
"I cannot see why that makes a difference," Rachael said, "considering the last duke claimed him for a son."
"I'd never trust him to be true to me."
"Why would he be unfaithful?" Juliana wondered. "I imagine the last thing he'd want would be to subject his own children to the shame he's had to live with."
Amanda raised one of her newly plucked brows. "You know what they say: like father, like son."
"They also say the sins of the father shouldn't be visited on the child." Juliana felt sorry the man had been forced to grow up under this cloud. "The circumstances weren't any fault of his. He was a victim, not to blame. You're being entirely too judgmental."
But facts were facts, and the fact was that straitlaced Amanda would never consent to marry the duke. Of course, that didn't matter, since Juliana wanted him for herself. Amanda belonged with Lord Stafford.
Juliana handed her the second Shrewsbury cake, hoping it would help convince her that James was the right man for her. That was why she'd risen at dawn this morning to bake them, after all—they were supposed to help convince people. "Did you meet a man you liked better than Lord Stafford?"
"No," Amanda said. "But there are many more men to meet."
"Not this season. They seem to be staying home." Juliana smeared jam on a cake for herself. "I wonder if it's because of all the cold and wet."
"Now you're being a goose." Corinna swirled her brush in green paint. "I'm having a marvelous time this season—there are plenty of eligible men."
Of course she was having a marvelous time. It was her first season, and Griffin wasn't pressuring her to marry. Not yet, anyway. Juliana was supposed to wed first. "Don't tell me you've fallen in love."
"I'm not in any hurry." Corinna dabbed at her canvas, creating a grassy field out of nothing.
Juliana would never figure out how she did that. Feeling edgy, she rose and wandered closer to scrutinize the bucolic scene. A man and a woman walked hand in hand over rolling hills. Corinna never used to paint people—only landscapes and still lifes. But this past year she'd been adding people to her paintings more and more often.
And not just any people. Lovers. Maybe she was falling in love. "Are you sure?" Juliana asked.
"I don't have time to fall in love right now." Corinna added a dab of white to the green paint on her palette. "My art is more important. Next year, I plan to submit to the Royal Academy."
Juliana nearly choked on her cake. "No women have been elected to the Royal Academy for years."
"Forty-eight years, to be exact. Not since 1768." Corinna mixed the colors together, creating a lighter shade of green. "But I'm not expecting to be elected immediately. My
