“And when you tire of me?”
He couldn’t imagine that ever happening and asmile pulled at his lips. “How are you so certain I will? How doyou know we won’t be together forever?”
“You would expect me to remain your loverwhile you take a wife?” She scooted away from him. He hadn’tthought what would become of them when he did marry. He wasn’t evencertain Juliette wouldn’t be that wife. He needed time to sort itout, but the option wasn’t available to him. “No,” he finallyanswered. Regardless of who he married, he would never keep amistress.
“Then you marry and I am left alone inLondon, in a position that I must find another protector in orderto survive.”
“Not necessarily,” he argued as she pushedopen the door.
She hopped to the ground and glared back athim.
“Please, don’t go. Let’s talk. . .”
“There is nothing to talk about.” She slammedthe door of the carriage. “Arrivederci, Viscount Acker.” With thatshe ran up the steps to her home.
Acker sighed and fell back against the squabsand pushed his fingers through his hair. He had truly muddledthings this time. “Bloody hell.”
Juliette stepped inside her home, which hadbeen overrun with chaos since she left. The few servants they hadwere stacking crates in the parlor and all of her mother’s personalitems had been removed from the shelves. She went from room toroom. It was the same in each one of them.
Why had her mother decided to move again? Wasit because of her involvement with Lord Acker? If so, where werethey going next and would she be able to dance?
Slowly she drug herself up the stairs, afraidof what she might find. If the lower floor was already packed, inall likelihood the bedchambers were as well. If anything, hermother was efficient when it came to moving after having done it somany times. The entire household could be packed and ready withinhours.
Her sisters stood at the entry of their roomsdressed for travel. “So soon,” Juliette cried.
Maman sailed out of her bedroom, also dressedfor travel. “Yes. We will leave once you are changed.”
Juliette blinked at her mother and thensisters. She was tired of moving and it was already late into theevening. Couldn’t they wait until tomorrow to take up residence intheir new home?
“Hurry, Juliette.”
“Yes, Maman.” Juliette plodded into her room.All she really wanted to do was crawl in her bed and sleep for aweek. The devistation that Acker wanted her only as a lover stabbedthrough her heart, mixed with Carlo’s anger when she rejected him.He had never given her any indication he thought of her any morethan a dance partner. Juliette simply wanted everyone to leave heralone and never see a man for as long as she lived.
Maria was standing in her room, having putthe last of her things in the trunk. A traveling dress of slategrey was laid out on the bed, along with sturdy boots, gloves and ahat.
“I’ve packed everything you might need, MissMirabelle.”
“Thank you, Maria.”
“Let me help you change your clothing. Yourmother doesn’t want a moment wasted.”
With a sigh, Juliette let the cloak drop fromher shoulders and allowed Maria to help her change into thetraveling gown. If this much effort was going into packing a smalltrunk for what they may need to travel to their new home, they werenot simply moving across town. The last time they had packed inthis manner was when Maman decided to move from Paris to Milan.Where were they going now?
Her mother and sisters were waiting forJuliette in the foyer when she came downstairs.
“Be sure to have everything delivered to theshipping office. I will send the address once we have found ahouse.”
“I will,” Greco, their butler responded. “Allwill be taken care of pursuant to your instructions.”
“When the house is sold, take your salariesand deposit the rest in my account.”
The man nodded.
“You may stay on as long as it takes to findnew positions. I’ve left letters of reference for each of you on mydesk.”
“Gracie,” Maria said from her place on thestairs beside Juliette.
“Thank goodness you are ready, Juliette. Wemust be off.” With that her mother turned for the door and glidedout and down the stairs to the waiting carriage.
The sisters followed. “Where are we going?”Juliette whispered to them.
They both shrugged and followed Maman intothe carriage.
Once they were settled and the horses movedinto traffic her mother clapped her hands together. “Guess where weare going?”
The sisters exchanged looks.
“Home.”
“Home?” Juliette asked. Which home? She hadlived in dozens of them.
“England.”
Each of them suffered a sharp intake ofbreath.
“Long ago I was exiled from England. Thegentleman who made that happen is now dead. None of us haveanything to fear any longer and it is time we returned.”
Spring, 1814, London
Acker stood at the window in the library andlooked out at the moonlight shining down on Berkley Square. A yearago today he first saw Juliette as she gracefully danced across thestage. He had made so many mistakes where she was concerned and somuch had changed in the past year.
The certainties he believed in were washedaway by the mere repeat of vows.
He had believed that he and Eleanor wouldmarry and one of the reasons he could not ask Juliette to be hiswife. Eleanor was now the wife of his close friend, the Earl ofBentley and happier than Acker could ever remember seeing her. Heand Eleanor may have been content together, but never happy.Eleanor would never have loved him. At least not the way she lovedBentley and Acker simply had wanted to marry her to make her lifeeasier. It wasn’t a horrible reason, but it wasn’t a reason to wedeither.
He tossed back what remained of his brandyand poured another. If he were honest with himself, that wasn’t thesole reason he did not ask Juliette to be his wife. He fearedridicule by the ton. How would they react if he married aballerina? He had been such a fool and he had lost her.
Where had she gone?
It was a question he had asked himself dozensof times over the last year.
