Juliette blew out a breath andAcker knew he had said the wrong thing. He should have simply saidhe would support her in whatever she wished to do. Instead he hadbeen truthful and now she probably hated him.
The coach slowed to a stop and helooked out the window. There was nothing around but trees andfields. Bentley pushed open the door. “Why are we stopping,” hecalled up to the driver.
“Young Paul needed a bit ofprivacy, Lord Bentley.”
Just then the lad dashed acrossthe short field, holding himself as he ran into a copse of trees.Acker would have laughed at the sight if Juliette wasn’t so angrywith him at the moment.
Juliette stood and stumbled to thedoor, practically tripping over Bentley’s foot.
“Where you going?” Acker askedwith concern.
“I am going to ride with mymother.” With that she jumped from the coach and slammed the doorbehind her. Juliette turned toward the rear coach and Acker wantedto call out that her mother rode in the first one but thoughtbetter of it. A moment later she marched past, one sister on eitherside of her. Oh dear, she was angry and Acker wondered if he wouldbe able to hear her yelling from a coach away as theytraveled.
Paul emerged from the woods andran toward the middle coach. He and Bentley shared a look. Surelythey weren’t all crowding in the first coach with their mother.There were already four people. Seven would make it unbearablycramped.
A footman jumped to the ground andopened the coach door. Acker looked over to see his mother standingthere. Juliette must have booted her. Was it because of the spaceor was Juliette angry with mother because she had given birth tohim.
Eleanor slid over so his mothercould take a seat. “Well, what do you have to say for yourself?”she demanded of Bentley.
He shrugged. “I simply told hershe would no longer be dancing and that it wasn’tnecessary.”
She turned cool eyes on Acker. “Isuppose you agreed with him?”
“I agreed that it was not done fora lady of society to be a dancer and that there were more optionsavailable to her now.”
Lady Acker then turned to Eleanorfor clarification. Acker hadn’t been paying much attention to herwhile Bentley and Juliette argued. Eleanor was shaking her head,mouth pursed. Good God, even she was displeased. “In essence,”Eleanor began with a glare at her husband. “They dictated how Juliawould not go about her life and being a ballerina was notacceptable.”
His mother speared Bentley with astare. “I thought you had changed.”
“So did I,” Eleanor muttered andturned to look out the window.
Juliette was angry with bothBentley and himself and now Eleanor and his mother were as well.Acker turned toward the window too. Bloody hell this was amess.
As much as Juliette wished to rantand rave about the pigheadedness of Bentley and Acker, sherefrained. It was only because her mother was resting and didn’twish to disturb her. Her sisters had looked at her oddly whenpulled from the coaches and marched to maman’s and she could onlyhastily whisper to them that Bentley had ruled that she will notdance and how dare he decide what she would and would notdo.
Both of her sister’s eyes flashed with anger.She knew Genviève and Hélène would support her even if nobody elsedid. Besides, Hélène had no intention of giving up acting either soit would be them against the rest of the family. Even thoughJuliette wished to discuss it with her mother, since the womanalready had experience with an overbearing Bentley, she did not.Her mother needed to rest and Juliette wasn’t going to add herproblems onto her fragile health.
It was nearing sunset when the coach stoppedfor the last time. She was assisted out after the carriage andstopped to stare up at the Elizabethan Mansion. The place was huge.It rose four floors above ground and was as long as it was tall.The lawn was meticulously manicured with fresh gravel in the driveand bushes, neatly trimmed, blanketed the lower portion of thehouse beneath the windows. This was to be her home? She had livedhere as a child?
Juliette tried to bring forth memories butshe had none of this home.
Her mother appeared in the doorway and lookedup. “I never thought to return here,” she said with somesadness.
Juliette turned and took the arm opposite theone the footman was holding and assisted her mother to the ground.Perhaps this wasn’t a wise decision. Maman did not have happymemories of this home. Surely there was somewhere else they couldstay.
The large doors opened and servants filed outand formed a straight line. Was this how a lord was greeted when hereturned home? This world was more foreign than any place she hadlived before. Juliette linked her arm with mamans and followedBentley toward the door. Angry as she was with him at the moment,maman was more important. She needed to get her settled into bed.The sooner she rested the quicker she could recover.
Older servants were at the head of the line.When they saw Juliette and her mother their expressions changedfrom politeness to shock and disbelief. They must have worked herewhen maman was still in residence. Bentley paused before the smallgrouping of older servants and whispered to them. Juliette wishedto know what he said but she could not hear him. They nodded and hemoved on.
She stepped through the entry with her motherand sisters and was in awe of her surroundings. A chandelier hungfrom the center with dozens of candles brightening the spaciousarea and a wide, marble staircase curved up to the second level ofthe house.
Juliette knew she had been here before inthat she felt it deep inside without any specific memory. There wasfamiliarity but nothing she could grasp onto and a mixture of fearand happiness assaulted her. For a moment Juliette found itdifficult to breath.
Bentley closed the door to the others. Onlyhe, his brothers, her sisters and maman were inside. Wasn’t it rudeto keep the others outside waiting?
“Lady Bentley, it is good to have you home,”an elderly woman smiled.
“Nurse?” her mother
