Lord Love a Duke (10 page)

She yawned once more and stretched her tall
frame like a cat, shaking the silly memories off as a knock sounded
on her door. Her maid, Lily, entered with a steaming cup of
chocolate and began to prepare her toilette. Together they selected
a day gown of coral with a shimmering overlay of similarly-colored
gauze. A cream colored ribbon was tied around the empire waist, the
tails of the bow falling nearly to the floor in back. Juliet
finished her chocolate as Lily then gathered her mistress' long
tresses in a loose coil on the top of her head. Another cream
ribbon was interwoven within the coil, with several long tendrils
of hair allowed to escape down the center of her back. Satisfied
with her appearance, she slipped on cream slippers and padded down
the hall to see if Miranda still remained. Just as she began to
knock, the door was thrown open.

"Oh! You nearly scared me to death!" Miranda
laughed breathlessly. "My nerves are a little jumpy this morning. I
confess I am anxious to get this over with now that we have
begun."

"I am the same. I slept well, but
immediately awoke with a sense of anticipation laced with dread. I
do hope your brother has difficulty ascertaining from the outset
the culprit of this prank."

They linked arms and went down the stairs,
picking up the company of Miss Shaw and Lady Temperance on the way.
They waited, allowing the other ladies to enter the morning room
first, then gave each other a reassuring glance. Jonas was already
at the head of the table, his paper covering the lower half of his
face. He raised his cup of coffee for a drink but their view was
still obscured by the news sheets.

"I will ask him how he slept after I get my
plate. I'll look at his mouth then," Miranda whispered, leading her
friend toward the sideboard loaded with breakfast dishes. They
waved off the assistance of a nearby footman, preferring to choose
their own food. Their path was soon blocked by the sudden
appearance of Viscount Melville.

"Good morning, my ladies. I trust you both
slept well. Might I have the pleasure of serving you?" Before they
could answer he grabbed both their hands and led them to seats at
the table. He then moved back to the serving area and began to
select food for their plates.

"The nerve of that man," fumed Miranda. "He
is so high-handed I cannot stand it. He didn't even ask what we
would like to eat. I wager a guinea our plates will mimic his." She
nodded her head toward the Viscount's dish opposite them that
contained kippers, sausages, kidneys, and eggs. Juliet shuddered at
the thought of her plate containing even half that much food.

"I hope you are wrong, but fear I hope in
vain. Maybe he will – oh, thank you, my lord. Kippers and kidneys
this morning. How fortunate." Juliet smothered a smile and threw a
wide-eyed glance at Miranda. She added a wink just in time to see
the Duke lower his paper to watch the scene. She blushed at being
caught so informally and glanced away while trying to smother a
smile at his raised brows.

"I did not know your breakfast preferences
so endeavored to give you a generous selection from which to
choose." The Viscount looked so pleased with his efforts that
Juliet momentarily softened and did not have the heart to disparage
his efforts. Miranda felt no such hindrance.

"You should have asked me, my lord, and I
would have been happy to oblige you with the knowledge that I eat
only toast or pastries when breaking my fast." The sound of a
throat loudly clearing arose from the head of the table. "I thank
you all the same for your kind bounty," she added, then turned to
address her brother. "Jonas, I trust you slept comfortably last
night. You certainly look handsome and well-rested."

"Too brown," warned Juliet under her
breath.

The Duke's blue gaze narrowed slightly as he
stared at his sister over his paper. "I slept very well, thank you.
And you?"

"Oh, just perfect. I love the feather beds
in this house. Terribly soft and airy." She remembered the presence
of so many single gentlemen and colored slightly at her discussion
of beds, clamping her mouth shut.

"Well I also slept so well. In fact, I was
just telling Lady Temperance that very thing," offered Lady
Philippa, her eyes focused on the Duke. "You rooms are so
beautiful, the greens and peaches are just so soothing. It's all
so, so lovely."

So, so and so
, thought Juliet, once
again noting Lady Philippa's unfortunate tendency to embellish
every phrase with that word. She wished once again that she could
summon a form of fondness for the unlikeable sister of the
so
-
so
-likeable Earl of Dartmouth. How two siblings
could have such vastly different personalities was a mystery.
Juliet's attention drifted back to the table conversation as the
general consensus went up that all slept well on perfectly
comfortable beds. She nearly laughed at the banality when the Earls
of Aylesford and Bristol burst in the room with a cacophony of
noise.

"All right,
Your Grace
," sneered
Aylesford with mock deference, "you have called an early start to
the war this week, have you not?" He glared mightily down the
length of the table at the Duke.

"I beg your pardon?" asked Jonas, finally
lowering his paper to the table.

"Aye, you should beg my pardon, and my
forgiveness! Just look at my mouth! What kind of bacon-brained hoax
are you about? Look what you've done to me!"

"And me!" added Bristol. Both gentlemen took
the pause as their cue to smile brightly, revealing lips, teeth,
and gums to be a fierce shade of violet blue. Several gasps went up
around the table. Juliet slapped a hand to her mouth to keep her
amusement hidden, especially at her brother.

The Duke was silent for a moment then burst
out laughing. He put his coffee and paper down and stood to move
toward his friends.

"Oh, no, you don't!" shouted Bristol. "Stay
right where you are and explain yourself." Juliet had not seen her
brother so livid since she filled his bed with worms when they were
children. His face was a most shocking shade of pink, although it
complemented the violet shade of his mouth quite becomingly, she
thought, not-so-successfully smothering a laugh.

"Explain what?" He continued to walk toward
the Earls, chuckling softly as he scanned their faces. "I would,
however, be interested to hear your explanation as to how your
mouths turned that ghastly shade of blue?"

Aylesford straightened to his full height
and stormed over to the Duke, standing toe to toe, if not quite eye
to eye. "You know very good and well how this happened! What I want
to know is why you did it!" Juliet noticed the Earl's hands were
clenched and white-knuckled at his sides and she began to worry
this prank might lend itself to fisticuffs. She cast an uneasy
glance at Miranda, whose eyes were fastened on the unfolding scene
with a look that could only be described as gleeful. Juliet moved
her leg to kick her friend gently in the shin. She soon received a
less-than-gentle kick in return.

"I assure you I did not do anything to cause
your discoloration, if that is your insinuation. When last I saw
you, it was to bid you good night and collect your remaining blunt
at cards. When did this happen?"

Bristol threw a glance at Aylesford, who was
still fuming and glaring at the Duke. "We stopped by your study for
a glass or two of port before bed and both of us woke up like
this." He drew his hand up to gesture wildly at his mouth at the
end of his confession.

"So we want to know if you spiked your own
port in effort to keep us out," added Aylesford.

The Duke paused before speaking and glanced
briefly at Miranda, who quickly wiped her face clean of any
expression. The Duke returned his stare to his friend. “I have not
been in my study since working on business yesterday morning, and I
assure you I would not ruin good spirits on purpose. Come, let us
finish this discussion in private.” He held up his hands and
escorted the gentlemen from the dining room. Tittering conversation
broke out among the group around the table, save for Juliet and
Miranda. They quietly and quickly finished their tea, then removed
themselves outside to the garden.

"Well, that was a big success," Miranda
confided, leaning over to speak to Juliet in hushed tones despite
their isolation and solitude in the garden. Her countenance
radiating glee and merriment.

Juliet's head snapped around to stare at her
best friend. "Are you foxed? What about the scene we just witnessed
screamed 'success' to you?"

"Foxed on excitement and success to be sure!
I'll admit the joke was planned for Jonas, and while that didn't
work out, the sad fact that he escaped was blunted by two things.
First, we actually pulled a prank where two gentlemen had their
teeth stained blue. Second, the gentlemen we japed are members of
the LOO. If the joke had to fall on someone else, who better than
not one but two of those insufferably conceited lords? Oh, it was
all I could do not to spit out my scone when Lord Aylesford opened
his mouth. And your brother just sputtered and fumed. He could not
even speak!"

Miranda dissolved into huge gales of
laughter. Her words and obvious amusement proved too much for
Juliet and she joined in, sharing her friend's diversion. Her
mind's eye conjured up a picture of the blue mouths of the lords
and Juliet had to hold her sides in support as she fought to catch
her breath.

"Oh, Juliet! That color was so deep and
hideous! And they looked so wounded!" Miranda began to laugh in
earnest again.

"You make a good point – they did look
personally offended. Do you suppose they truly think your brother
responsible for the prank? That would be a stroke of good fortune.
If we somehow manage to turn the members of the LOO against each
other in a state of war over pranks we could easily avoid even the
suspicion of blame in all this. That would be the ultimate
joke!"

Miranda's eyes lit with mirth and a devilish
delight. "We need to play the next prank within two days. We'll let
them all stew and fret, then begin the next round."

"I take it you already have a plan then."
Juliet eyed her friend speculatively.

"Oh, yes! This came to me last night as I
couldn't sleep for wondering about that dyed port. Jonas rides
every morning before breakfast. Whenever the weather is hot, he
jumps in the pond to cool off afterward. As it is so terribly warm
right now he will surely swim and we need only to sneak down to the
pond and steal his clothes. He will have to walk back to the
stables quite the fair Abram.

"Oh Miranda, that prank could be beyond the
pale, and your mother would box your ears if she heard such vulgar
cant coming from your mouth.” Juliet sighed dramatically. “If this
is to be our plan I believe it must needs be a solo prank for you.
I do not need to be anywhere near a man without his clothes if I am
not related to him. I will accompany you for the alibi, but will
stop well short of the pond."

Juliet's cheeks flushed at the thought of
being near enough to spy on a naked Jonas. And when did she start
thinking of him by his first name only? She mentally steeled
herself to not lose her perspective or focus.
Your Grace. The
Duke. Your Grace
.
The Duke
.

"That's a good idea. If he somehow sees me I
can excuse my presence more readily alone than in your company. Now
what will be our alibi? We could go riding. Just taking a walk
could cast suspicion as we would be unlikely to walk to the pond as
somewhere else."

"Yes, definitely riding,” Juliet agreed. “We
will need to make it known we plan to ride on the beach. We'll be
removed a good distance from the pond that way. We can obtain our
mounts then you can backtrack to the pond quickly for his clothes.
We will meet up then ride out in the opposite direction for the
beach. Let's plan to do this two mornings from now, to put a little
distance between each prank." Juliet made a mental note to speak
her plans in general conversation to her parents and to the grooms
in the stables the morning of their folly.

Miranda nodded her head vigorously in
agreement. "Jules, this is turning out to be a fantastic house
party!"

The door to her chamber burst open the next
morning causing Juliet to scream, drop her sipping chocolate that
had just been handed her, and lose her towel, and all at the same
time.
Well it's good to know how I would react to an
intruder
, she thought ruefully as she stared at the cause of
her fright. Miranda burst into the room then stopped to stare at
the nude form standing on a chocolate-stained section of carpet.
Thank heavens her drink was much cooled from its earlier scald.

"Juliet! Whatever are you doing?"

"Right this minute? Trying to overcome the
desire to die of fright and mortification. To say your entrance
surprised me would be a gross understatement." Juliet knelt to
retrieve her towel and heard the distinctive clop of a man's boots
on the parquet floor of the hall. "For heaven's sake, shut the
door! Someone's coming and I am utterly at sixes and sevens!" she
yelled to Miranda. She wrapped herself securely in the towel and
ran behind her dressing screen.

"Juliet? Are you alright?" Her mother's
muffled questions sounded as she rapped staccato strikes repeatedly
on the door. "Juliet!”

Miranda wrenched the door open to a small
crowd of onlookers. Juliet stuck her head around the screen to
reassure her mother then gave a small groan at the sight of the
audience just outside her chamber. "Get rid of everyone" she hissed
to Miranda.