Page 39 of The Lion Duke's Proposal
“Yes,” the boy said proudly. “Uncle Leander says I’m his favorite, and I’m allowed to stay any time I like.”
Julia wondered who Benjamin’s father was to enjoy such privilege with such a quiet and private person. A close brother or sister?
“Ho!” called a voice from afar, and Julia looked up to see Poppy returning with the Duke and another man in tow. He was a little shorter than the Duke, and extremely handsome in a very traditional sense; the kind of man that would have ladies swooning over him the moment he entered a room. She recognized him after a moment as the referee of the Pall Mall game the other day, but she didn’t know his name. The Duke’s eyes were fixed on her in a way that made her shiver. The three of them hurried over towards the pair, and Benjamin leaped up, injured knee forgotten, and raced towards the stranger at full speed.
“Papa!”
“Ben!” The man reached out, lifted the boy, hugged him tightly, and put him on his shoulder. “I was worried about you! Where on earth did you get off to?”
“I fell out of a tree and then got lost,” the boy said forlornly, hiding his face in the man’s collar. “You didn’t find me, though. So I’m the winner.”
The man laughed. “Well, technically, Miss Norish is the winner since she’s the one who spotted you, wouldn’t you say?”
“That means she has to hide next!” Benjamin said.
“Perhaps I’ll play next time,” Julia said with a smile, standing to greet the cohort as they arrived at her spot and dusting her dress off.
“Miss Norish,” said the man, sweeping off his hat and flashing her a smile. “Anthony Thynne, Marquess of Claremont. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. I’m sorry that until now I haven’t had the opportunity - looking after this bundle of energy takes up most of my time.”
“Not at all, My Lord.” She curtsied politely. At the very least, this man seemed to be charming and amiable, which was a pleasant change from the way most of the guests at the party had behaved. “It’s wonderful to meet you, too.”
“I hope Benjamin was no bother?” he queried. “I knew hide-and-seek was a bad idea. The little rascal loves to find extraordinary hiding places.”
“Not at all,” Julia smiled. “It was Poppy that saw him, in fact.”
“Well, my sincere thanks to both of you for looking after him and bringing him back.” The Marquess smiled. “I’ll have to take him inside now, but I very much hope to make your acquaintance again another time.”
“Miss Penelope…” The Duke of Pridewell turned to Poppy as his friend retreated back towards the house. “I believe your auntwas looking for you earlier. She mentioned something about the grandson of one of the dowagers. You may want to seek her out.”
“Oh! Will you be alright alone, Julia?” Poppy asked.
Julia tried not to look at the Duke and just nodded. “I shall stay out here by the gazebo for a while with my book. I’ll come and find you later. Good luck with Aunt Violet.”
“Maybe she’s found a match for me!” her sister trilled, then, with a last nervous glance at the Duke, she rushed away, leaving the two of them alone.
Now that it was just her and the Duke, Julia felt that same strange, tingly atmosphere from the previous evening return. It was as though all her nerves were amplified, waiting for something to happen, although she didn’t know what. He smiled at her and offered his arm, and the dam suddenly broke, giving way to an odd sort of relief. She took it, and they began to walk back towards the gazebo.
The corner of his mouth shifted. They remained for a moment in the easy, unguarded silence that had begun to appear between them with increasing frequency. Julia tried to understand this new and quiet intimacy, but she could not place the moment when she first felt comfortable in the Duke’s presence.
Just then, the Duke’s eyebrows lifted high on his forehead, and he said, "I think that I should like to call you by your Christian name now.”
“Indeed?” She was surprised by this new idea.
He nodded. “Given the circumstances, Miss Norish has become a somewhat absurd formality."
Julia looked at him skeptically. "Has it?"
"We are, ostensibly, courting." The boyish grin that had lit his face a second ago disappeared. He said this statement with the dry practicality of a man discussing the weather. "If you continue to call me Your Grace and I continue to call you Miss Norish, nobody is going to believe we are enamored with each other."
She considered that. "Leander," she said, evaluating the shape of it.
He looked at her with an expression she couldn't quite read. "Julia," he replied.
It was only a name. She told herself it was only a name.
And yet the way he said it — quietly, with none of the performative warmth he used in public and none of the cool distance he used when he was managing her, did something she was not prepared for. It sat differently from Miss Norish. To her, it was assumed that he had already decided that she was worth the shortened distance. "Very well," she said, looking back toward the garden. "Leander."
“I watched you talking to Benjamin as we approached,” he said teasingly. “Were you trying to find out information about me?”
