She and Delilah were close—they always had been and ever would be. Juliet had always sensed that the world saw them as two halves of the same whole, and growing up together close as twins, she had, too.
Until Rory had come along, and she’d become instantly besotted.
That feeling… She’d kept it to herself—forherself. If Delilah ever knew, she wouldn’t be able to help involving herself—or inserting some mischief.
And that was the last thing Juliet wanted.
Movement caught the edge of her eye. Two men were crossing the threshold into the hall.
The Viscount Kilmuir and His Grace Sebastian Crewe, the Duke of Ravensworth.
Instinctively, Juliet leaned back, toward the wall—she was even tempted to slip behind the arras—for all their attention was fixed on the hullabaloo happening around the stage. Juliet couldn’t quite make out the details, but Delilah’s hands were on her hips and she was standing between a pugnacious James Dalhousie and a condescending Oliver Quincy.
Both Kilmuir and Ravensworth stood tall and broad of shoulder and too handsome for their own good. But that was where their similarities ended. Where Kilmuir radiated gold and light, Ravensworth possessed an altogether different mien with his dirty blond hair and light amber eyes that shone with intensity and purpose. Further, Ravensworth had always been supremely aware of his devastating good looks, while Kilmuir remained utterly indifferent to his.
Where Kilmuir viewed life from a place of clear simplicity, Ravensworth was…complex. A dangerous air had ever swirled about him, which some ladies—manyladies—found irresistible.
Not Juliet.
He simply wasn’t the sort for her. She’d always known it instinctively.
And who was the sort for her?
Traitorous question.
Ravensworth’s gaze had found Delilah. It was always where his eye went—directly to Delilah. Like a magnet.
A specific energy pulsed between those two. Yet Delilah couldn’t stand to be in the same room with Ravensworth—not since the Eton scandal. Juliet had long sensed Ravensworth must’ve had a hand in it, but Delilah had revealed nothing.
Juliet wasn’t the only one keeping secrets.
She felt the heat of a gaze on the side of her face.
Her eyes shifted, and the breath caught in her throat.
Kilmuir was staring at her. Inquisitive and insightful were those turquoise eyes.
Then he was walking…
Towardher.
This was…new.
And the feeling shimmering through her veins…
She wasn’t sure she liked it. But one thing was almost certain.
She thought she might want more of it.
*
Rory wasn’t aboutto let Miss Windermere get away with that trick.
The one where she made herself invisible.
“Miss Windermere,” he said. Her emerald eyes took on the hunted aspect of a trapped animal.
Ravensworth had no choice but to follow, though Rory could see he would prefer to make straight for Delilah. He didn’t know what lay between those two, but they’d eventually sort it out.