The Accidental Marriage Read Online Free Page B

perhaps?’ Sir Carey said smoothly. He could not suppress the feeling that she would be a much livelier companion than her sister, who appeared to be a rather timid, unconfident woman.
    They looked alike, superficially, but Julia was taller, more slender, and had slightly darker, honey-coloured hair, and deeper blue, almost violet, eyes. She was more vivid in every way, in both looks and deportment.
    Julia smiled and took his hand, and he led her towards the nearest ballroom, where the musicians were playing a waltz.
    ‘Oh dear,’ she said, and laughed. ‘Frederick will disapprove for days. He thinks the waltz is depraved. I doubt he’ll dance it even with his wife. It was to prevent you from dancing with her that he claimed her hand.’
    Sir Carey grinned. ‘I don’t suppose you will allow his disapproval to affect you.’
    He placed his arm about her waist and swung her into the crowd of dancers. She was, as he’d expected, an excellent dancer, and they twirled about, dipping and swaying to the music.
    ‘Heavens, no! I’ve suffered his displeasure ever since he met Fanny. I’m just thankful he doesn’t expect me to live with them all the time.’
    ‘You live with your parents?’
    ‘My parents died five years ago. I lived with Fanny and Frederick until my come out, but when I didn’t take - and how could I have done with no portion and no great beauty to compensate, like the Gunnings sisters - I started to earn my living as a companion. I’m only here now because Fanny’s governess declined to come at the last minute, and I was looking for a new position. You are dancing with a humble governess, sir!’
    ‘Not so humble,’ he retorted, laughing. ‘So you are in charge of those delightful little girls. No doubt they prefer that to whatever governess they had before.’
    ‘You, sir, are a flatterer,’ she said. ‘I wouldn’t mind being a governess if all my charges were so clever and amenable. It would be a pleasant change from grooming dogs and cats.’
    She gave an involuntary shiver, and his arm tightened about her waist.
    ‘What do you mean?’
    Julia laughed, and explained. ‘I applied for a position where I would have been expected to groom cats. I have nothing against the creatures, apart from when they are being brushed and combed against their will.’
    Sir Carey laughed. ‘I have a cousin who spends all his money commissioning statues and paintings of his menagerie - or should I call it cattery? When I last heard, he had at least two dozen.’
    He grew pensive, thinking of his cousin Daniel. He was wealthy, but a miser, spending as little as possible apart from his obsession with the felines. When he glanced at Julia she was eyeing him with a slight frown in her eyes, but she did not ask to be told his thoughts.
    The waltz ended and they went back to where they had left Fanny and Frederick. They had disappeared, and reluctant to abandon Julia on her own in a crowd that was becoming boisterous, he suggested they found some food and glasses of wine.
    The buffets were lavish, and they loaded plates and took them to a small side room which had been set with small tables.
    It was half an hour before Fanny, looking flustered, found them. A pity, Sir Carey couldn’t help thinking. Julia was an interesting companion, with sensible, firm views of her own, but he knew he had monopolized her company for too long.
    ‘I trust we’ll meet again soon,’ he said, bowing himself away.
    * * * *
    Fanny sank onto the chair he had vacated, and Julia looked closely at her.
    ‘What’s the matter?’ she asked. ‘Where’s Frederick?’
    ‘Oh, he’s dancing. With some Russian girl, I understand. He said when we were introduced that he’d met her in London. I think she was something to do with the Tsar’s sister, perhaps one of her ladies. But the Grand Duchess is not here, so I don’t understand why she is.’
    Julia suppressed a sigh. Frederick was clearly up to his old tricks, but it was scarcely