Dukes By the Dozen

“She’ll no longer be calling you Julia, of that you can be certain.” He put his hands to her waist and carefully pulled her toward him. “And you needn’t worry about me with Lady Venerton or any other woman. I don’t even see any other women besides you.”

He lowered his face to hers, and the flutter in Julia’s stomach teased up into her heart.

A hearty knock came from the door. “Stedton, you devil, you’ve kept me waiting nearly three days for good company.” Lord Bursbury’s voice boomed from the other side of the door. “Let’s get a solid match of boxing in before the ladies finish whatever it is that they do in their drawing room. Knit scarves for puppies or paint pictures of lace doilies, or something of the like.”

William’s head rested brow-to-brow on Julia’s and he chuckled good-naturedly. “Tonight, then?”

“Tonight,” she whispered. And then, as an afterthought, added. “Knitting scarves for puppies, or boxing?”

“Boxing by far, but if you see a tea cake with a lump of marzipan atop it…”

“I’ll save you one,” Julia promised. She placed a chaste kiss on William’s cheek, and swept from the room.

Lord Bursbury offered a quick bow and had the good sense to appear uneasy at having been discovered being so very male. “Don’t tell Nancy I said that when you see her.”

“I’m sure she’s already well aware,” Julia said with a wave. “But your secret is safe with me.”

With one final look back in the room at her handsome husband, she made her way downstairs for games with the ladies, anticipating the night when she would have the opportunity to discover even more about her husband.

WILLIAM BLOCKED his face and launched a fist at Bursbury’s nose. The earl ducked and twisted around, exactly as William had anticipated. He delivered the final blow to Bursbury’s ribs knocking the wind from him.

Bursbury bent over. “I concede.”

William held out a hand to him.

Bursbury accepted and hauled himself to standing. “Three of five?” he asked jovially, unperturbed by having lost both rounds. He glanced to the garden benches where the rest of the men sat. “Any of you game for a round or two of boxing?”

Bursbury’s brother-in-law, the Marquis of Hesterton, sat on a bench by himself, nursing a scotch. A neighbor of the Bursbury’s, Viscount Mortry, sat in morose silence. Neither bothered to look up. Lord Venerton would certainly not be interested, as he napped with a nasal snore, his head drooping on his thin chest.

At least Venerton had bothered to come out at all. Lord Doursby had groused about the chill and kept inside.

“Hesterton?” William called out.

The marquis purposefully shifted his braced leg in answer to why he wasn’t boxing. “If you wanted me to be truly miserable, you could make Lady Jane aware of my presence out here rather than force me to box.” Hesterton gave an unamused smirk.

William lifted his brows to Bursbury, who answered with one of his wide grins. “Nancy’s at it again with her matchmaking. Poor Hesterton has been hounded by the little debutante for the last three days.” He lowered his voice. “It’s really quite comical.”

“I heard that,” Hesterton said dryly.

“What about you, Mortry?” Bursbury regarded his sullen neighbor.

The man did not even bother to lift his dark head. “I’m already on the losing side of wrestling with my own thoughts. I don’t quite think I can take on boxing.” His dull gaze continued to stare off in the distance.

How very…odd. William cast a quizzical glance to Bursbury.

“Just you wait,” Bursbury said quietly. “The women love him.”

The French doors to the veranda opened and out poured a stream of women, resplendent in their long-sleeved outdoor attire.

“Are you boxing again?” Lady Bursbury put her hands to her hips and gave her husband a chastising look.

“It was Stedton’s idea.” Bursbury ran up the short flight of steps and pressed a kiss to his wife’s cheek. Immediately, her stern expression melted.

“Then I hope you won.” Lady Bursbury might have said something else, but Julia strode from the house at that exact moment and William’s attention went immediately to his lovely new bride.

She made her way down the stairs, as he rushed toward her to keep her from having to walk on the snow in her satin slippers.

“It’s freezing out here.” Her breath came out in a little puff of fogged air. “I saw you boxing.” She gazed up at him with wide blue eyes. “It appeared you won twice.”

He cocked his head to the side in an indication it didn’t matter. Truly it didn’t. His accomplishments never garnered attention among the families who had fostered him.

“Impressive.” Her expression turned coy. “Cards or charades?”

“Cards.” He offered his hand to her to lead her back into the house. “Is it time to dress for dinner? Already?”

She accepted. “It is.”

Lady Venerton swept past them, purposefully going on William’s side and brushing against his person. She lingered when her breasts grazed his arm and her cheeks went pink. “Goodness, do forgive me.” She blinked up at him innocently. “I was simply going to wake my husband.”