AFTER JAMES left, Juliana returned to the ballroom, furious and intending to find Amanda.
Before she had a chance, Amanda found her.
"Whom?" the older girl asked, tears spilling from her red-rimmed eyes. "Whom is Lord Stafford in love with?"
"I told you not to try to trick him again! And why on earth did you tell him you're engaged?" People were gawking at them, so Juliana hurried her to a corner of the ballroom where they could talk behind a potted palm. "Now he'll never agree—" She stopped short, finally registering Amanda's question. "What makes you think Lord Stafford is in love with anyone?"
"He told me! I kissed him, and then—"
"You kissed him?" A stab of jealousy took Juliana by surprise. Or, all right, to be honest, she wasn't surprised. But it certainly felt bad and very wrong. "What did he do then?"
"He pushed me away. You said he would fall in love with me, but he pushed me away!"
The jealousy faded as quickly as it had flared, replaced instead by elation. Unmistakable, jubilant elation. Juliana had never felt more buffeted by uncontrollable emotions, and she wondered how she could feel so exultant when Amanda was clearly so desperate. But she couldn't seem to help herself. Amanda had kissed James, and he'd reacted by pushing her away.
She must be a bad, bad person, because she wanted to scream with joy.
"I asked him if he'd just cooperate," Amanda continued with a pathetic sniffle, "and compromise me so my father would have to let me marry him. But he said he couldn't, because he's in love with another woman." She heaved another prolonged, woebegone sniff. "Who is it?"
"I don't know," Juliana said. It wasn't a lie. She had her suspicions, but she didn't know.
James had claimed he would never fall in love with anyone. While he'd certainly never pushed her away, no declaration of love had passed his lips. He'd never called her my love or even my dear. He'd never sent her flowers. And he'd seemed very angry that she'd deceived him regarding Amanda's engagement.
"I don't know," she repeated, looking away.
Because although she didn't know, she couldn't help hoping…
Her gaze wandered the ballroom, past Lord Malmsey dancing with Aunt Frances. Had her meddling doomed them both to despair? Even if James did love her and eventually forgave her, how could she ever be happy with him while she knew other people she cared for were miserable?
And then there was the duke…
Having at last emerged from the card room, he stood gazing at her, a heated look in his eyes. He'd never looked at her with that sort of expression before. Just her luck, now that she'd decided she couldn't marry him, he'd finally decided he wanted her.
Amanda shifted uneasily beside her. "Why is David looking at me like that?"
"Like what?" Juliana asked. Then she blinked. And stared.
Dear heavens, the duke wasn't looking at her at all, let alone like that. He was looking at Amanda. Like that. Could the duke love Amanda?
Amanda?
Well, why not? she suddenly realized, glancing back and forth between them and recalling all of their interactions. Honestly, it was amazing she hadn't considered the possibility much earlier. The duke and Amanda were two peas in a pod. Two perfectly round, blemishless peas, with about as much passion between them as one would expect from a pair of legumes.
The duke and Amanda were ideal for each other. Absolutely ideal. He related better to Amanda than he ever had to her. Amanda's cold upbringing had matched his own, after all. The two of them understood each other.
She turned back to face Amanda. "It's a shame you won't marry a by-blow, because that would solve everything."
Amanda bit her lip. "I would marry a by-blow if the by-blow was the duke," she said meekly.
Juliana gasped. "Are my ears deceiving me? Did you just say you would marry the duke?"
"You were right all along." Instead of looking down at her feet as she used to, Amanda met Juliana's eyes. "He's not to blame for his parents' mistakes, and he's kind and a good man."
"Then whyever did you say no last night? With such vehemence, no less?"
"You want to marry him yourself. You've been trying so hard to help me. The last thing I want to do is repay you by stealing your intended. You're such a good friend."
"You're a good friend, too." Juliana took Amanda's hands. "I don't want to marry the duke. I want you to have him instead. Wait here," she added, squeezing her fingers before she released them. "I'm going to make it happen."
As she walked toward the duke, she couldn't help noticing that his blond, pristine handsomeness matched Amanda's pale beauty precisely. If he didn't realize they belonged together, she would see that he soon did.
Coming to a stop before him, she looked up into blue eyes as bland as Amanda's. "You're not in love with me," she said. Although he'd claimed he was falling in love with her, it was a statement, not a question. "You're in love with Lady Amanda."
"I wouldn't go so far as to call it love," he demurred. "But I hold her in some affection."
Juliana supposed it was the most Amanda could ever expect, since it was the most the woman could give herself. Neither of them possessed enough emotion for anything stronger.
"Would you like to marry her?" she asked.
He hesitated, but only a moment. "Very much. Even though she doesn't come with a horse."
"Pardon?"
"Never mind. I would definitely like to marry her. Unfortunately, I understand she's engaged to another."
"She told you that?" Juliana asked. But obviously, Amanda had. While Juliana and James were kissing, Amanda and the duke must have been talking. "We can fix her engagement," she said. "But first you need to ask her for her hand."
The duke nodded gravely.
"It might help to tell her how you feel," she advised as she walked him toward Amanda, thinking him the sort of man to forget that. "You may want to exaggerate a bit."
After delivering him to her friend, she backed away and watched from afar as he and Amanda conducted a conversation that looked more like a business discussion than a proposal. In the end, when Amanda nodded, he leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek.
It seemed an auspicious beginning. Maybe after a year or two they'd progress to kissing on the lips.
Perhaps within a decade they'd make a child.
The negotiations complete, they summoned Juliana. In the course of the next half hour, the three of them came up with a plan. After church tomorrow, they would all attend Lady Hartley's breakfast party, where, at precisely three o'clock, Amanda would be caught in the library with the duke, her dress unbuttoned down the back.
Amanda blanched when Juliana suggested the last bit, but they all agreed it was necessary to assure her ruin. By the time Amanda's father arrived that evening, her compromise would be a fait accompli. He would have to allow her to marry the duke.
"Will you ask Lord Stafford to help 'discover' us?" Amanda asked.
"No. He told me he won't be in attendance." Juliana thanked goodness for that, because he'd never approve of their plot. "But I'm sure plenty of other people will come running when I call, so there's no need for him to be involved."
With any luck, James would never hear about what happened at all.
And after all was said and done, if she was fortunate enough to learn he loved her, she would never—never ever—meddle again.