Confessions of a Royal Bridegroom(90)

CHAPTER Fourteen



Justine stared moodily at her plate, resisting the urge to glare at her husband at the other end of the polished dining room table. He was engaged in an animated conversation with her cousin, Serena, Lady Danforth. Serena—one of Justine’s least favorite persons—was a tall, slender beauty with smooth golden hair that always did exactly what it was told to do. She was also married to one of the most boring men in London, one who barely noticed her and didn’t give a fig that his wife carried on any number of flirtations—if not worse—with the ton’s most disreputable men.

Exactly the kind of woman to spark Griffin’s sexual interest, apparently.

“Justine, my dear, I don’t believe you’ve been listening to me,” her uncle said with quiet reproof. “I don’t know where your manners have gone missing this evening. It is most unlike you.”

With a guilty start, she flashed her uncle an apologetic smile. “I’m so sorry, Uncle William. I am a bit distracted but that’s no excuse for bad manners.”

Her uncle, seated in the place of honor at the head of the table, across from their hostess, Lady Thornbury, inspected her with grave concern.

“I suppose it’s to be expected,” he said in a low voice. “I was never more shocked than when you wrote to me to inform me of your marriage. I can only be grateful that your dear aunt and grandfather are no longer with us to see the unhappy result of your reckless behavior. Really, my dear, what were you thinking?”

If that was her uncle’s idea of making her feel better, he might as well stick her in a pot of boiling oil and get it over with.

“I don’t believe I had a choice, sir,” she tried to explain for what seemed the umpteenth time. She did truly love her uncle, who had always been the soul of kindness to her, but he tended to be a tad dense at times and as high in the instep as his father had been. “Under the circumstances, accepting Mr. Steele’s offer of marriage seemed the only acceptable course of action open to me.”

Uncle William rested his knife and fork across his empty plate with careful precision. “I do not fault you for accepting his offer of marriage, Justine. There was no other course of action and I am indeed grateful that Mr. Steele seems to possess at least some small remnant of respectability. What disturbed me was your initial decision to take up a position in his household. Not only was that exceedingly foolhardy, it was well beneath your notice.”

Justine could barely hold back a wince. Under her present situation, she could hardly argue with her uncle’s logic. “I did it for Sir Dominic, you see,” she said. “He needed my help.”

By the look on her uncle’s face, she might as well have waved a red cloth in front of a bull.

“I have always held it as a great misfortune that Sir Dominic has such an influence over you,” her uncle said in a frosty voice. “I am convinced he was at fault for my dear brother’s unfortunate career, which ultimately led to his death. Edward was a reckless young boy, but I’m sure he would have eventually come round if he hadn’t fallen under Sir Dominic’s influence. Your grandfather never approved of him, either.”

Justine stifled a sigh, nodding as one of the footmen took away her plate. There was no point in trying to convince Uncle William that her father’s duties in the Service had focused his reckless energy, guiding it into a useful path that allowed him to utilize his quick wits and restless intelligence. And even though he died too soon, Justine was convinced that without Dominic’s guidance, her father would have come to a bad end at a much earlier age, perishing in a foolish carriage race or losing every penny he had at the gaming tables.