“You do not understand. I am already on thin ice. This is going to destroy me. It'll destroy my father. For heaven's sake, it will destroy Willowbrook.”
“Lady Juliet—”
“I can't breathe. Why can't I breathe?—”
“Lady Juliet—”
“Why can't I breathe?!”
“Juliet!” Weston had no choice but to grab her arms as his voice rose.
She froze in place. He was touching her.Whywas he touching her?
Weston seemed to realize he had gone too far as well, and his hands slowly fell off her arms.
“Perhaps you need to take your mask off.” He said, pointing to the embroidered mask on her face.
“You jest a lot, my lord.”
“Look, whatever trouble is coming now can't get any worse. Would you prefer to die from lack of air, at this ball, for that matter? Take it off.”
Juliet reached for her mask and slowly loosened it off her face.
“Do you feel any better?”
“A little.” Juliet replied, holding on to her mask for dear life.
“How fast do you reckon this spreads?” Weston asked, looking through the path he'd come into the garden.
“Knowing Lady Violet, I would say the whole of London is going to find out about this before the day breaks.”
Weston felt his heart drop. The last thing he needed was a scandal. This was supposed to be a quick thing for him. He camefor Anne. He didn't come to get himself in the middle of some salacious gossip. He wasn't here to become a staple on every mouth across London.
His thoughts were interrupted by growing murmurs, causing his heart to drop even further.
“Oh, Lord.” He heard Juliet whimper.
“What exactly is happening here?” Juliet heard her father's unmistakably angry voice soar through the quiet garden.
She placed her mask on her face one more time. Weston turned to look at her.
“I prefer to do it this way.” She said, not waiting for him to protest.
Soon, the soft bushes parted ways, and her father appeared behind them. He was followed by her half-brother, his wife, and a worried Aunt Grace.
Juliet felt her cheeks heat up.The whole family was here.
“What have you gotten yourself into, sister?” Adam asked, moving closer to her. “Was last year not enough of a lesson to you?”
Juliet shut her eyes tightly and tried to push back the unwanted memories into their cage. The last thing she needed was to add a breakdown to her tragedy.
“Father—”
“I said it couldn't possibly be true.” Peter interrupted, too angry to let his daughter get a word in.
“When I was informed about this—this preposterous fraternisation, I said it couldn't possibly be my Juliet.” Peter continued.
“What are you doing? Sneaking off into the garden with a Marquess? Is this why you didn't want to get married? So you could perform immoral acts with men at parties?”
