Jude wasn’t sure what to feel or expect when he was told by a messenger that Juliana wanted to see him. Immediately his mind had gone into panic mode. Had she heard about him and Thomas? About the kiss? He knew that there were rumours, but there was also rumours about the King having an affair. And surely, that wasn’t true!
Admittedly, this wasn’t the only thing Jude had to worry about. He had got a message from his mother, Margaret Andras, that his sister Risa would be joining him in Cliffden in just a few days time. Apparently, there was still a level of uncertainty in Lochland. The new Queen had made everything tense, and her people were just waiting to see what she would do to improve the country, or indeed drag Lochland headfirst into a pit of despair as great as the one her Father had left when he died.
When he arrived, Lady Corviser, as she was still affectionately known, sent him up, saying as he went, “She’s starting to get a little impatient.” This remark troubled him, and he wasn’t sure what reaction he would garner from Juliana when he entered her chambers. Would she shout at him? Throw stuff at his head? Perhaps not. Juliana wasn’t like that.
The reaction he got when he did enter her chambers, however, wasn’t what he expected. Juliana was lounging on the sofa, looking at him – well, lovingly, he supposed.
With a big smile painted on her face, she stood up, walked over to him, and embraced him.
“Jude,” she purred.
“Um, Jules? Are you feeling alright?”
“Can’t a girl greet her future fiancee?”
Jude was starting to get a little afraid. What was Juliana trying to say? He asked her exactly that.
“Well, if you’ll still have me – Jude.”
Masters! The way she said his name made him want to take her over the sofa and fuck her right there. But he had too much respect for her to do that.
“Jules, are you asking me to marry you?”
“No silly,” she pouted. “You’re supposed to ask me.”
“Um, well okay.” Jude laughed. After all, he was going to marry her eventually anyway. “Juliana Corviser,” he started, dropping down on one knee. “I don’t even have a ring.”
For the first time, Jules relaxed. “That’s alright. You couldn’t have expected all this yet. Just ask me.
“Right, Juliana Corviser,” he started again. “Will you do me the great honour of becoming my wife.”
All of a sudden, she leapt into his arms. Well, jumped was more like it. Since he was on one knee, and had just fallen onto the floor with her on top of him?”
“Um, Jules? Have you ever read those romantic manuscripts where I fall on the floor, you fall on top of me, and we fall in love with each other right there and then.”
“Yeah, it didn’t work, did it? I mean, I love you already anyway. Maybe that’s got to do with something.”
“Oh well,” Jude said, pulling him and his new fiancee up. “We’ve got the rest of our lives together.”
If Jude and Juliana had looked around right there and then, they would have spotted Sylvie spying on them, a big grin on her face. As it was, she backed quietly away, pleased with her daughter’s choice of man. If anyone could make Juliana happy, it was Jude.
