A Perfect Hero Read Free

happen to women such as herself. Had she been asked, she’d have described her life as rather mundane.
    Three years ago, Sebastian had wed, and Ju lianna had taken it upon herself to move out of the family residence. The shame and scandal of being stranded at the altar had been difficult to bear. Julianna counted herself a realist, and she was aware the experience had not left her un scathed. But she liked to think she was at least somewhat wiser. She’d floundered for a time, spending months in Europe, dreading the day she must face the ton again.
    What a shock it had been when she returned to London on the eve of Sebastian’s wedding!
    It was then that she’d realized it was time to face life head-on. There could be no more hiding away, for what would that accomplish? She and Justin and Sebastian would always be close—the circumstances of their childhood had seen to that. She lived quite comfortably on her allowance from Sebastian, but she had made some invest ments of her own that allowed her to purchase a modest town house in London, and her newest acquisition, a lovely little manor house in Bath.
    Julianna was proud of her accomplishments, for she had discovered a courage and a dignity she hadn’t known she possessed. It had begun that long-ago night when Thomas and Clarice had returned from Gretna Green. Apologetic and contrite, Thomas had come to her.
    “I know my marriage to Clarice must have come as a shock,” he’d said. “I can offer no ex cuse except one...Clarice is carrying my child, Julianna.”
    In stunned, muted silence, Julianna listened while Thomas relayed how Clarice had come to him in tears the night before they—Julianna and Thomas—were to wed.
    “I cannot deny what I have done, Julianna. Clarice and I have been friends since we were chil dren. We succumbed to a moment of weakness— a moment of abandon. It was wrong. I knew it. But I told myself you would never know. Indeed, both Clarice and I agreed that we could not con tinue to see each other. But when she came to me and confessed that she was with child, I could not deny her. Honor and duty compelled that I do the right thing and marry Clarice. And so I did. I will regret to the end of my days if I hurt you, Ju lianna. But it was the right thing to do.”
    If he had hurt her . He knew that he had. He knew that she’d loved him madly ...And honor and duty. Well, those were things that Julianna understood, and so did her brothers. Indeed, it was all that had stopped Justin from calling him out. Oh, yes, she had understood...
    But to forgive him his betrayal. That was not so easy.
    And never would she forget. Never .
    The pain and bitter hurt had faded. They were but a twinge in the region of her heart. But no man would ever turn her head again. Never again would she be so gullible, so trusting. She would rather grow old alone than marry simply for the sake of marrying.
    For despite the abominable circumstances of their youth—their mother’s abandonment, their father’s disregard—Julianna had never lost faith in the sanctity of marriage. A nurturer, Sebastian had always called her, sweet and softhearted, al ways taking care of others.
    It was true, she supposed. Oh, yes, it was in her nature to be a wife, a mother. She’d once specu lated that it was the fact that their mother had run off with her lover that instilled in Julianna the desire to be everything their own mother was not. Indeed, Julianna had once been convinced that the whole sordid makeup of her parents’ relation ship had simply made her all the more deter mined that when she, Julianna, married—and as a child she had somehow never doubted that she would —it would be for love...and love alone. Ah, yes, the longing for a husband and children was something that only grew stronger as she grew older. Forever it seemed she had planned the day of her wedding.
    Oddly, it no longer hurt to think of that day.
    What hurt was knowing she would never have a child of her