Taming the Shrew by Cari Hislop Page B

lowered his voice to a seductive whisper, “There’s no need to be embarrassed Sweetheart, I’m your husband.”
    “I want to leave, now!”
    “You can remain with me or wait outside while I buy them. People will think it rather strange if you leave, but if...”
    “Then buy the stupid things and take me away before I scream.”
    “As you wish.” Pulled towards the counter, she mutely observed her husband purchase three shifts in linen so fine she could see through it. Thinking the trial of her patience was nearly over Juliana was watching her husband’s long masculine fingers with fascination as he paid for his purchases when the shop door behind them opened.
    “Hervey de Vere, I wouldn’t have thought you’d find any bargains in here.” Juliana felt her husband start before turning a polite smile to the beautiful woman behind him. “So who is your companion, she looks familiar.”
    “Lady Malmsbury, may I present my wife Mrs Juliana de Vere, formally Miss Browne.” The woman raised her eyeglass and looked Juliana up and down as if she were a two-headed calf.
    “Ah yes, the Browne chit you’ve been chasing forever. I remember hearing something about her being an heiress, but money isn’t everything Hervey. Some bargains aren’t what you bargained for though my advice appears to be a little late.”
    Juliana’s eyes watered as she clenched Hervey’s arm too enraged to speak. She could only turn her head and watch her husband calmly reply, “My Lady, it’s very good of you to concern yourself in my affairs, but I’m quite pleased with my choice of wife. If she’d met me at the altar in rags without a pair of shoes to call her own I’d have thought her the bargain of a lifetime. If you’ll excuse us, we have an appointment.” He turned to address the lady behind the counter, “Deliver the boxes to the black carriage with the sky blue interior waiting at the end of the street.”
    “It’s true then, you’ve purchased the devil’s carriage? What were you thinking?”
    “It was a bargain.”
    “I know a lady who hates Lyndhurst with a burning passion. Call on me alone next week and I’ll tell you who’d pay to set fire to it.”
    “That is very good of you my Lady, but I haven’t decided to sell it. For all his sins, His Grace has excellent taste. It’s very comfortable.”
    “Hervey dear, you can’t ride around in the Duke of Lyndhurst’s carriage; people will think you’re in his pocket. Who’ll buy your bargains then?”
    “My Lady, your concern does you credit, but I assure you I’m in no danger of being found in the devil’s pocket. Excuse us...” Juliana breathed in through clenched teeth as she was marched out of the shop and down the street.
    “Why didn’t you tell that sneering old nag to eat yew and die? How could you stand there and let her stare at me through that stupid looking-glass as if I were some sort of freak show exhibit? Why didn’t you say something?”
    “She was rude on purpose Sweetheart. Lady Malmsbury would die without a daily dose of scandal. She wanted one of us to say something outré so she’d have some on dit to whisper at her next passing acquaintance. I don’t like people saying unkind things about you and I certainly won’t encourage them by becoming your rude husband.”
    Feeling mollified, Juliana unclenched her teeth and sniffed her reluctant approval. “I still wish you’d put a flea in her ear. She knows perfectly well who I am. I’ve been invited to any number of her boring routes.”
    “Of course she knows who you are Sweetheart, she’s just jealous.”
    Juliana cringed in horror as she hissed, “You haven’t kissed that old nag have you?”
    “Sweetheart, who I did or didn’t kiss before I married you, is irrelevant.”
    Juliana felt a big hole open in her heart causing her eyes to water. “Well it isn’t irrelevant to me.” Her throat tightened at the awful mental image of the Hervey creature in his shirtsleeves