Chapter 2
There, it had been said.
Julia watched the expression on William’s handsome face go from furrowed with irritation to wide and blank. Clearly, he was well aware he had been caught.
And then his mouth flinched at the corners. Was he smiling?
Julia simmered with rage. No, he wasn’t just smiling. He was laughing.
He threw his head back and bellowed revealing every one of his perfectly white, straight teeth.
He crossed the room in two great strides of his long legs and opened his arms to her. Not that she would step into them, even if he had finally donned a shirt.
“You don’t understand, my darling.” His mirth faded into something gentle, and he gazed at her with the affection that had once made her heart do flips. “Maribel is my horse.”
“Your…horse?” Julia asked in a small voice.
“Excuse my laughter.” He stroked a hand down her cheek and a ripple of pleasure followed in its wake. “You must see the humor in your words.”
She certainly felt like an absolute fool, but she gave a light chuckle nonetheless. “Forgive me. I saw a note from your steward bidding you to come to the estate for Maribel, and then Lady Venerton told me that everyone knew you had a mistress in the country.”
“Lady Venerton?” He scowled. “Please tell me that odious woman is not in attendance.”
A genuine laugh rose up in Julia. “I’m afraid she is.”
“Had I known that, I might have found an excuse to stay longer in the country.” He peered around Julia to regard the door, as if expecting the topic of their conversation to sweep in at any moment. “I’ll wager she told you I flirted shamelessly with her as well, probably begged on my knees for her to be my lover. Perhaps even set up a tent below her window just to be near her?”
“I believe it was the townhouse next to hers, not a tent.” Julia grinned up at her husband.
“The truth of it is she put herself in my path on countless occasions, until I finally threatened to tell Lord Venerton of her behavior. It did the trick. Nothing works like the threatening of tightened purse strings with women like that.” He touched Julia’s chin, tenderly tipping her face up to his. “You know the woman, and you know me.”
“But I don’t know you,” Julia admitted. “Not really. We had such a fast courtship. I hadn’t realized that until, well, until I thought you had a mistress, and then it struck me how little I actually know you.”
“That is my fault. I wanted you from the moment I saw you. I hadn’t given you enough time.”
Julia’s pulse quickened. “Did you?”
“I did.” He gave her a lopsided smile. “Tell me what you wish to know about me, and I’ll answer.”
“What’s your favorite color?”
“Blue.”
“What’s your favorite food?”
“Roasted venison.”
“Do you prefer petunias or hyacinths?”
“I’ve always been partial to tulips myself.” He remained perfectly sincere in his reply, though his twinkling eyes gave his playfulness away.
Julia forced herself to keep her face impassive. “Do you prefer being out of doors, or indoors?”
“Out of doors when it’s pleasant; indoors when the weather is dastardly.”
She nodded. “Fair enough.”
“My turn.” He ran his thumb over her lower lip. “Lips, or tongue?”
Her breath caught. Oh my.
Immediately, she recalled those heady kisses before the consummation of their union. When his mouth had burned like fire against her own, when the simple brush of his tongue made it seem as if the world had enveloped her in the most exquisite conflagration.
She glanced shyly down before returning her gaze to boldly lock with his. “Both.”
His slow smirk indicated he clearly approved. “Shirt on, or off?”
Oh yes, that. Angry though she might have been when she first saw him, the strength of his broad chest, and the tight bands of muscle making wonderful ridges along his stomach, had been impossible to ignore. She had never seen a man without his shirt, though she knew well enough that such a physique as William’s was not common.
“Most definitely off.” She let her eyes fall closed and waited for the brush of his lips against hers.
A rap came from the door, followed by a singsong, saccharine voice. “Julia, dear, will you walk down with me to the drawing room?”
Julia sighed. “Lady Venerton.”
“Julia?” William arched a brow.
Julia rolled her eyes. “We haven’t been friends for ages. Not since my father—”
William released her and pulled the door open to face Lady Venerton. “Her Grace,” he said with obvious stress on the title. “Is still readying herself and will be down momentarily.”
“I hadn’t realized you had arrived, Your Grace.” Lady Venerton’s tittering giggle suggested otherwise.
“Indeed,” William replied dryly.
“Do send Her Grace down when you’re done with her.”
William said nothing more and shut the door. “That woman is vile. How did you ever consider her a friend?”
“It was a foolish mistake to let her see you in such a state of undress.” Julia indicated his untucked shirt, the collar open, baring the base of his throat and the hint of his powerful chest beneath.
“She’ll no longer be calling you Julia, of that you can be certain.” He put his hands to her waist and carefully pulled her toward him. “And you needn’t worry about me with Lady Venerton or any other woman. I don’t even see any other women besides you.”
He lowered his face to hers, and the flutter in Julia’s stomach teased up into her heart.
A hearty knock came from the door. “Stedton, you devil, you’ve kept me waiting nearly three days for good company.” Lord Bursbury’s voice boomed from the other side of the door. “Let’s get a solid match of boxing in before the ladies finish whatever it is that they do in their drawing room. Knit scarves for puppies or paint pictures of lace doilies, or something of the like.”
William’s head rested brow-to-brow on Julia’s and he chuckled good-naturedly. “Tonight, then?”
“Tonight,” she whispered. And then, as an afterthought, added. “Knitting scarves for puppies, or boxing?”
“Boxing by far, but if you see a tea cake with a lump of marzipan atop it…”
“I’ll save you one,” Julia promised. She placed a chaste kiss on William’s cheek, and swept from the room.
Lord Bursbury offered a quick bow and had the good sense to appear uneasy at having been discovered being so very male. “Don’t tell Nancy I said that when you see her.”
“I’m sure she’s already well aware,” Julia said with a wave. “But your secret is safe with me.”
With one final look back in the room at her handsome husband, she made her way downstairs for games with the ladies, anticipating the night when she would have the opportunity to discover even more about her husband.
William blocked his face and launched a fist at Bursbury’s nose. The earl ducked and twisted around, exactly as William had anticipated. He delivered the final blow to Bursbury’s ribs knocking the wind from him.
Bursbury bent over. “I concede.”
William held out a hand to him.
Bursbury accepted and hauled himself to standing. “Three of five?” he asked jovially, unperturbed by having lost both rounds. He glanced to the garden benches where the rest of the men sat. “Any of you game for a round or two of boxing?”
Bursbury’s brother-in-law, the Marquis of Hesterton, sat on a bench by himself, nursing a scotch. A neighbor of the Bursbury’s, Viscount Mortry, sat in morose silence. Neither bothered to look up. Lord Venerton would certainly not be interested, as he napped with a nasal snore, his head drooping on his thin chest.
At least Venerton had bothered to come out at all. Lord Doursby had groused about the chill and kept inside.
“Hesterto
n?” William called out.
The marquis purposefully shifted his braced leg in answer to why he wasn’t boxing. “If you wanted me to be truly miserable, you could make Lady Jane aware of my presence out here rather than force me to box.” Hesterton gave an unamused smirk.
William lifted his brows to Bursbury, who answered with one of his wide grins. “Nancy’s at it again with her matchmaking. Poor Hesterton has been hounded by the little debutante for the last three days.” He lowered his voice. “It’s really quite comical.”
“I heard that,” Hesterton said dryly.
“What about you, Mortry?” Bursbury regarded his sullen neighbor.
The man did not even bother to lift his dark head. “I’m already on the losing side of wrestling with my own thoughts. I don’t quite think I can take on boxing.” His dull gaze continued to stare off in the distance.
How very…odd. William cast a quizzical glance to Bursbury.
“Just you wait,” Bursbury said quietly. “The women love him.”
The French doors to the veranda opened and out poured a stream of women, resplendent in their long-sleeved outdoor attire.
“Are you boxing again?” Lady Bursbury put her hands to her hips and gave her husband a chastising look.
“It was Stedton’s idea.” Bursbury ran up the short flight of steps and pressed a kiss to his wife’s cheek. Immediately, her stern expression melted.
“Then I hope you won.” Lady Bursbury might have said something else, but Julia strode from the house at that exact moment and William’s attention went immediately to his lovely new bride.
She made her way down the stairs, as he rushed toward her to keep her from having to walk on the snow in her satin slippers.
“It’s freezing out here.” Her breath came out in a little puff of fogged air. “I saw you boxing.” She gazed up at him with wide blue eyes. “It appeared you won twice.”
He cocked his head to the side in an indication it didn’t matter. Truly it didn’t. His accomplishments never garnered attention among the families who had fostered him.
“Impressive.” Her expression turned coy. “Cards or charades?”
“Cards.” He offered his hand to her to lead her back into the house. “Is it time to dress for dinner? Already?”
She accepted. “It is.”
Lady Venerton swept past them, purposefully going on William’s side and brushing against his person. She lingered when her breasts grazed his arm and her cheeks went pink. “Goodness, do forgive me.” She blinked up at him innocently. “I was simply going to wake my husband.”
William resisted the urge to wriggle his shoulder to rid it of the sensation of her touch. He said nothing and led Julia into the house.
“I told you it was a mistake to let her see you partially undressed.” Julia slid him a side glance.
She was right, of course. But Lady Venerton calling her by her Christian name had raked him the wrong way. It had been a blatant insult and he would not stand for it. He only hoped Venerton would keep his wife at his side, and away from William, for the duration of the house party.
They entered the house and made their way up the stairs. A pretty young woman with light brown hair came down as he and Julia went up.
“Have you seen Lord Hesterton?” she asked.
“I believe I saw him outside a moment ago,” Julia replied.
“Thank you.” The woman squared her shoulders with a look of determination and practically floated down the rest of the risers.
“Lady Jane, I presume?” William queried as he led her down the hall to their shared room.
“How did you know?” Julia stopped in front of their chamber.
“I’ve heard there’s a bit of a matchmaking going on.” He opened the door and allowed Julia to enter first.
“It’s Nancy. There’s always a bit of matchmaking going on.”
“Poor Hesterton.” William shook his head, though he himself had benefited from Lady Bursbury’s matchmaking with his own beautiful wife.
“Lady Jane is lovely.” Julia unbuttoned her coat.
William helped her out of it and handed the heavy thing to Hodges. “It isn’t that, but Hesterton has no interest in marriage.”
Julia tilted her head thoughtfully. “I understand.” With that, she was whisked away behind a screen by her maid.
Pity. William would have rather enjoyed watching her be disrobed in front of him, her gown peeling downward to reveal the intimate white of her chemise. Indeed, the very idea lodged in his head and his sense of hearing became intensely acute, tuned in to every whisper of fabric as it folded against itself and eventually pooled on the floor.
He settled back in his chair while Hodges lathered his face with shaving soap. It had taken a good bit of time and a considerable amount of patience on the valet’s part to perfect the shave to William’s preference. The process was lengthy, but the result was flawless.
“Conversation or flirting?” Julia asked from the other side of the screen.
Come out from behind that screen, dismiss the servants, and I’ll show you flirting.
Hodges lifted the straight razor to allow William to reply. “A fine combination of both is enjoyable, as one without the other can be overwhelming.”
A glossy swish entered the symphony of clothing being removed behind that maddening screen. He could picture it perfectly, the smooth fabric gliding over smoother skin. Hodges scraped over William’s jaw, and the terrible rasp of shorn bristled hair overwhelmed the more delicate sounds.
“Blondes or brunettes?” Julia emerged from behind the screen wearing a delectable red gown.
“Brunettes.” He’d have said more were it not for the razor gliding over his neck.
After a good bit of time of hair being styled, clothes being adjusted this way and that, and spritzes of expensive cologne, they were finally ready for dinner. Though he hadn’t a moment to tell her how lovely she looked, not when Hesterton entered the hall a moment after them.
He glanced about furtively. “If you see—”
“Oh, Lord Hesterton, there you are!” Lady Jane was upon them in a second, her curls bobbing about her comely, glowing face.
Before the poor marquis could protest, her arm was tucked in his, and he was forced to walk her down to the drawing room. Downstairs, they discovered they were all nearly late. All, except for Lady Venerton who strode in minutes after them in an exceedingly low-cut gown, offering excuses for Lord Venerton’s absence as he was apparently unwell.
That might have been well and good if it were not for the sultry gaze she leveled in William’s direction, and the unfortunate fact that she was seated on his other side for the duration of a dinner that promised to be interminable.
Chapter 3
It was impossible for Julia not to notice Lady Venerton, and the way she fawned over William at dinner. Through five courses, the woman had chattered on with batted eyes and insipid giggles. At times, she even settled her dainty fingertips on William’s forearm as she spoke. Her behavior was shameful.
Shameful and infuriating.
Though William had been coolly polite in his interaction with Lady Venerton, Julia could not quell the knot of unease tightening in her stomach. A hard ball of stubborn dread she couldn’t dislodge.
The only thing which had brought her joy was the white puff of a dog beneath the table that readily lapped up scraps of food Julia smuggled down to it. William had tried to dissuade her against it, warning her the little beast would forever follow her around, but she hadn’t bothered to listen.
In fact, with the exception of the dog, it appeared many of the guests were rather unhappy. Lord Mortry was lost in his own world of inner torment, and the unfortunate Lady Cecelia next to him was regaled with his perpetual tales of woe. On Julia’s other side, Lord Hesterton’s sardonic replies to Lady Jane indicated an undeniable element of misery. And then there was Lord and Lady Doursly who were, well, dour — no doubt at the lackluster reception from Hesterton
toward their daughter. And then there was Julia, who was lost in the storm of her own distress.
“Poor Lord Venerton,” Lady Jane said, opposite Hesterton.
“Agreed,” he muttered. “The poor sod has to put up with that prattling ninny for the remainder of his life.”
Julia pressed a napkin to her lip to suppress a laugh.
“Oh,” Lady Jane replied after a brief pause. “I was referring to his illness. I do hope he recovers quickly.”
“I’m quite sure not all in attendance would agree with your hopeful sentiment,” Hesterton stated with a bored drawl.
Hesteron had barely finished speaking when Lady Venerton gave a throaty chuckle at something Lord Bursbury had said.
William’s hand slid over Julia’s under the table. The touch should have brought comfort, but it was foreign, and the ache in her chest was far too great. She wanted to leave, to run from the room and lock herself in her chamber.
Nancy addressed the table with a pleasant expression, as if Lady Venerton hadn’t flirted with every man in the room, including her husband. “Shall we leave the gentlemen to their port while we ladies retire to the drawing room? Then we can reconvene for a night of games together.”
Julia almost gasped out her relief. Without the men, Lady Venerton wouldn’t have the opportunity to flirt and touch William. He had been formal in return, but still polite, as was expected. Regardless, it was still too much for Julia.
She needed to get out. Now.
She rose from her chair and suddenly William was there, pulling her seat out for her. His hand caught hers. “I confess I’m grateful for the reprieve, though I’ll miss your presence.”
What was wrong with her? Why was this affecting her so deeply?
She nodded and tried her best to offer him a convincing smile. As soon as his back was turned, she fled and made her way to their chamber, chased there by a string of memories battering her mind. Memories of her nineteenth birthday when Mother had acquiesced to Julia’s insistent begging to see the new play. However, their family box had not been empty. Father had been in the shadowed rear of it with a woman on his lap, her skirts raised as she moved over him.
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