by Heather Boyd
“No, she hasn’t really but she is trying. And my behavior has disappointed her too.”
Julia caught his hand and squeezed. “Sisters are very forgiving.”
When Valentine leaned in to kiss her, Julia allowed the impropriety. It had been the most revealing morning of her life. She was not a good student but Melanie had more patience than she’d given her credit for.
When she drew back, Valentine’s eyes were dark with mischief. “What have you and my sister been chatting about?”
“I asked for her help. I do need to impress the company; to do what she does for you seems daunting.”
His eyes glowed and he kissed her again. “Don’t change too much.”
“Easy for you to say. You’re not expected to glide into a room, float onto chairs or carry on inane conversations about the weather.” She despised young women who acted as if a serious thought had never occurred to them. “Where did you go after the market?”
“Oh, here and there. I ran into an old friend from school after I took Teresa to the hotel and got to chatting about our fathers.”
“I see.”
Valentine kissed her softly. His fingers curved around her face and he looked deeply into her eyes.
Julia trembled at what she saw there. “Your sister is here,” she whispered.
“My sister was kind enough to retire upstairs. Her door closed.” Valentine eased her into the seat back gently and nibbled on her neck in that way he had to make her senses leap. “She won’t disturb us.”
His teeth grazed her neck and although the sensation was lovely, she pushed him away. “Valentine. We shouldn’t.”
“I know.” He met her gaze. “But you do want to be wicked with me.”
“Yes, but I don’t want trouble with your sister today. Not after she’s been so kind.”
He brushed a hand down her arm and settled over her hip. “No breeches today.”
“Not today.” She adopted a haughty posture. “I was attempting to be a lady.”
Valentine’s slow grin set her heart racing. He caught her gown and slowly revealed one leg up to her garter. His touch was gentle on the ribbon and her heart began to clatter against her ribs violently. “A very tempting morsel indeed.”
He kissed her again, firmly, his hands eager on her thigh and elsewhere. When his touch wandered toward her breast, she gripped his wrist to stop him. Her resistance seemed to inflame Valentine, for he kissed her with such abandon that she was having trouble remembering why she should not be allowing it.
The front door closed loudly and Julia froze. They both turned at the sound and when Julia glanced past Valentine’s head, she saw Teresa Long standing at the doorway.
Julia tugged her skirts back over her knees, blushing furiously.
Teresa paled and looked away. “I thought you said you would be out, Val.”
“Change of plans.” He stood, apparently unaffected by the interruption. “What brings you back?”
“I was worried about where Melanie had gone. She’s not returned to the hotel.”
“She’s upstairs, in her room I believe. Let me go and fetch her.” He hurried out, taking the stairs two at a time by the sound of it.
Teresa’s glance in her direction was cold. “Well, if you would excuse me.”
“Teresa, wait.” Julia scrambled to her feet, straightening her gown as she went. Valentine’s lovemaking had managed to twist it around her body.
Teresa looked her up and down scornfully. “I don’t believe I have anything to say to you. How cunning you are to appeal to his base instincts as a means to better yourself.”
“We are to be married,” Julia insisted.
“Are you foolish enough to think so?” Teresa sniffed. “You don’t know Valentine like I do, or the family. You don’t understand what drives him. What is best for him.”
She turned on her heel and disappeared upstairs, leaving Julia alone. Julia did know what Valentine wanted for his life and from her.
She lowered herself to her chair, picked up her teacup and eagerly awaited Melanie’s return. The first time she’d ever done so.
Ten
Mr. Faraday grimaced. “I’ve had a very interesting day, sir.”
“Oh?” Valentine glanced around the immaculate shop front of Faraday Clockworks, a premises he’d hoped to continue his own business in after Mr. Faraday retired. “What made it so?”
Faraday set aside a coil of fine wire. “I met with your father today. Quite by accident, he said it was.”
Valentine’s stomach lurched. “Is that so?”
“It is indeed.” Faraday squinted at him, a sign his vision was growing worse. “You failed to mention your family disapproved of your chosen profession.”
He sighed. What was the point of evasion when there was little chance of a good outcome? “My father prefers that I follow in his footsteps and return to Oxford to teach.”
“But you don’t want that? How strange.” Faraday rubbed at the nicks and scars on his fingers. Signs he’d toiled at labor all his life. “It would be an easier employment than mine. A life of comfort and instant respect.”
“I never have wanted an Oxford profession but he refuses to listen.” Valentine replied bitterly. “The pompous idleness of academia disgusts me. I’d rather be useful than imagining I’m bettering young minds by bellowing at them every day for the rest of my life.”
Faraday’s mouth curved upward at his ferocity. “Have you been holding that in for a while?”
“Not exactly.” He grinned sheepishly. “My sister has always known my feelings on the subject. It was she who suggested clock-making as an alternative career when you professed me so good at it.”
Faraday nodded. “And your friends? What do they know of your grand plans?”
“My friends were the first admirers of my creations and they know I prefer a life in Brighton.”
Mr. Faraday squinted at him. “And what does Miss Julia Radley have to say, now that her future position in society will be reduced by your going into trade? Surely she must want the better life afforded by a position in Oxford.”
“She was not in the least bothered by the drop in status. In fact, she asked a great many questions about how the business would be run yesterday. I had not expected her intimate involvement but she seemed open to the idea. I explained about the long hours each day and the uncertainty of my income. I believe she understands the challenges ahead.”
Faraday nodded slowly. “There’s a lot of talk about Miss Radley.”
“I’m sure there has been, but I have spoken to the vicar and the banns will be read on Sunday. We will be married as soon as we possibly can.”
Faraday shuffled a crate back under the bench. “That’s not the talk to which I was referring. Word has it she’s come into some money and most likely will cry off before the banns are read.”
Valentine frowned. “Who on earth told you that?”
“Your own father. He paints a lurid picture of her character. ‘Grasping adventuress’ was the kindest description. He gave me no reason to doubt his claim that she took his money to make a better life for herself, rather than marry you.”
“The Radleys have received no additional funds.” He racked his brain for a reason to account for his father’s claim—and then swore. “A private word indeed. Now I know why my father insisted on a private meeting with her when he arrived.”
“I take it the money might be fact.” Faraday picked up a bit of brass and rubbed a rag across the surface briskly until it shone. “Additional funds would certainly help you in the transition. It takes time to build a reputation.”
“So it does, and a cunning word in the right ears to ruin one.”
“All too true, sadly.” Faraday winced. “In light of these new facts, I’m afraid the company has imposed a new condition on your application. We want to meet her.”
“Meet Julia? Whatever for?”
“Those who throw stones always have something to hide, but so
often there is truth behind the slander.” Faraday tossed the cloth and set the brass aside. “Bring your sister and perhaps that George fellow. Your neighbor, isn’t he? They’ve known Miss Radley the longest and can offer opposing views of her character. Her brother’s presence is not required. Tonight, here at six o’clock after closing hour.”
“Yes, of course. I’ll speak with her brother and see if Radley will accept my sister as chaperone for the meeting.”
Faraday smiled tightly. “My wife, and the other wives, will be present if that’s any comfort to him.”
“It will be lovely to see them again. We will be here promptly, I assure you.” But Valentine’s mind raced. Why would the members’ wives be coming with their husbands? Usually they were not involved in business discussions.
After saying goodbye and stumbling down the stairs in his haste, he ran directly into Teresa. He apologized profusely for not seeing her at first and glanced around for his father or Melanie. There was no one else about though. “What are you doing here alone, cousin?”
“I had to speak with you urgently.” She glanced back at the shop he’d left and worried at her lip. “Father does not know I’ve slipped away.”
Concerned by her expression, he caught her elbow and steered her back toward the hotel. “Is everything all right?”
She leaned into his support as they moved along. “Everything will be fine when this dreadful situation is over.”
He smiled. “By next month, we will be on a steady course again.”
“First the race, and now she has set you and your father at odds. It causes a strain on all of us. You’ve made the right choice.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You are going back to Oxford tomorrow with us.”
Valentine dropped her arm in shock. “I’m not returning to Oxford.”
“But Father said—”
“My father is wrong. And for your information, Julia has nothing to do with my disagreement with him. I have given the future considerable thought. I know what I want and it is a life here.”
Teresa’s eyes widened. “And with Julia, of all women?”
“I wouldn’t have proposed a marriage between us if I didn’t see the advantage.”
“I hardly think going into trade an advantage.” Teresa pressed her hand to her stomach and he noticed a pretty new reticule dangling from her wrist. “I wish you’d consulted with me before things had gone so far. Mother and Father will never welcome her.”
He sighed again. “That was a possibility with anyone not of their choosing. Mother will accept her or she will never see the grandchildren she professes to want so terribly.”
Valentine frowned at Teresa, puzzled that she couldn’t be happy for him. And then he took a second look at her hat, another new purchase he’d not received a bill for. His mouth grew dry. Where had she found the funds for a new hat and reticule? And a new spencer. “I like Julia very much.”
At that, Teresa scowled. “She’s made you like her by flirting with you.”
Valentine burst out laughing and saw they were already at the hotel where his father was staying. He composed himself quickly. “Believe me, Julia has never once flirted with me. Quite the reverse.”
Teresa’s nose wrinkled with distaste. “That’s just desire you feel. You can satisfy that on any street corner. Even return to the Bear Tavern for it. But a wife must be of higher morals than that sort of woman.”
Hearing the name of his former Oxford drinking haunt on his cousin’s lips surprised him but her talk of women of supposedly low morals sent a chill through him too. He’d met his first sweetheart at a tavern, the very one she named. He’d never confessed to anyone the disappointment he’d suffered at discovering Eve Summers, a custodian’s daughter, had quit Oxford overnight. It had been before Teresa had come to live with them. “What could you possibly know of such matters?”
Teresa swallowed. “Mother said you spent a lot of time drinking when you were younger. She was very clear in her disapproval. I’m glad you never found a similar situation here in Brighton.”
The tavern in Oxford had rented rooms by the hour to lovers with nowhere else to go for bed play. He and Eve had made good use of one.
“I see.” Had Mother been filling Teresa’s head with his youthful indiscretions? He was furious if that were true. Not even Melanie knew of the most embarrassing infatuation of his youth. He met Teresa’s gaze directly and saw embarrassment. She undoubtedly knew about Eve. “What I do in my personal life is my business, cousin. You would do well to remember who has kept a roof over your head all these summers.”
She blinked. “There’s no need for hostility.”
“Isn’t there?” He folded his arms over his chest. Melanie’s warning about Teresa was suddenly all too easy to believe as the truth. Teresa’s habit of calling his parents Mother and Father too was beginning to grate. He leaned forward a touch. “Tell me, how long have you been a spy in my home? And don’t bother to deny you are writing to my mother and father about me. Your own words proclaim you’ve been sticking your nose where it does not belong already.”
“I’m not. Your sister feels very strongly that—”
“Misquote my sister at your peril,” he bit out. “Melanie has known for years what I intended to do with my life and for your information, it was Melanie who had me draw up a plan for my business. She also insisted I marry Julia the very afternoon of our race.”
Teresa glanced around nervously. “She is against the match. Everyone knows how she feels about that girl.”
“I doubt anyone knows her feelings on any matter. She’s not written to anyone but me, and as far as I can tell, no one has written to her. Someone else has been conveying a false report of her opinions and I think it is you.” He flexed his fingers over his arms, furious that he’d not realized what his cousin had been secretly doing to Melanie behind her back. He didn’t need to wait for Walter George’s findings to believe it. “Why would you be so cruel to her? She treated you as a sister.”
“I told the truth!” Teresa tossed her head. “The truth no one sees. Melanie isn’t the saint she appears to everyone else. She’s greedy and manipulative and still everyone adores her.”
“Not everyone adores her, and that is thanks to you. She certainly is not a saint but she’s not against my marriage or my choices.” Melanie had two large flaws, in his opinion. Often tactless and blunt, Melanie also went to pieces instead of helping the ill and infirm. “You cannot live in my home and speak ill of my sister to my friends. She has her faults, just as everyone does, but I will always see the best in her. Today, Melanie was offering Julia, at her request, advice on how to help me in my future endeavors. And what have you done? Sided with my parents, who want to drag me back to their stuffy, ordered world, and poured scorn on an honest and decent young woman.”
“Valentine. Please! Just listen to me a moment. She’s not as innocent as you imagine.”
“Stop.” He held out his hand to silence her. He did not want to hear from her the tale that Julia had taken his father’s money or anything else. He knew Julia. “I’ve heard and learned enough. Choose carefully, cousin. It’s time to decide where your loyalties lie.”
“You’re making a terrible mistake.”
Valentine sighed. After all he’d done for Teresa, allowing her to live in his home because doctors claimed her health improved in the fresher sea air, treating her as a cherished sister and spoiling her as much as his finances allowed. How could she be so dismissive of his choices? “I don’t believe that.”
Teresa licked her lips and glanced around, clutching her new reticule tightly. He studied it and the blinders finally came off.
Teresa didn’t care about him at all. She believed her life would be ruined by his choices. She’d chosen his parents’ side to secure a comfortable life for herself.
He felt sick.
His revulsion must have shown on his face because Teresa paled, edged back a step and then fled
into the hotel, returning to his father and his money.
Eleven
Twilight had always been Julia’s favorite time of day. She’d take stock of her achievements and make plans for tomorrow. Although now her tomorrow had to allow for her suitor. She glanced up at his face and saw a frown there yet again. “You’re very quiet tonight.”
Valentine squeezed her arm. “I am sorry. I have a lot on my mind right now.”
“You’re worried about tonight? I am too. What am I expected to say to them?” Julia asked again of Valentine, her stomach twisting in knots about the last minute invitation. She’d hoped their imminent marriage would appease the company but she’d never imagined she’d have to face them first.
Valentine shook his head. It wasn’t the first time since his invitation to join them that he appeared confused. “I’ve no idea what they want with you.”
“Breathe, and be yourself,” Melanie advised again in a soft voice as they reached the end of a darkening street and the glow of the clockmaker’s shop windows loomed ahead.
Julia halted and glanced around; even with night falling, she felt exposed. “I feel like everyone is looking at me.”
“They are,” Melanie agreed unhelpfully, “and you are doing splendidly, I assure you.”
“Quite right,” Mr. George agreed as well. “Don’t fret until there is a need to.”
Melanie squeezed Julia’s hand and passed her by. She climbed the few steps to the door of the clockworks and waited at Walter’s side as he knocked to announce their arrival.
Left alone with Valentine, she was gripped with panic. Tonight was so important to him. She couldn’t dare make a mistake now.
Valentine smiled at her, a dazzling smile full of warmth and comfort and secret wickedness. He caught her hand, as he liked to do so often, and dragged her toward his sister.
Tonight, Melanie exuded the confidence Julia lacked and she scolded herself for not living up to her better example. She pasted on a smile and ascended the stairs just as the door opened to admit them.