“Oh, dear,” she said. “Perhaps I should save everyone a month of suspense here and recall Mr. Prudholm tomorrow.I should announce that none of my five male cousins willsuit me. Or should that be phrased the other way around,Daniel? I would not suit any of my five male cousins. Icould be on my way to my uncle’s without delay.” Her tonewas bright and brittle. He sensed that she had perhapsmoved a step beyond anger into something else.
“You are eager to go and live with your uncle?” he asked.
She laughed and got to her feet to turn her back on him and gaze out of the window. “Oh, of course,” she said. “Ican hardly wait. And I am sure that they cannot wait either.They have only five children of their own.”
“They do not want you?” he asked, frowning. It would be just like Julia to make him feel guilty now, to make himfeel that he had been ungracious and ungentlemanly, suggesting to her that she was not wanted in his family either.
“Do you expect me to admit that?” she asked, looking over her shoulder at him. “Shall I weep with abject miseryand arouse your pity after all, Daniel? Could it be done, Iwonder? But it would be mean of me to do so. In reality Iam in an enviable position. For five gentlemen I am the key to the possession of a stately and prosperous estate. For thenext month I am to have the affections of five men to toywith before I choose one of them and gift him with myselfand Primrose Park—not necessarily in order of importance.Oh, pardon me, that is four, is it?”
He felt foolish for the flash of pity he had felt for a moment and angry that he had allowed her to manipulate him. “You will not take my advice, then?” he asked.
"That was no advice, Daniel,” she said scornfully. “If I followed your advice I would be without a husband andwithout a home at the end of the next month. How foolishyou are. I have lived here most of my life and I love thisplace. I have a chance to make it my home for life. A goodchance. I am hardly likely to let it slip through my fingers. Iwill be betrothed at the end of the month—to Freddie perhaps. Or perhaps to Malcolm. Or to Gussie or Les. Or perhaps even to you.” She chuckled softly. “Perhaps if you seeme about to spoil the life of one of your cousins, Daniel,you will decide to behave with extraordinary gallantry andmarry me yourself.”
“It would have to snow in hell first,” he said.
She laughed again, “If you will excuse me,” she said, taking a step forward, “I must put an end to this delightfultête-à-tête, Daniel. This room is not large enough to holdtwo.
He held up a staying hand and bowed stiffly to her. “That at least makes good sense,”he said. “But since you werethe first here, I shall leave you to it. Never let it be said thatI have no gallantry at all.”
He left the room and resisted the urge to slam the door behind him. He felt uncomfortably hot. Good Lord, he hadbeen scrapping with her like an unruly boy. He had allowedher to drag him down to her level by engaging in a spitefulquarrel with her. And the worst of it was, he did not knowwhy. He did not know why the very sight of her—no, eventhe thought of her-—could make him bristle.
He left the house by a side door and wandered in the direction of the stables. He had not even seen the woman for six years. Had he disliked her so intensely during thosesummers when he had always come to Primrose Park? Buthow could he have? She had been just a girl. The eight-yearage difference had been far more significant then than itwas now.
He could remember always disapproving of her, of course. At a time when the other girls—his sister and Susan and even the younger Viola and Stella—had been quieting down and realizing that there was a difference between what a growing boy was allowed to do for enjoyment and what was expected of a girl, Julia had played with the boys with as much daring and abandon as ever.
He had always thought that Grandpapa should have spanked her a few times when she was a child and hired a stricter governess for her when she got older—one who would not have spared the rod. He had even told her so a few times. But had she made him burn with anger and even hatred as she did now?
There had been that last summer, of course, when she had been just as wild as ever, riding astride, swimmingfully clothed, running foot races—all at a time when shewas budding out all over. He could remember feeling furious—oh, yes, there had been some fury even then—whenFreddie had witnessed the way he had been staring at herwhen she had emerged from the lake one time, her lightdress plastered to her newly budding curves, and had dughim in the ribs with an elbow and laughed in that way Freddie had of laughing.
He could remember wishing at that moment that it had been in keeping with his twenty-three-year-old dignity todive into the lake himself, fully clothed, to cool off. But hehad been furious with Julia for embarrassing him, forflaunting herself, for being foolishly oblivious to the effectshe was having on the twenty-year-old Freddie and even onGussie.
He had been at a stage of his own development when he had thought that such feelings as he was experiencing wereappropriate only in a brothel. It had horrified him to knowthat he had been aroused by his own cousin—or stepcousinto be more accurate. By Julia. Good God. No real ladywould allow a man to feel that way about her. Julia was nolady. She was vulgar.
The earl had reached the stables, but he changed his mind about riding. It would be time to get ready for dinner soon. It would not do to be late for dinner in his new capacity as head of the family. He sighed. Sometimes it was a burden to have such responsibilities. He had had them insome form or another since his father’s death when he wasonly fourteen. Now they were more than doubled; Occasionally it seemed to him that he had missed a youth. Hethought of Blanche and sighed again.
And so yes, he could see now that the intense disapproval of Julia had been there even before she had tried to turn him back from her grandfather’s door a little less thantwo weeks before. He had just forgotten, that was all. But ithad not taken him long to remember.
It was going to be a long month, he thought as he turned back reluctantly toward the house.
Julia sat between Camilla and Uncle Paul at dinner and talked cheerfully about anything and nothing. She wouldnot give anyone the satisfaction of seeing that she had beenrattled by the events of the afternoon, she had decidedwhen she was getting ready to come downstairs. She stillwore a black dress, of course, since it had been agreed thatmourning would not be left off until the next day. But shehad allowed her maid to spend longer than usual brushingher curls until they shone and sat in a decent style.
She did not glance down the table to where Daniel was sitting. He had had the gall to sit at the head of the table, inGrandpapa’s place. He was the new earl, of course, and hewas the head of the family. But even so he was not theowner of Primrose Park and never would be. That honorwould belong to her and—someone. She was very carefulnot to catch the eye of any of the male cousins either.
It was all dreadfully mortifying.
The complexion of things had changed, of course, since she had been foolish enough to quarrel with Daniel in theconservatory. She should know from experience that it wasnever safe to quarrel because she always lost her temperwhen she did and as like as not ended up saying or doingsomething rash.
Today she had been more reckless than usual. She had told him that she was going to marry one of the cousins,perhaps even him. She had thrown down the gauntlet.There could be no backing down now even though she hadno wish whatsoever to marry any of them, even Gussie, herparticular friend. In fact, the idea of marrying Gussie wasdownright embarrassing. But she would have to marry oneof them just to prove to Daniel that she could do it If shewent back on her word he would doubtless believe thatnone of them had wanted to marry her.
So she was going to have to lure one of them into offering for her. She was going to have to betroth herself to one of them. She might break it off afterward, of course, if itproved to be just too intolerable, but for the next month shewould have to play the game. It was a thoroughly objectionable thought.
And she had Daniel to thank for it all. She glanced along the table at him despite herself and grudgingly concededthat his slim, muscular figure showed to advantage inblack. She had not noticed before just how rich a brown hishair was. Well, he was handsome, she thought crossly. Thatdid not mean that he had a pleasant character.
“Julia,” Camilla said when Uncle Paul turned to speak with Aunt Eunice at his other side, “you are upset, aren’tyou? I can hardly blame you.”
“Upset?” Julia looked at her in surprise. She had scarcely stopped prattling and laughing.
“You are too bright, too cheerful,” Camilla said. “I recognize the signs. I used to do it sometimes in the months following Simon’s death when I was afraid that peoplewere going to press their sympathy on me.”
