She nodded, though Cait wasn’t certain she understood. “You remained working for the Home Office even though you were the only heir and do not have one of your own?”
“I could not remain at home with them,” he answered. “My wife and father. There was no happiness there and I had a duty to serve King and Country.”
Cait nodded once again, uncertain what to say. She did not want to talk of their past nor was there a future. “Do all the Devils have a wrong they need to address?”
“Apparently, though Sellers and McNaught are absent.” Julian shrugged.
“Do you know the other women?”
“I know of them, but no more than I know of what became of Miss Hamilton and Pickmore.” He tilted his head. “Do you?”
Cait shook her head. “Bernadette will not speak of it, and I have not pried.”
“The Devils keep their own counsel as well.”
Silence grew between them, and Cait could think of nothing further to say. “Well, if that will be all...”
“It is not.”
She blinked at him. “There is nothing more to say, nor is there a wrong for you to repair.” Unless she was the one who had wronged. “Nor do I believe I need to apologize. Therefore, your aunt will just need to be satisfied that we have discussed the matter, and all is well.”
Cait glanced to the opposite end of the stables where there was another opening. It would allow her to leave without having to come too close to him. “Good day, Julian. It was good to see you again.”
She turned on her heel and forced herself to slowly walk away when all she wished to do was run. Just seeing Julian brought to the surface all the pain she had experienced that day when she had read his letter, and it only became worse when she learned he’d been free and had not come to her.
She just needed to make it to her chamber before anyone saw her. There she could cry, pack her things, and then return to the school, where she should have remained to begin with.
“What if I am not satisfied?”
She stopped for but a moment. His voice tore at her heart.
“Then I am sorry for that. Good day, Lord Shorewood.”
Chapter Fifteen
Julian had watched Cait walk away from him with a heaviness in his heart. He wanted to call her back. He wanted to pull her close and return to five years earlier before everything had gone so terribly wrong, and when he still had the opportunity to make different decisions. As soon as he read the betrothal, he could have married Cait and then his father would have been forced to recant and claim the wrong name had been given.
Except, it would have put his daughter in jeopardy. She might not have survived without Julian. His happiness had been exchanged for her very life.
Cait had said, “We cannot live our lives with regrets of the past.”
He supposed that she was correct, but what could he say or do now so that in another five years he would not look back on this house party with regret yet again because of the decisions he had made?
He paused at the entry to the drawing room, where they were to gather for dinner, and noted that the straight-backed wooden chairs had been removed and the furniture that usually filled the space had been returned and placed in groupings for conversations near the fireplace and windows.
At one end of the room, where the doors led to the terrace, the women had gathered. At the other, beside the fireplace, were the men. In the center of the room stood his aunt and the sisters Tilson and all four of them were frowning.
This did not bode well for any of them, and Julian could only assume that his fellow Devils had had no better luck than he. Though, he still wasn’t certain what his aunt and the Tilson sisters hoped to gain.
Julian started to cross the room to his friends but slowed his steps when he noted that Keegan and Darton stood the furthest away from each other. Keegan frowned when he looked at Darton and tension surrounded them both.
Julian glanced back over his shoulder to the women and searched the faces and then blew out a sigh. At least he hadn’t wronged the younger sister of a fellow Devil and half wondered if Darton did not only have to right the wrong of Lady Evelyn, but Keegan as well.
“Dinner is served,” the butler announced.
Yet, nobody moved other than his aunt and the sisters Tilson. He offered his arm to his aunt. She slapped it away. “Each of you know who you are to escort into dinner.” She turned to Simon Lennox. “You may escort me.”
His friend approached, bowed, and offered his arm. As they left, the sisters Tilson glanced back at them with Lady Esther wagging a finger in warning. This left five gentlemen staring across the drawing room at five women.
