“Why don’t we get Cook to sit by the fire,” Jasper quipped. “She can put her leg up, perhaps wrap some sort of poultice around her knee, and see if she can stave off the storm.”
Julia couldn’t help smiling.
His mother stared at him, frowning, and then suddenly, she laughed.
“I see. You’re making a little joke. But her kneeisa good indicator, I tell you, and not to be sneezed at. You can fix her knee all you like, but the rain will come if the rain will come.”
“Truer words were never spoken, Mother.”
Exasperated, Lady Marshfield poured her own tea. “Your humor seems more wry than usual. What have you been up to, dear boy?”
The earl sighed splendidly. “It’s what I haven’t been up to,” he said, sounding woebegone.
Julia knew precisely to what he was referring.
“What do you mean?” his mother persisted.
Julia coughed.What was he going to say?
Jasper looked directly at her, and she felt her cheeks warm. Then he turned innocently to his mother.
“I have been missing the company I usually find at my club. That’s all it is. Very quiet and dull here in the country. Making my humor a bit caustic.”
“I think Miss Sudbury and I should be insulted,” his mother said. “In fact, I think that was not well-spoken of you, and you owe our guest an apology.”
Julia saw him sit up straighter for being taken to task.
“You’re right, Mother.” He fixed Julia with his rich brown gaze. “Miss Sudbury, shall we keep close company today? Very close?”
As her eyes widened, he added. “For Lady Marshfield is correct. I must strive to be a better host. I shall teach you to play billiards. Mother, is the table uncovered, I can’t recall? And if we get tired of indoor entertainment, then we shall go for a ride? You haven’t had a goodridein days, have you, Miss Sudbury? I know how much you enjoyed our last one.”
Julia sipped her chocolate and tried not to let him get to her. Twelfth Night and the party were nearly upon them. Moreover, his mother didn’t seem to detect any undercurrents, nor the ebb and flow of desire and irritation coursing across the table.
She’d shown Jasper a weakness. Now that he knew how much she wanted him — enough to sacrifice her pride and morals and go to his room — he intended to tease her mercilessly, as he’d tried to do the night before between her legs.
All at once she realized what was good for the goose was good for the gander.
“Yes, I should love to try my hand at billiards. First, you must tell me how to set up the balls, and how precisely balls are to be handled. And then, you shall have to show me how to hold a long, hard stick. I’m sure there’s a knack to firmly holding the shaft.”
She saw him swallow, the so-called Adam’s apple in his neck going up and down. Then he tugged at his cravat.
“Yes, I shall certainly demonstrate for you.”
And he did. He put her through a hellish hour, insisting on wrapping his arms around her and leaning against her back as he helped her hold the cue and aim at the balls. He took every opportunity to stroke her arm or her back, and even put his cheek to hers on the pretense of making sure she was eyeing the ball correctly.
With tension coiling inside her and feeling heated from top to bottom, she was practically shaking by the time they’d finished. While hardly knowing if she’d managed to get a ball into even one of table’s pockets, she could easily recall his hard arousal pressing into her bottom.
For his part, he’d appeared unaffected, but she was determined to get back at him. When they met for drinks before dinner in the gray salon, as soon as Jasper had a drink in hand, she strolled the room to look at the paintings and curios in the Marshfield collection. When she walked past him — and his mother wasn’t looking — Julia ran her hand over his firm backside. He dropped his wine glass, and it shattered at his feet.
“Jasper,” his mother exclaimed, looking up from the music sheets she was turning over, creating a list for the quartet she’d hired.
“I believe a little too much to drink can cause one’s hands to shake,” Julia said from the safety of the other side of the room. She was looking at a painting of a man on horseback with a spaniel but turned to send him what she hoped was an innocent smile.
“Have you heard that?” the dowager countess asked. “Miss Sudbury might be correct. Perhaps you should take a break from the wine tonight and especially stop drinking brandy. It’s French and probably far stronger than Spanish wine.”
“I think it’s all poppycock,” Jasper declared.
“Then what caused you to drop your glass if not a quaking hand?” his mother questioned. “Perhaps you need a diet of slipslops for a week.”
