“What does it say?” Sarah asked.
“I haven’t even read it yet.” And she proceeded to do so, hoping her sister would start on the other invitations.
Dear Miss Sudbury,
Now that we have one situation taken care of, I would very much like to handle the other one. To that end, another ride is in order, don’t you agree? Please send me your response as to when.
Yours truly,
Marshfield
Just like that, his words made her pulse quicken and her breasts feel heavy, not to mention a terribly distracting tingling between her legs. Lust, to be sure, except her emotions were also now thoroughly engaged. She no long feared atendrehad blossomed in her heart. She knew it!
“Now you’ve read it,” her sister pointed out.
Julia refolded the note and put it on her lap. He must have written it early and given it to a footman to deliver. She would go upstairs and respond in a timely fashion.
“Yes, the earl has asked me to go riding again. I enjoyed it very much last time and might go again.” On purpose, she didn’t give even the hint of asking permission. It wasn’t her sister’s to grant, in any case.
“I suppose nothing I say will stop you, not even the fact that he’s now escorting Lady Arabella Doulton around Town.”
“If I decide to go, then no,” Julia said. “As long as Lord Marshfield and I are in public with a chaperone, riding with him cannot harm me, nor reflect badly upon you.”
“Uponme? Of course not. What have I to do with your poor choice in men?”
Julia sipped her tea before rising to her feet to help herself to a plate of eggs and bacon from the sideboard. If her sister knew the threats from the dead viscountess and how Julia’s actions could impact her, Sarah would be far less cavalier.
Nevertheless, having just got out of Lady Chandron’s frying pan, she oughtn’t to jump immediately into another possible fire. Sarah was correct how unseemly it would be to go riding with him while he had a known association with Lady Arabella. There was no sense in causing tongues to wag merely to please herself. None at all.
She would see Jasper again at the next ball, should he attend. And if not, all the better.
***
THE QUADRILLE, USUALLYan endless dance was over far too quickly since Julia was partnered with Jasper, who’d claimed her the moment she’d entered the ballroom. Foolishly, his eagerness had wrapped her in a blanket of happiness.
When they left the parquet dance floor, he steered her toward the refreshment table that ran the length of a wall in the adjoining parlor. She couldn’t help asking the question that had been on her mind.
“Where is Lady Arabella this evening?” Julia hoped he would say he’d tired of her already and had broken it off.
He shrugged. “I am not certain she’s coming. Besides, I came to dance with you.”
The earl was smooth, and Julia reminded herself preciselyhowsmooth and why. Because he’d been perfecting his pursuit of women for the past few years.
“I keep hoping you’ll put me out of my misery,” he continued, “and agree to a ride in the park.”
Unless she was gravely mistaken, his invitation to ride in the park meant stopping at his home to finish what Sarah had interrupted. And Julia no longer intended to gift him her innocence.
“I know the Thames hasn’t frozen, but it’s cold enough out there to freeze my blood,” Julia said. “I don’t wish to ride in anything except a closed carriage with a warming brick at my feet.”
“We can do that,” he agreed. “A carriage can have a certain rocking motion, perfect for—”
“I understand the concept.” But she’d decided not to ever indulge herself — and that’s what it plainly was,an indulgence— with him again. Moreover, it made her look a fool. TheGazettehad mentioned him coming in from the garden of Lord and Lady Woodling’s house with a flustered Lady Arabella, despite bitter temperatures a mere two nights’ earlier.
“What possible reason could Lord M have for going outside with Lady A__ in such chilly weather? Not to smell the flowers, surely!”
The silly little statement had made Sarah roll her eyes at breakfast. And rightly so. Julia, on the other hand, had felt a rush of envy and jealousy, two unpleasant emotions she desperately wanted to be rid of. Now, here he was trying to turn his rakish charms upon her again.
“I have no doubt one such as yourself can find a myriad of women who would love to enjoy a carriage ride with you.”
