“No.” She folded her arms now, trying to make a shield or an impenetrable wall. “What in the world might have happened?”
“Off the top of my head? Discomfort from a long day of travel, a lumpy mattress in your chamber, a disagreement with your aunt or your maid, something my cousin said, something a servant said…” He trailed off and arched a brow. “A servant said something to you?”
“How do you know that?” she gasped, and then slapped a hand to her mouth. “I meant, why would you think that?”
“Iknowthat,” he said, and took a step closer. “because when I said it, your lashes fluttered and your gaze moved away. You shifted your weight a fraction.”
“You’d be very good at cards, Mr. Castleton,” she said.
He gave a half-smile. “Iamvery good at cards,” he said. “But I never play.”
“Out of fairness to the others?”
“Out of a lack of interest, and you are changing the subject. What was said to you?”
“Nothing,” she insisted, because she knew what might happen to a servant if they were tossed out on their arse. Rude ornot, she wasn’t about to hand over that consequence to another person.
He nodded slowly. “I see.”
She shook her head. “I’m sure it will take a while for a great many people to become accustomed to my presence in this house. In your world. If—if I cannot manage a few little comments here and there, I won’t get far.”
“And you want to get far,” he said.
Now there was a lilt to his tone that rankled. She pursed her lips. “No farther than anyone else, I suppose. At any rate, it isn’t your concern, is it?”
“Unfortunately, it is.”
That was a fascinating, if troubling response. “Unfortunately? Why?”
“You are close to your sisters, I think. At least that’s what’s always been said about you,” he said. “You ought to understandexactlywhy.”
She hugged her arms tighter around her. “You think you need to protect Laurence from me. Because I’m such a wicked, wicked girl?”
There was a flash of something that passed over his face. Something dark and almost feral. Then it was gone and he swallowed hard. “I don’t know exactly what you are. I cannot make a measure of you, which I suppose is the point. But yes, I have made a long life of protecting my cousin. Such that I’ve little choice but to continue to do so now.”
She shook her head. “Laurence is a grown man well capable of making his own decisions.He’smade a measure of me, which I suppose is all that matters. But you’ve made yourself very clear, Mr. Castleton, not that I wasn’t fully aware of your negative feelings toward me even before my engagement to your cousin. I suppose you’ll have to see what kind of person I am as timepasses. There will certainly be a great deal of it since Laurence and Iwillbe married. And now I’ll leave you to the books.”
She turned on her heel and marched from the library with her head held high. She managed to maintain that posture until she was halfway down the hall and then her shoulders slumped and her hands began to shake. Perhaps she should have been more polite, used her skills as a courtesan to bring Alexander Castleton to her side. But in that moment, she had been unable to do anything but confront and spar, just as she’d been unable to do anything else the night before.
Something that could end up being a mistake, and an impulse she would have to control going forward.
It had been a full minute since Julia had stormed from the library, shoulders thrown back and hips twitching. Alexander couldn’t stop staring at the door, as if he could conjure her back by doing so.
He cleared his throat and turned away at last to look into the dancing flames of the fire. He hadn’t expected to encounter Julia before supper and he’d been thrown off when she’d staggered into the room. Her upset should have pleased him. If his grandfather wanted her to go away, being bombarded by the barely veiled cruelty of everyone down to the servants was certainly one way to do things. It would take a strong person to stand up to such opposition and judgment.
But when he’d said her name and she’d turned toward him, eyes bright with emotion, he had not felt in the least pleased. He’d wanted to…comfort her. Wanted to find out what servant had been unkind to her so that he could confront that personand…well, he wasn’t certainand what. What did he want to see happen to Julia Comerford?
The entire exercise was foolish. Especially since the rest of their conversation had in no way alleviated concerns that she was in this marriage for her own mercenary purposes.
He sighed and smoothed his hands over his jacket. If he felt any strong emotions, they were likely raised by his utter discomfort with acting his grandfather’s lackey, that was all. That made him feel strangely about what was going on around him. Nothing else.
He finished gathering himself and moved down the hallway to the parlor where the guests intended to gather before supper. He found one of Laurence’s maids finishing the final preparations and she gave a curtsey as he entered.
“Mr. Castleton,” she said. “Good evening.”
“Good evening,” he returned, and looked around the empty room. Julia hadn’t come here after storming away. “Have you seen Miss Comerford?”
The maid’s expression hardened slightly. “I did earlier, sir. She entered the parlor very early. I don’t know where she went afterward.”
