The disdain this woman felt toward Julia was thinly veiled indeed, at least to him. He could see it in the tightening of her lips, in the narrowing of her eyes. And suddenly he realizedexactlywhat had happened before Julia found the library.
“She will soon be mistress of this house,” he said.
The maid shifted. “Yes. That is what they say.”
“I’m certain the staff will only treat her with respect. That would be what is expected and what is right. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“Yes, Mr. Castleton,” the maid said softly, and then inclined her head. “Do you require anything further?”
“No.” He stepped away and the young woman left the room. Alexander shook his head. “What the hell are you doing?” he asked himself.
“Pouring drinks, I hope,” Laurence laughed as he entered the room with Julia on his arm and her aunt behind them. “The others are just arriving. It should be a laugh.”
Alexander smiled. “I’m certain it will be. Good evening, Miss Comerford. Mrs. Banfield. What will you have?”
“Good evening, Mr. Castleton,” Mrs. Banfield said when Julia didn’t answer. She only glanced up at him through long lashes and then blushed. “A madeira for me if you have it.”
“And for me,” Julia almost whispered.
He poured for them and the conversation that followed was casual and empty of meaning or undercurrents. Julia mostly focused on her aunt, he noticed. She was perfectly polite, of course, but always trying to find the fixed mark of someone she knew well. Telling that it wasn’t his cousin she sought when she was uncomfortable.
He had little time to ponder that, as guests from around the shire began to be announced. They were old friends to both himself and to Laurence. Second sons and gambling partners and all kinds of men and their wives who weren’t exactly of the same rank as Laurence now was.
Was that because those higher in rank hadn’t been invited or wouldn’t come given the wedding they’d be celebrating? If it were the second, Laurence seemed to have no issue with the cut direct. He laughed with their friends and steered Julia toward the ladies. Alexander noted how they spoke to her, but only barely. The discomfort from that side of the room was so palpable he could almost feel the vibration of it.
But the time passed swiftly enough and supper was eventually announced. He moved with the group to the dining room and found his place at the long table. Within a moment, hewas surprised to find Julia coming up beside him. She glanced at her name on the nameplate next to his and sighed. “Mr. Castleton,” she said.
He held her chair and nodded. “Miss Comerford.”
Wonderful. And now he would be forced into polite conversation after their more direct interaction in the library. The meal began and he tried to shift his attention to the woman on his right, but she was engaged in a talk with the person on her opposite side. He glanced at Julia and found she had clearly tried to do the same thing, but her companion was also engaged elsewhere.
Their eyes met and she ran the tines of her fork along the food on her plate. She sighed. “I think I may owe you an apology, Mr. Castleton.”
“Do you?” he asked, and sipped his wine. “For what?”
“I let my emotions overtake me and then I abruptly left you in the library.” She glanced at him more fully. “I-I do know how important family is. I don’t want to be the cause of strain between Laurence and his.”
Alexander lifted his brows.Thatwas unexpected. “Certainly with such a sudden engagement and quick wedding, added to the fact that you’ve been separated from your sisters, high emotion is to be expected. You’ve nothing to apologize for.”
“That’s very kind.” She shifted. “You said in the library that you couldn’t make a measure of me. What is it you wish to know?”
He stared at her. In that moment, with the candlelight hitting her face just so he wanted to know everything. Everything about her. But he shook that off and said, “Er, what about your family? Your parents?”
There was the slightest twitch to her cheek that was the only thing that gave away that he’d hit upon what was clearly a tender topic. She sipped her wine before she spoke. “My father was agentleman, though not titled. The second son of a second son and a solicitor in Granger, where I was born.”
He drew back. “Oh, I didn’t know.”
She shrugged. “People look at me and my sisters and the path we took and I suppose they make their own assumptions. As for my mother, she died when I was only a year old. I know nothing about her except what little my sisters can share. They say I look like her.”
He tilted his head as he examined her further. “You look like them.”
She smiled and he realized that was the first time he’d ever seen a genuine smile on her face. The others were for show, for seduction, for armor. But this was…this was something else. It lit her up from some powerful place inside and she almost glowed with it.
“I do love to see their faces in my own,” she said. “It makes me feel less alone.”
She seemed to hear the words at the same time he did and they both caught their breath at that intimate confession. They held glances a moment longer and then she murmured, “It’s a fine supper.”
He could barely taste it, but he nodded. “Yes. Laurence’s cook is very good.”
