“Yes, Aunt Caroline,” she said, the slight tremble to her voice the only remnant of whatever had passed between them. “I wouldn’t make Laurence wait. Good evening, Mr. Castleton.”
She didn’t look at him as she said it but left the terrace with her aunt. He flinched as the door shut behind them, leaving him alone in the cool, night air to think about what had just happened.
His mind and body were both spinning with desire and confusion and a strong, driving knowledge that this marriage would not be good for any party if it was fulfilled. His cousin didn’t care about this woman, not enough to drag her from her life and throw her into his. And she didn’t care about him. He was an escape route, and while Alexander could no longer truly judge that, he also couldn’t foresee any happiness between them in a year or five years or ten.
Any remnant of it that did exist his grandfather would destroy at any rate. So he did have to stop this wedding. But how?
He stepped to the terrace where Julia had been standing a few moments before and looked out over the garden just like she had been. It was a pretty spot. Romantic, even, in the moonlight, which made him think of that flash of desire that had snapped hot and quick between them.
If she could want him, perhaps that was the route. A seduction, one that would make her see this was foolish. That would give a reason to end things for his cousin or for her.
Yes, he would flirt and tease and tempt as much as he could. For whose sake, he wasn’t entirely sure. And that was the thing that stuck with him as he finally made his way back into the house and the party.
CHAPTER 10
After a sleepless night, the restlessness Julia felt was almost impossible to overcome. That was how she found herself standing outside her aunt’s door the next morning, hoping Caroline was awake. She knocked and heard some movement from the other side of the door. Then Caroline’s maid, Violet, pulled the door open.
“Good morning, Miss Julia,” she said with a bright smile.
Julia returned it. Caroline’s servants had always been kind to her and her sisters, regardless of their station in life. Caroline made sure of it. Which only made the situation with Laurence’s servants all the more pointed. He’d been witness to some of the harsh moments. He could step in and insist on the behavior he expected of his staff. He didn’t.
“Good morning, Violet,” she answered. “Is my aunt awake?”
“Of course,” Caroline answered herself, rising from where she’d been sitting by the window and coming toward the door. “That will be all, Violet, thank you.”
The maid departed and Julia stepped into the room and shut the door behind her. “Oh, this is a pretty view,” she said, coming to the window behind the desk where her aunt had been sitinga moment before. “Is that the lake there in the distance where we’ll be having the picnic later?”
“Yes.” Her aunt sounded a little uncomfortable and as Julia lowered her gaze from the window to turn, she noticed that there was a letter folded open on the desk below her. She recognized the hand.
“Is that…is that a letter from Simone?”
Caroline rushed forward and snatched the pages from the desk, refolding them and pacing to her bed where she placed them beneath a book on the table there. “Yes.”
All other thoughts fled at this unexpected idea that one of the most celebrated courtesans in all the country was writing letters to her widowed aunt. The two women knew each other in passing, of course. Julia and her sisters were forever teasing Caroline about the acquaintance. But to be so close as to correspond? That was a shocking idea.
“Simone Stanhope writes you letters?” Julia asked.
“Not regularly,” Caroline said, a little more sharply than perhaps the response required.
“What is she writing you about?”
Now her aunt’s cheeks were flamed red and she smoothed her hands across the fabric of her gown. “I don’t know how that’s any of your business, Julia, honestly. But if you must know, she was sharing information about Evie.”
Since Julia had received a bubbly letter from Evie, herself, just the day prior, Julia had no fears about the welfare of her sister when she heard Simone had written about her. But it still made no sense.
“You are receiving letters about Evelina from Simone, not Arabella or Evie, herself?” she asked.
“You are making such a fuss over almost nothing at all. Your friend was kind enough to send me a short letter after a visit with your sister. That’s all.” Julia found herself looking towardthe side table where the very letter they were discussing made the book now on top of it lean sideways. This was not a short letter. Caroline huffed out a breath. “Was there something you came here to discuss with me or did you only intend to harass me about my private correspondence?”
Juliadidwant to further harass her because she truly could not wrap her mind around the idea that Caroline and Simone had a secret friendship that involved long letters, but since her aunt was beginning to look genuinely irritated she didn’t. She cleared her throat instead and said, “I didn’t come to trouble you, auntie, my apologies. I was feeling restless and wanted to take a walk in the garden. I think it’s appropriate for a lady to have her chaperone for such a thing and I’d love to walk with you even if it wasn’t. Would you come?”
Caroline’s expression softened at the request. “Of course, lovie. That would be divine.”
“And I promise not to interrogate you about any letters,” Julia teased one last time as they exited the chamber together and started toward the stairs.
Caroline laughed a little weakly. “That’s much appreciated. How is the little cat?”
That change of subject brought a rush of joy to Julia and she smiled broadly at the thought of the kitten that had approached her two days before at the stable. Since then she’d taken the cat into her chamber and was having cream and fish brought up twice a day for her enjoyment.
