They lay there together for a moment after it was over, his body still covering her, her hands still gripped against him like she could hold him to her forever.
But then reality returned. He lifted his head and looked down at her, passion still sparkling there but the confusion and conflict back, as well. She pressed her hands to his chest and shoved. Unlike many men, he didn’t try to use his superior strength to resist her. He rolled away and she got up, smoothing her skirt back down around her body. She tried not to look at him as he put himself back into place, as well.
“Julia,” he said softly.
She did look at him then, over her shoulder. God, he was beautiful, still half-sprawled on the settee, hair mussed and clothing wrinkled from their ardor. There was a wild moment when she wanted to unwrap him to shut him up. Straddle him and ride him over and over until there was nothing left to say.
Instead, she held up a hand. “You owed me that, Mr. Castleton, if nothing else. And look on the bright side, you can use this moment to prove to yourself, and I suppose everyone else, that your cousin was right to throw me over. You can tell them all what a whore I truly was.”
He stood up. “I would never say that. I would never tellhimabout this. It’s none of his business, not after what he did to you.”
She took a step back at the quick passion with which he defended her, even against herself. Then she turned away.“You got what you wanted, Alexander. In more ways than one. Goodbye.”
“Julia.”
She ignored him and left the parlor. She waited for him to chase her, to try to force her to talk to him, or to continue what they’d started or to do…well, she didn’t know what else. But he didn’t.
She moved through the darkened foyer and out the front door to where her carriage was still waiting for her. And then she went home. Whatever had driven her to this course of action, it was over now. She would never see that man again.
And she refused to analyze why that fact hurt more than the fact that her engagement had been destroyed less than twelve hours prior.
CHAPTER 15
It wasn’t two days after he returned from Castleton Grange that Alexander was summoned to the Earl of Heathfield’s London estate. He’d been expecting it, of course, but he felt no pleasure as he rode through busy streets to his grandfather.
There had actually been very little pleasure at all since that night with Julia. The one that haunted every dream and most of his waking hours, no matter what he did to distract himself from it. Even now, riding his horse through the busy streets of London, he was preoccupied by flashes of Julia’s mouth lifting to his, of the way she moaned when she came. And of her cool dismissal before she walked away from him.
He nearly missed turning into his grandfather’s drive and shook his head. This was the last place a man should be unfocused. The earl would pounce at any sign of weakness.
When he dismounted and climbed the stairs, he was greeted by his grandfather’s butler and taken to the same parlor as always. And as always, he was made to wait nearly half an hour after the requested meeting time before the old man came through the door, eyes bright.
“And there he is. A warrior back from battle, though I think you did very little to win us our prize.” His grandfather shook his hand before he moved to pour them each a drink.
“I don’t feel like any prizes were won,” Alexander said. “That entire situation was a fiasco and I resent the fact you didn’t tell me everything that was going on behind the scenes.”
“You mean that all this was over your cousin’s desire to marry Miss Garrington?” The earl sighed. “Why did you need that information? You were sent to part him from the whore and there were equally good reasons to keep him from that.”
“Don’t call her that,” Alexander said, trying not to growl it.
“What, Miss Garrington? I’ve no idea of her given name.”
“You know I don’t mean Miss Garrington. Don’t call Julia Comerfordthe whore. She is the only true victim of this horrible situation.” He set his drink aside without taking a sip because he definitely wasn’t toasting what had been done.
“You’re being overwrought,” Heathfield said with a roll of his eyes.
“And the reason I needed the information is becauseyousent me to Castleton Grange as a weapon against her. And against Laurence, himself. And all the while you were playing some chess match with him from London. I didn’t have to do anything, you two were already in your own battle.”
His grandfather shrugged. “I had to use every weapon in my arsenal. If you could have turned Comerford away before your cousin very intelligently forced my hand, then I might have been able to convince him to make a more politically advantageous match. As it is, we’re rid of the courtesan and he’ll marry who he wishes. Her father has some small amount of money and I think his great-uncle on his mother’s side was a baron or some such thing, it’s not the end of the world.”
Alexander threw up his hands. “You didn’t even care what he did beyond some outrageous flex of your control and yet you two were willing to destroy Julia? That’s disgusting.”
His grandfather’s jovial tone changed then. He glared at Alexander. “Of course Icare. I intervened, didn’t I? But in the end, your cousin played the game very well. After all, the Garrington girl can be trained to be a lady at least.” He turned away. “As for the other one, she’ll be taken care of.”
Alexander caught his breath that that sinister sentence. “Taken care of? What do you mean by that?”
The earl glanced at him. “You don’t think she can be allowed to be the victim of this, do you? And she certainly cannot go back to being someone else’s mistress out in the public, as a reminder of this disaster. No, she must go away.”
“Go away,” he repeated, his breath even shorter now. “You mean to harm her?”
