“I’m not certain what I mean,” his grandfather mused. “All options are on the table if it means she doesn’t draw further attention to herself or mingle within our ranks again.”
Alexander shifted. The harsh threat of his grandfather’s initial statement had been softened a little. He didn’t entirely trust it, though. As had been proven by the last few weeks, the earl could easily pretend one thing while doing something else.
Heathfield wanted Julia gone. And now it was imperative that Alexander guide how that plan was created. “Then pay her off,” Alexander said. “Give her enough that she doesn’t have to continue as she has.”
“Throw good money after bad? Absolutely not. She has no power, she’ll be easy enough to drum out of Society. I think that’s part of why your cousin chose her for his little scheme against me. She would be easy to discard afterward.” His grandfather folded his arms. “And you’ll help in that.”
“No,” Alexander said. “I won’t.”
There was a long silence that hung between them and then his grandfather took a step toward him. “Are you suggesting you would deny me what I ask?”
“I’m telling you to go to the devil, old man, if you think I will do one more thing to harm that woman.”
His grandfather looked shocked at that refusal. Of course he would. All his life, Alexander had been stepping up, taking care of problems. Carrying his cousin through life so he could avoid consequences. The costs had always been high, but now? Impossible.
And he knew he would suffer for it. Worse, so would his mother.
The earl proved that by giving a wicked laugh. “You earned the money for your mother out at the Grange, my boy. But by God, that can be taken away from her. I could take even more if you’d like.”
“I suppose you mean you could say things to harm her? To harm me?” He shook his head. “My whole life you’ve dangled pain above me as a sword that could drop at any moment. And the money you’ve doled out was always the carrot on the other side. I’m tired, Grandfather. And I cannot look to the next ten years, twenty years of my life dancing on your string. Or on Laurence’s once you are dead and buried. I…I won’t. Keep the money. I’ll find another way. Because if there’s one thing I know about my dear mother, it is that she wouldneverwish to see another person punished in exchange for her comfort.”
He started across the room, hands shaking and heart throbbing that it had finally come to this. That one slip of a woman who he hardly knew had at last inspired him to walk away from this man and his machinations.
“If you leave, you’ll come to regret it,” Heathfield said.
Alexander stopped at the door and looked at him once more over his shoulder. He had his grandfather’s eyes and chin, hesaw those features on that cruel face. And he hoped that was all he’d ever share.
“I may at that,” he said. “But I know for certain I’ll regret it if I stay. Goodbye.”
He left the room and didn’t wait for the butler to come to him. He strode out of the front door and down to the stable to fetch his own horse. The groom looked shocked by the action, but didn’t try to stop him as he swung up and thundered down the drive and away from the house where he’d been raised to fear reprisal for wrongs and removal of affection.
But he couldn’t dwell on that much, because he knew he had to go see Julia now. He had to tell her of his grandfather’s plans to further harm her in the hopes there might be some way to protect her as he had never been able to protect himself.
Julia sat on the floor in her chamber, Arabella beside her and Evie on a chair nearby. Her middle sister had feared not being able to get back up if she got down thanks to her ever-expanding stomach. Beatrice weaved between them all, demanding to be petted and picked up by each of them. She got what she wanted regularly and was doling out purrs and licks accordingly.
Together, they were through the poorly packed trunks that had been sent over from the home Laurence had once provided for her.
“Ugh,” Arabella said with a scowl. “Here’s another broken figurine. That bastard’s servants didn’t even wrap them!”
Julia looked at the shattered pieces perched carefully in her sister’s hands. “Oh, that was the little glass bird you gave mefor my birthday last year. I loved that.” She blinked at tears. “Is there a way to repair it?”
Arabella shook her head. “I think it wouldn’t glue properly even if we could reassemble the pieces. Oh, don’t cry, lovey! I’ll buy you a new bird—I remember where Silas and I found it!”
Julia blinked and realized she was, indeed, crying. She wiped at her tears and shook her head. “I’m sorry to be silly.”
Evie let out a great gasp. “I beg your pardon, but you are beinganythingbut silly. After what you’ve just been through, the fact you are upright speaks to your strength. And if I ever see that man, I shall make him very sorry for what he’s done to you.”
Arabella’s brows went up and she sent Julia a look. “That’s usually my line.”
Julia couldn’t muster a smile. She had told her sisters the full story about her time at Castleton Grange and how it had all ended. Well, not thefullstory. She had left out any exchanges she’d had with Alexander. And she certainly hadn’t told them about going to his home the night of her return and claiming him on the settee in his parlor.
Normally she would have given that detail. They had all been courtesans—the sensual side of life wasn’t something any of them shied away from. There would have been no condemnation, probably even less than she judged herself when she thought of that night.
When she was honest, it was only light judgment that came in those moments and a great deal of excitement and arousal when those heated images invaded her mind.
Even now she blinked away the memories and tried to refocus. “You may put those shards in the box we’re discarding,” she said with a sigh. “And perhaps we canallgo to the market where you found the birds and each pick one so that we have a matched set.”
“Oh, that would be lovely,” Evie said, back to her usually kind self after her uncharacteristic threat toward Laurence. Her eyes welled with tears. “I would love to have something special in all our homes.”
