“Lady Carenza and Lady Allegra have arrived safely,” Julian said. “I’m sure they’ll be down to greet you all soon.”
“Excellent,” Aragon said. “By the way, Mother will be here around six. She had some commitments to fulfill today that couldn’t be avoided.”
“Mother?” Julian looked at his brother.
“Yes.” Aragon raised his eyebrows. “What of it?”
Julian turned to his secretary.
“I wrote the invitations, but I wasn’t aware that Lady Landon had been invited, sir,” Simon said. “I do apologize if I was in error.”
“Well, of course she was invited.” Aragon looked between Julian and Simon. “She’s family, and for some reason she hasn’t been here before.” He smiled. “I thought it was time to remedy that. We wouldn’t want her to think she wasn’t welcome, now, would we?”
“Of course not,” Julian said. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll just go and inform my housekeeper that we have an extra guest.”
“Jolly good,” Aragon said. “Now, I’m off to your stables to see if my horses have settled in half as well as I have.” He laughed heartily and strode away, leaving Julian with nothing useful to say.
He didn’t have far to look for Mrs. Glebe, because she appeared in the drawing room with Lady Allegra. After Allegra went to greet the others, Julian quietly asked Mrs. Glebe to prepare a bedroom as far away from his suite as possible to receive his mother. He apologized for the inconvenience. Mrs. Glebe was delighted to oblige him and assured him it was of no consequence.
As Mrs. Glebe left, Carenza came into the drawing room. She’d changed into a dove-gray afternoon dress and had a paisley shawl draped over her elbows.
She walked over to him and paused. “What’s wrong?”
“Aragon invited my mother.”
“Good Lord.”
“Exactly.” He slowly exhaled. “My only hope is that she is too busy preventing Aragon from making a connection with you to notice that you and I have already made one.”
“Mrs. Sheraton and Lady Brenton,” the footman announced.
Julian and Carenza shared a horrified look.
“You invitedOlivia?” Carenza whispered.
“Of course I did.”
“But we are at odds,” Carenza whispered. “And why has she turned up with your mistress?”
“You are my mistress,” Julian murmured, his joy in the day diminishing by the second. His plans for a few days of frolickingandfucking were rapidly going up in smoke. “What on earth was Olivia thinking asking Lady Brenton to accompany her?”
“She probably wanted to get back at me,” Carenza said. She turned stiffly toward Mrs. Sheraton as she approached them with a bright smile.
“Olivia,” Carenza said in a cool tone, “how lovely to see you.”
Mrs. Sheraton curtsied and turned her dazzling smile and her considerable charm on Julian. “Thank you for inviting me. I hope you don’t mind that I brought Lady Brenton. She was very keen to see what you’ve done with this place since her last visit.”
Julian tried not to look at Carenza, who had gone very still beside him. Before he could speak, Carenza said, “Olivia, I know you are annoyed with me, but this isn’t helpful. Lady Brenton is not our friend.”
“That’s not what I’ve heard,” Olivia said. “In fact, she had some very interesting stories about Mr. Laurent that I’m sure she’d love to share with you.”
There was something in her voice that made Julian pay attention. Was she trying to convey a warning to him? And if so, what exactly was she worried about?
“I hope you didn’t allow Walcott to escort you,” Julian said, one eye on Lady Brenton, who was rapidly approaching.
“No.” Mrs. Sheraton grinned at him. “I’m not quite that awful.”
Carenza muttered something under her breath, and Julian nudged her in the ribs. “Why don’t you go and get yourself some refreshments while I welcome our new guest?”
