“That’s absurd.” Emmeline Templeton must be as mad as her sister was.
She shrugged, but her expression was troubled. “Emmeline insists the truth doesn’t matter as much as what thetonbelieves to be true.”
“She’s not entirely wrong.” Most rumors became so twisted and distorted as they passed from lips to ears, they ceased to bear any resemblance to the truth, but that never stopped anyone from believing them.
Or repeating them, whether they believed them or not.
“Of course, she’s wrong. I disagree with her most vehemently, and have told her nothing thetonsays could induce me to marry Lord Melrose in her place, but as far as I know, Emmeline is persisting in her stubborn refusals.”
For God’s sake. If it had been any other family, he wouldn’t have believed a word of this, but the Templeton sisters had a gift for ridiculousness. “I don’t know what any of this has to do with me, or why it should have induced you to come to Steeple Cross.”
“Why, I want you to help me to dispel the worst of the rumors. They grow more outlandish and more hateful with every day that passes.”
“It can’t be so bad as you say—”
“Indeed, it is! If Emmeline hears the worst of it—and Buckinghamshire is also inEngland, my lord, so it’s only a matter of time before she does—I’m afraid it will severely hinder Lord Melrose’s and her chance at happiness.”
It was all about her sister’s happiness now, was it? Juliet Templeton was no fool. She knew how to play the best odds. If Melrose wanted Emmeline, then so be it. It didn’t much matter which sister he married, as long as he and his massive fortune married one of them. “I still don’t see why you needme, Miss Templeton. Surely, Lady Fosberry can—”
“No, she can’t. I adore Lady Fosberry, but she’s… well, she’s been a trifle… Lady Fosberry would be the first to admit she’s rather a gossip, herself. Thetonwon’t credit her denials, butyou, Lord Cross, a serious, respectable gentleman who never engages in gossip—”
“The reason I don’t engage in gossip, Miss Templeton, is that I don’t choose to become involved in other people’s affairs.”
She blinked. “Well, no, not generally speaking, but this time—”
“I don’t choose to become involved this time, either. It won’t do the least bit of good.” His denying the rumors would only stir the cursed business up again. The gossip likely wasn’t as awful as she made it out to be, and if it was, well… an adventuress must reap what she’d sown, mustn’t she?
Or something like that. “If this was your only reason for coming to Steeple Cross, then there’s no need for you to remain any longer.”
Her face fell. “You can’t mean… you’re asking me toleave?”
“I am, indeed. Tomorrow morning, preferably.”
And with those words, his reputation for coldness and arrogance was sealed in a single, disgraceful moment. He, who fancied himself a perfect gentleman, had just told a young lady hedidn’t want her here. That she wasn’t welcome in his home. She was hisguest, for God’s sake, for she’d become so as soon as she walked through his door, whether he’d invited her or not—and a guest who’d just been through a frightening ordeal, no less.
Well, then. It seemed hecouldn’tbe trusted not to behave like an utter savage, after all. Barnaby was going to be furious when he found out.
“But surely you must see that my leaving Steeple Cross will appear to be a confirmation of the rumors! The quickest way to put them to rest is for thetonto think you invited me, and that we’re friends.”
“Friends?” With very few exceptions, he didn’thavefriends. Certainly not any who were young ladies. They all thought him condescending, bad-tempered, and far too serious for a man of his years, and the devil of it was, they wereright. He was all of those things, just as his father before him had been. He hadn’t any patience for silly young ladies, and even less for witless gentlemen.
In truth, he had little patience for anyone.
If he’d been fool enough to think Juliet Templeton was any different than any other young lady in London, then he’d certainly paid the price for his folly. He’d continue to pay it, too, for as long as she remained at Steeple Cross. “My decision is final, Miss Templeton.”
“But… I don’t understand.Aren’twe friends, Lord Cross? Was I mistaken?”
Something tugged at him then, like a hook in his chest, but he ripped it out and flung it aside before it could tear a hole in his flesh, or sink its pointed tip into any major organs, like a lung, or a kidney.
Or worse, his heart.
If the season had taught him nothing else, it proved hedidhave one, after all, and it was as disruptive a thing as he’d always feared it would be. “We were never friends, Miss Templeton, merely passing acquaintances. If that.”
“I see. Well then, I suppose there’s nothing more to say. I won’t trouble you again, Lord Cross.”
She left the study without looking at him again, and that was the end of it. He was rid of Juliet Templeton, and with far less fuss than he’d thought possible. He dropped into his chair, but instead of the gratitude he should have felt, he couldn’t stop thinking of the way she’d felt in his arms tonight.
He’d never held her before, had hardly laid a finger on her when they’d been together in London, other than to take her arm. But he’d thought about touching her dozens of times. He’d even gone so far as to imagine how she’d fit against him—if her head would rest over his heart, and if her lips could reach the hollow of his throat if she rose to her tiptoes.
