Chapter 10

CHAPTER10

“Barrington Estate is truly fantastic!” Julia gushed the next day, turning towards her best friend with admiration. “And you’ve done such a wonderful job with it, dearest!”

Selina blushed as she poured some tea for Julia and Mary. They were in the gardens of Barrington Estate, enjoying a private tea party amongst themselves.

“Barrington Estate was already one of the finest estates in England when I married William,” Selina said. “It did not take much to bring out its beauty.”

“Oh, you need not be so humble at all.” Julia winked at her. “I can only imagine the sad state of affairs this garden was probably in before you married your Duke.”

Selina smiled at her best friends and said nothing more on the matter, choosing instead to encourage Mary to try out the new pastries that their chef had prepared for them. Julia picked up her favorite lemon square and bit into it with gusto, savoring the delicate flavors on her tongue.

“Speaking of marriage.” The Duchess turned towards Julia, who was reaching for more of the sumptuous lemon squares. “How are you getting along with Lord Cosby? There is talk amongst the ton that you are to be wed by the end of the Season!”

Julia’s eyebrow twitched as she pursed her lips. “Now, where did you hear such slander?”

“So, it is not true, then?”

“Of course not!” Julia shook her head vehemently. “I truly do not know what Mother was thinking when she decided that he is a suitable match for me.”

“I would have to agree with you on that matter,” Mary murmured with a wry smile. “Never have I seen such an ill-suited match in my entire life—and I have seen my fair share of them.” She shuddered.

“I just… it all feels rather suffocating.” Julia shook her head sadly. “I do understand why Mother wants me to marry well, but…”

Mary leaned forward and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “But what, dearest?”

“I just wish that I would be allowed to make my own decisions about my marriage prospects,” Julia said wistfully. “I know I must marry soon, but this will determine the next chapter of my life. If I make a mistake…”

If I make a mistake and choose the wrong man, it would be akin to choosing misery for the rest of my life.

And that perhaps was her greatest fear in all this—that the wrong choice of husband would subject her to a life of misery. One she could never escape.

Selina frowned. “Well, Lord Cosby certainly is not the best at conversation, but I am certain he must have some finer points…”

“Oh, dear Selina, you have not heard even half of it,” Julia moaned in abject misery. “The man is a dreadful bore—not in the way that Sir Crawford and his poetic ilk are, but in that he talks endlessly about himself.”

The Duchess smothered her laughter behind a gloved hand. “Well, that should be more than half the gentlemen of the ton, my dear. They do tend to drone on and on about themselves.”

“If we were to wed, he would bore me within a fortnight!”

“Not to mention you might drive him to madness at around the same time,” Mary added with a raised eyebrow. She and Selina exchanged a look, and they both burst into a fit of giggles.

“I cannot say I have heard anything much about Lord Cosby, though,” Selina told Julia. “I suppose that should be a blessing on its own.”

“Which is precisely my point,” Julia grumbled. “You have not heard much about him because there is nothing to talk about. He is the most boring gentleman in all of London, I swear it!”

“Well, you cannot possibly mean to marry a rake,” the Duchess remarked with some astonishment. “They might lead rather exciting lives, but none of them is quite likely to make you happy.” She set her teacup down and leaned towards her friend with an air of curiosity. “Which begs the question, really—what type of gentleman would be able to capture your attention and make you happy? Perhaps we ought to start from there.”

Julia’s face lit up. “Well, he must be witty, of course. Charming, too.”

“And just as much of a troublemaker as you are!” Mary chimed in wryly.

Selina burst out in laughter, shaking her head with a rueful smile. “Why, that sounds an awful lot like Andrew.”

“Andrew?” The look of derision was clear on Julia’s face. “While I do agree that he is a troublemaker, he most certainly is not charming.”

Even as she disparaged him, she could not help but feel that slight flutter in her belly whenever she thought of him—which seemed to inevitably lead to thoughts of his kisses.

Julia shook her head at that.

No! I cannot possibly let my mind wander down that path!

“Has nobody ever told you that charm is in the eye of the beholder, Lady Julia?” a low voice broke into their conversation. “I, for one, can be easily persuaded to be charming to the right person.”

Julia stiffened at the sound of that oh-so-familiar voice. She whirled around to find Andrew standing right behind her with the Duke of Barrington behind him. Selina’s husband was sporting a smile that looked more like a smirk as he usually did.

“My Lord,” she remarked breezily, “if that passes for charm, then your standards must be rather abominable.”

Andrew merely smiled at her with a raised eyebrow. “Do not be so quick to judge, Lady Julia. You might find yourself enjoying being at the receiving end of my so-called charm—if I could be convinced to bestow it upon you.”

“You can keep your charm to yourself.” Julia sniffed. “I have charm enough of my own—more so, in fact.”

They both stared at each other like two gladiators facing each other in an arena, neither one willing to back down before the other.

Julia had never been willing to concede to anyone her whole life, but staring at Andrew right now made her rethink her philosophy. Perhaps she did not need to win all the time and at any cost. Perhaps there was a middle ground somewhere where she would not have to put up a brave front all the time.

But for one who had to be strong for so long, it could be hard to finally let down one’s guard.

She heard the Duke of Barrington clear his throat, and with an amused look thrown at them both, he reminded Andrew, “Trowbridge, there are still matters we need to discuss.”

She watched as Andrew nodded, his eyes still fixed on hers. When he finally turned around to head inside the house with the Duke, she could not help but release the breath she did not realize she had been holding.

“Well, I would say there is tension there,” she heard Selina murmur with some amusement.

Mary nodded sagely over her teacup. “There is potential, I must admit.”

“Oh, stop it, you two!” Julia complained. “You are both teasing me again!”

Her sister and her best friend looked at each other knowingly before taking another sip of their tea. Meanwhile, she cast a furtive glance back and felt a warmth creep up her cheeks as she admired the tall, broad-shouldered man walking away from her.

There was a great potential, indeed. Just not the kind that Mary and Selina were possibly thinking.

* * *

If anyone were to see the Duchess of Barrington on the floor with her skirts spread around her, they would probably have been horrified. However, as Selina dangled a round bell on a string over her new kitten, her husband could only take in the sight with so much tenderness.

Selina, sensing that she was now the object of his scrutiny, looked up just as the kitten successfully swiped at the bell, causing it to jingle merrily.

“What is on your mind right now?” she asked with a teasing smile.

William raised an eyebrow at her. “Sunbeam, you cannot possibly pretend you do not know what I am thinking right now.”

Selina felt the warmth rising in her cheeks at her husband’s words. “Right now?” she croaked.

“You do not like it?”

“Well, I do…” she trailed off.

But could she honestly be as blatant as he was about her desire for him?

She narrowed her eyes at him. “You are teasing me!”

William, however, kept a perfectly straight face. “Sunbeam, you should know that I am not one to indulge in such ridiculous antics.”

“You are right. You are far too direct,” she mused with a small smile. She dangled the bell above the kitten once more and watched as it waved its tiny paws, reaching for the jingling sphere.

“And right now, I am being cast aside for a kitten.” William sighed as he sat down on the sofa. “What a troubled world we live in right now that I might have to seduce my wife away from a furry beast.”

Selina laughed. “The furry beast’s name is Bean.”

“Bean? I could think of a far better name.”

“Oh?” She turned towards him with a raised eyebrow. “It had better not be something mean.”

“Tell me, Sunbeam, does this feline beast not remind you of anyone?”

The Duchess of Barrington frowned as she turned towards the kitten, who had now managed to seize the bell with both of its paws. “I cannot say I have met anyone who looks like Bean,” she mused.

“Not in looks, no, but he acts too much like Lady Julia Lewis,” William enunciated.

“What? No!” Selina looked at him in horrified amusement. “Why would you say that?”

“This creature—” he gestured towards Bean “—is just as prone to mischief as your dear friend. In fact, it is her very mischief that brought this damned feline under my roof! If it was female, I would have insisted it was named after her.”

“Well, that is not a very kind observation,” Selina chastised. “Julia is my dearest friend. I would have been lost without her!”

“And that is the only thing holding me back from calling her out.” William snorted. “I suppose she does have her good points.”

“And Bean?”

“I suppose it has its good points as well,” he relented.

Selina smiled, knowing that she had won this round. “Is it not such a shame that my brother has such a reaction to kittens? He seemed rather fond of Bean…”

She scratched the kitten’s face, and the creature lay on its back, begging for her to scratch its belly as well. She conceded to its request with a smile and was rewarded by a low purr.

“Perhaps it would help to expose Andrew to Bean slowly,” William suggested. “I have read somewhere that exposure in small doses may help a person overcome such reactions.”

Selina perked up at that. “Really?”

“I believe it helps their system slowly get used to… whatever it is that afflicts them so.”

“Why, that is brilliant, my darling!” Selina stood up and pressed a tender kiss to his cheek before turning back to playing with the kitten on the floor.

William did not bother hiding his disappointment from her. “I had thought that I would be rewarded with more than a paltry kiss.”

Selina laughed as she shook her head and played with Bean once more. Her brilliant husband had just given her such a great idea. Of course, she was most definitely going to reward him for it.