Chapter 14

CHAPTER14

“Istill do not understand what you have against that necklace Lord Cosby gave you. Anyone would want an opportunity to display such a magnificent piece!”

Julia fought to hide the scowl on her face as her mother paced around her bedchamber and her maid busied herself by arranging her thick red curls atop her head to display her elegant neck. While it was true that a necklace might be the perfect piece to set it all off, Julia had no such inclination to use the necklace that Lord Cosby gifted her.

First, it was excessively large and would feel much rather like a millstone around her neck than an actual accessory. For another, wearing that necklace felt almost tantamount to declaring to all of London that she was the property of the Viscount. A pet with a pretty collar around her neck.

Nothing was as repulsive to Julia as that notion.

“A pity, really,” Lady Powell continued to rail. “It would have matched the color of your gown perfectly.”

If you like it so much, why do you not wear it, then?

However, for all her faults, Julia did not consider herself to be exceedingly disrespectful to her parents, even if they tended to make the most dubious choices for her at times. This just happened to be one of them.

“Mother, the necklace really is too extreme,” Julia explained. “This gown is already so beautiful. If I wear the necklace on top of everything, I would be an absolute spectacle!”

“Ladies are like jewels, dearest—we are meant to be seen and not heard.”

It was such a ridiculous notion that she could do nothing but gape at her mother as the latter instructed the maid to fetch the sapphire necklace in question. Harriet cast the hapless Julia an apologetic look as she moved to hand the necklace—still untouched in the same case that Lord Cosby had brought it in—over to the lady of the house.

Triumphantly, Lady Powell drew the sizable sapphires out of the box and draped them around Julia’s neck. “There!” she declared with a happy gleam in her eyes. “Does that not look wonderful?”

“I will have trouble holding my head up for the rest of the night,” Julia grumbled, “from the sheer weight of it and the blow to my dignity.”

“Oh, nonsense! You will be the envy of everybody at the ball. Nobody else has a suitor as generous as the Viscount, and you would do well to remember that!”

Julia thought that Lord Cosby was not so much a suitor as he was looking for another avenue from which he might display his wealth, as if talking about it was not enough for him.

“Now, come along, dear.” Lady Powell beamed, seemingly oblivious to her daughter’s plight. “We are going to be late, and Mary is already waiting for us.”

With a resigned sigh, Julia followed her mother out of the bedchamber with Harriet hurrying behind her, cautiously fixing her dress and hair as she walked.

When she descended the stairs, she caught the eye of her younger sister, whose gaze dropped to the abomination sitting on her chest. Julia saw how Mary’s eyes widened slightly in an expression of acute horror before they softened in sympathy for her. It was just like her sister to convey her feelings to her without speaking a single word.

“Mary, my dear, you look absolutely lovely in that yellow dress. Like a rose in bloom, I daresay!” Lady Powell grinned at her youngest daughter. “Well then, let us hurry off, or we will be extremely late!”

Julia tried her best not to roll her eyes as their mother urged them out the front door while their father looked on in amusement. She had scarcely stepped out the door when she felt something slide from her neck. Her hands immediately flew to that atrocity her mother had earlier insisted she wear, but it was too late.

They distinctly heard the entire thing jangling all the way down before it made a shattering sound upon its impact with the marble floor.

For a moment, there was silence, and then, Lady Powell wailed in absolute horror. “Lord Cosby’s gift!”

Julia looked down to find that not only was the clasp broken, as she initially suspected, but that three of the five sapphires had flown off the setting, and two of them now lay shattered on the floor.

Mary frowned as she peered closely at the broken jewels. “I never thought that sapphires could break so easily…”

They could have blamed the broken clasp on the sheer weight of the necklace itself. The jewels flying off the setting might have been the result of shoddy craftsmanship. But for real sapphires to shatter as if they were made of nothing but glass?

That was extremely unlikely.

“Harriet,” Julia called calmly, “can you please fetch me the other sapphire necklace from my bedchamber?”

“Yes, My Lady.” The maid curtsied slightly before hurrying off to do her bidding.

Julia shared a brief look with Mary, who was also regarding the broken necklace on the floor.

Was it possible that Lord Cosby gave me a fake necklace?

* * *

They managed to arrive at the ball fashionably late and not extremely so as Lady Powell was afraid they would. For a moment, Lord Cosby appeared to be elated upon seeing Julia and her choice of dress, but when his gaze slid to her neck and found that she was not wearing his gift, a look of dismay crossed his features briefly.

“Lady Julia, may I have the honor of accompanying you for a turn about the room tonight?” he asked with a polite smile.

Julia had no choice but to acquiesce to his request for fear of seeming rude and disgracing herself and her sister.

They made their way around the room at a sedate pace. Despite his initial disappointment that she had not worn his gift, he refrained from saying anything about it, opting instead for small talk.

Halfway about the room, they came across Andrew and Miss Seymour, the latter still hanging onto Andrew’s arm like a limpet. Tonight, she was dressed in a pretty rose-colored dress, and a new necklace of rubies the size of quail eggs adorned her neck.

Apparently, the young miss was proving to be far more persistent in her pursuit of Andrew. Julia had clearly seen the look of distaste on the Dowager Marchioness’s face when Miss Seymour proudly boasted about her father’s business. She most certainly would not approve of a match between them.

And despite the charming smile on Andrew’s face, Julia could see with some satisfaction that he was quite ready to be rid of Miss Seymour as well.

Perhaps I might be able to help him in that area.

“Lord Cosby, Lady Julia,” Andrew greeted perfunctorily.

Julia curtsied as Lord Cosby returned the greeting. With a dazzling smile, she turned to the young woman holding onto Andrew’s arm. “Miss Seymour!” she gushed. “What a lovely necklace you are wearing!”

“It is, is it not?” Miss Seymour preened, running her fingers over the jewels. “Another gift from my father, of course.”

Julia’s smile was one of a huntress who was watching her prey walk into a trap. “So I heard. How fortunate for you!”

“I have recently invested in some mines myself,” Lord Cosby informed them. “Rather lucrative, I must say.”

Miss Seymour’s eyes widened almost comically. “You are interested in jewels as well, My Lord?”

“Only as it pertains to business,” he replied. “And only when they are worth holding on to as investments.”

“My papa says the same thing!” Miss Seymour nodded.

“Lord Tremaine does seem to be doing rather well for himself these days.”

“Much better than that, My Lord, I assure you…”

Julia watched in satisfaction as Miss Seymour’s focus shifted to Lord Cosby, and her hand loosened its hold on Andrew before it eventually slid off him. Both of them were so genuinely absorbed in their conversation that Julia marveled how Miss Seymour managed to keep up with Lord Cosby’s favorite topic—wealth and himself.

She was still feeling rather pleased with herself when she felt Andrew move to her side. Almost immediately, she felt a keen awareness of his presence, her body going soft and taut in so many places that she was finding it difficult to maintain her composure.

“I see what you did there,” he told her with an appreciative smile.

Julia cast him a mischievous grin as she fanned herself. “They are far more similar than they first imagined themselves to be. I just thought I should give them a little nudge in the right direction.”

“And what about you? Who do you find yourself most similar to?”

“No one,” she quipped. “And it would be far too boring to converse with someone very much like myself. I think I have had enough conversations with my reflection in the mirror, thank you very much.”

The flash of his smile made her heart flutter in her chest, and once again, Julia bemoaned the fact that he could be so devastatingly handsome but so disagreeable most of the time.

“I think,” Andrew declared softly. “That I should like to be privy to some of those conversations you have with yourself.”

“Oh, you would not like them at all, My Lord.”

“Why would you think that?”

“I gather you would not like to hear what I have to say about you.” Julia drawled, grinning at him.

Like how she wondered what it would feel like to run her fingers through his thick hair. Or how his body would feel pressed against hers.

He kissed her before, and ever since then, he had become a sort of fever in her blood. A drug.

And just like any other drug, she knew she could not allow herself to be addicted to him. Many young ladies have been ruined for having such thoughts.

Julia was determined she was not going to join their ranks.

“I heard that Lord Cosby gifted you with a magnificent sapphire necklace,” Andrew remarked casually.

Her hand flew to the necklace at her throat.

“Why are you not wearing it now?” he asked her softly.

“How would you know what gifts he gave me, My Lord?” she retorted defensively. “Is it your habit to keep track of such things?”

He let out a derisive snort. “How could I not be aware when he was all but trumpeting it for anyone who cared to listen at White’s? Besides, Lord Tremaine was just as proud of it as he was.”

Julia frowned. “Lord Tremaine?”

“He has invested quite a lot in Mr. Gardiner’s mines in India.”

“And you say that the necklace was from Lord Tremaine and Mr. Gardiner?”

Andrew looked at her in puzzlement. “What are you getting at, Red?”

Julia shook her head and told him in a low voice how she was supposed to wear that necklace tonight, how it had slipped from her neck due to a broken clasp, and the sapphires shattered upon impact on the floor.

“A broken clasp could merely be shoddy workmanship, but a broken sapphire?” He shook his head. “I think I shall have to investigate this further.”

Julia nodded. “But you had best be careful. I have heard that this Mr. Gardiner… well, he may not be what he claims to be.”

Andrew smiled confidently at her. “Have a little more faith in me, will you?”

She rolled her eyes at him. “You hardly inspire trust, My Lord.”

“I could say the same about you, Lady Julia Lewis.”

However, there was not the usual derision and rancor in his tone, and he was even smiling at her in that way of his that made her feel all sorts of conflict within.

The Marquess of Trowbridge, when he was not being an arrogant, condescending, unreasonable idiot, was quite easy to get along with. She might even begrudgingly admit that he could be charming, but she was not going to tell him that.

Andrew Walford already had a rather high opinion of himself. She was not about to contribute to more of that. She did, however, rather enjoy basking in the warmth of his smile. Perhaps she should make him smile and laugh a little bit more…

As if!

Julia shook her head inwardly.

“Of course, I am not going to personally get my hands dirty,” he reassured. “But I know several people who might be interested in looking into this… rather lucrative business.”

Julia raised an eyebrow. “Meaning?”

“This is hardly the sort of thing one discusses in the middle of a ballroom, Red.” Andrew grinned at her. “And I think I would like to keep you waiting with bated breath for a little while longer.” He leaned towards her and whispered, “Just wait for the news in a few days.”

She felt her breath hitch in her throat as his warm breath fanned against the sensitive shell of her ear, and she hoped that he did not notice the little shudder that coursed through her as he confided in her in a most intimate manner.

If the jewels truly were fake and Lord Tremaine was involved in their sale, it had the potential to cause quite a scandal. When she looked up at Andrew and saw the wicked smile on his face, she realized that this rarely seen side of him perfectly explained his friendship with the Duke of Barrington.

Apparently, the Marquess of Trowbridge could be just as cunning as his best friend.

“In that case, I shall await your news, My Lord,” she murmured, carefully averting her gaze. If she looked at him a little more intently, she feared that she would only fall deeper into his eyes.

Meanwhile, Lord Cosby was still engrossed in a riveting conversation with Miss Seymour about some mines halfway across the world.

Why, oh why, can Lord Cosby not even be half as attractive as he is?

Julia inwardly bemoaned the fact that she was getting more and more attracted to a man who, for all accounts and purposes, she should have no business being attracted to.