Chapter 15

CHAPTER15

Not even two days after the ball, a scandal ripped across the ton—the jewels from Lord Tremaine were found to be not only of significantly lower quality, but they were inauthentic as well. His partnership with the elusive Mr. Gardiner was put under scrutiny, and there was general outrage amongst the other noblemen who had also invested in those miraculous mines in India.

Julia watched as her mother peered out the window before taking a seat on the sofa with a rather peculiar expression.

“Mother, you look as if you have taken such a blow,” Mary remarked quietly as she handed Lady Powell a cup of tea. “Here, have some tea.”

Lady Powell took the cup from her youngest daughter with an almost dazed expression. She turned towards Julia, and she looked almost relieved. “It was rather fortunate that Lord Cosby’s gift broke as it did, my dear,” she said shakily. “Otherwise, you would have been counted among those who had been gullible enough to wear fake jewels to the ball.”

“Do you think those sapphires are from this Mr. Gardiner as well, Mother?” Julia inquired, her curiosity piqued.

Lady Powell shook her head. “I am not so sure if Lord Cosby invested in those mines as well, but those sapphires were most definitely from that despicable Mr. Gardiner—whoever he is!”

Their mother, perhaps, was more aggrieved that she had been nearly fooled into parading that fake sapphire necklace on Julia’s neck and nearly made a laughingstock of themselves along with the Seymour family.

“This should serve as a cautionary tale to us all,” Julia said somberly. “Sometimes, we may be so convinced of the authenticity of things that we neglect to take a closer look at them. Sometimes, they are just not what they seem to be at first.”

She was, of course, referring to Lord Cosby, but the warning seemed to fly right over her mother’s head as it always did whenever it came to the Viscount. Julia was close to giving up on fighting her about it and instead had chosen to keep her mouth shut on occasion.

Her sister, however, had a much more different view of things, and she could not help but ask her much later when they were alone in Julia’s bedroom later that day when Lady Powell was out of earshot.

“Julia.” Mary’s tone was somber if a little hesitant. She looked over her shoulder as if she feared someone else would hear them. “Do you… did you…” She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, looked her older sister right in the eye, and blurted out, “Did you have anything to do with Lord Tremaine’s misfortune?”

For a moment, Julia was of the mind that her younger sister had taken leave of her senses. Fortunately, they were both in the privacy of her bedroom, and no one else was around to hear something so outrageous.

“Mary,” she said slowly, “I may be bold and outrageous at times, but I do not have that much influence—certainly not at the level you are speculating!”

Mary’s doubtful look melted into one of relief, and she smiled helplessly at her sister. “I suppose that was a bit far off the mark.”

“Oh, definitely.” Julia giggled in an attempt to shrug it off.

She might not have that much power, but she knew someone who might.

* * *

“I suppose you are rather proud of your handiwork this time.”

Andrew looked up to find his brother-in-law looking at him with a smirk of approval. Such things were usually William’s forte, but this time, he had taken it upon himself to do the work.

“The proliferation of fakes has reached an alarming point,” he explained with a shrug of his broad shoulders. “It was only a matter of time before someone else caught on to his schemes.”

In truth, he had not directly targeted Lord Tremaine but the elusive Mr. Gardiner, who was going about the ton, seducing them into investing in his so-called mines in India. Just as Julia had initially suspected, there were no mines, and the jewels he had been hawking around were all fakes.

Lord Tremaine suffered greatly because he had invested most of his wealth in those mines without verifying them, only to find out they were all a scam. There were also a great many in the ton,to whom he had sold those same jewels, who were both humiliated and livid when they found out those jewels were fake. Now, they were also demanding compensation, and poor Lord Tremaine had to refund them all.

William regarded his brother-in-law with an arched eyebrow as he sat on the sofa across from him. “That was a rather roundabout way of eliminating Miss Seymour from your mother’s list. Rather cutthroat, too.”

“Yes, I suppose you would find that entertaining.” Andrew set his quill aside and looked at his best friend thoughtfully. “In truth, I had no idea about it at first, but I had my suspicions when Lady Julia told me the story of how the sapphire necklace that bloody idiot Cosby gave her broke.”

“An idiot? Really?”

“A veritable one.”

Only an idiot would not be able to detect a fake and even gift it to the lady he was courting. Fortunately for the hapless Viscount, Julia had not worn that necklace out in public, and the Lewises did not make a fuss about it which preserved Lord Cosby’s dignity. Andrew would have preferred to have heard about it, though.

William smiled wryly at him and finished the brandy he had been enjoying at the expense of his liquor cabinet. “Very well,” he said, standing up. “It is getting late, and I need to be getting back home to my wife.”

Andrew frowned as he looked out the window to find that the sun was still high up in the sky. “It is still daylight. Selina could not be possibly looking for you at such an early hour.”

William’s reply was simply a knowing smile that irked Andrew for some reason. “It is not my dear wife who is looking for me. Rather, it is the other way around.”

“Ever since you married my sister, you have changed so much,” Andrew complained. “I knew you disdained the company of others before, but you have become even more averse to Society as a whole since you tied the knot.”

William merely laughed as he picked up his hat. “You would not understand, of course. My suggestion is that you go find a wife and try it for yourself.”

Andrew shuddered at the mere notion of it. “Heaven forbid!”

“Well, I wish you luck in your quest, though.” The Duke snickered. “The Dowager Marchioness appears to be rather set on seeing her dear son wed by the end of the Season. You had best put your back to it, or your mother will never let you hear the end of it.”

Andrew could only shake his head as his best friend walked out of his study, probably to head home to his wife as fast as he could. In the past, William hardly mentioned family in such a lighthearted manner, having lost his in a rather horrific event at a young age.

Marriage had certainly changed him, for better or for worse, and like most of those happily married, he seemed to be of the opinion that matrimony was the solution to one’s woes.

William was rather fortunate in that he found love with Selina—theirs was a marriage that was envied by most in the ton, and for a time, it was the lofty aim of every young woman to find the same happiness.

Andrew, however, was not so wildly optimistic about such an ideal. Even with his wealth and status, the best he could possibly aim for was a lifelong companionship—one that produced heirs, of course.

As much as he tried to avoid any discourse on it with his mother, he knew his responsibilities well enough.

Still, he could not help but wonder what it would be like if he came home to Julia at the end of the day. Would she be just as impatient waiting for him to arrive?

He could feel the heat in his blood just thinking about how he would sink into her waiting warmth after a long day…

Or maybe she might be more predisposed to teasing him, right before he divested them both of their clothing and then sank into her.

Either way, his fantasies always ended up with both of them tangled up in bed, her glorious red hair spread across his pillows as he thrust into her again and again and again…

Andrew groaned as he shoved his fingers into his hair. At the rate he was going, he was never going to get any work done.

I must see her again. If I do not, I fear that she will become a distraction nigh on impossible to ignore.

Meeting her might not be the best idea, but it would at least alleviate the fever in his blood—or so he hoped.

Somehow, he had the feeling that she was only going to become more trouble than he initially bargained for. Not that he was afraid of trouble, of course.

With that thought in mind, he reached for a fresh sheet of paper.