Chapter 28

CHAPTER28

People generally do not like to see other people happy, but misery just loves company…

Julia knew this to be a fact as she had seen countless miserable young women trying to bring each other down Season after Season. Why they could not just raise each other up was beyond her which was why she generally disliked their company—with the exception of Selina and Mary, of course.

Flirting with men was predictable, at least. One could always be certain how they would react to her flirtations, but the ladies were an entirely different lot. Most of the gossip that swirled around her, the fabricated half-truths and the outright lies, could be laid at the door of the young women who hated her for toeing the line but wished they could do it themselves.

Whatever, she was much too happy to be bothered with what the likes of Lady Amanda Thornton thought of her.

“Well, now that my brother has declared he is courting you, I suppose Lady Powell will stop rallying for the Viscount.” Selina smiled serenely as she sipped her tea. “While I could say that was a rather explosive outburst, I cannot exactly say that it was unexpected either.”

“I could say the same thing,” Mary averred.

Julia looked at her sister and then at her best friend. “What do you mean that you have been expecting this?”

Andrew could not have said something to them, could he?

Selina shrugged her shoulders delicately. “You and Andrew have been at each other’s throats for as long as I can remember. In fact, you are the only woman he has had such an intense reaction to.”

“You must be joking, dearest,” Julia scoffed. “He might be courting me now, but we all know he was quite the rogue before that.”

“And you know what they say—that rakes make for the best husbands.”

Julia raised her eyebrow at her best friend. “Are you speaking from experience?”

The Duchess of Barrington flushed a little. “Well, William was hardly a rake…”

“That was because he was much too scary to be one,” Mary pointed out with a wry smile. “But back to Lord Trowbridge. He has always been the only one who could stand up to your shenanigans, Sister dear. A better match could not have been found for you.”

“Shenanigans? Why, where is sisterly loyalty when you have need of it?”

Mary giggled. “Right where you did not care to listen to it, of course. You know you would have never listened to Selina or me if we told you that you and Lord Trowbridge would make a good match.”

“Quite right.” Selina wrinkled her nose. “You were much too occupied with finding such devious ways to torment him.”

“And he was just as occupied trying to spite me,” Julia muttered.

“Yes.” Mary nodded. “But you must admit that you are both evenly matched in every single way. No other gentleman would ever be able to tell you anything.”

“Just as no other lady would ever be able to knock down my stubborn brother a peg or two,” Selina piped in. She laughed and reached out to squeeze Julia’s hand. “But in all honesty, I am most pleased that he has chosen to court you out of all the other ladies vying for his attention.”

“I most assuredly was not vying for his attention.”

“Well, you most certainly caught it.”

“And now, you have it all to yourself.” Mary grinned. “Tell me now, how does it feel to be the most envied young lady of the ton?”

Julia felt her cheeks heat up as she feigned a look of annoyance. “Should it not be the other way around? Should it not be that Lord Trowbridge is the most envied gentleman in the ton right now?”

Both Selina and Mary looked at each other before bursting into giggles.

“What? You do not think that is possible?” Julia demanded.

“Well, I am certain that there are a great many gentlemen who would want to be in his place.” Selina nodded sagely.

“But they are not as vicious as the young ladies contending for the position of Marchioness,” Mary pointed out with a straight face.

Julia immediately sobered up as her sister’s words hit a chord of warning in her heart. How could she forget that for most young women in Society, the search for a husband was a quest akin to the search for the Holy Grail?

And the Marquess of Trowbridge was certainly a prize that so many would sacrifice a limb for.

All right, maybe not exactly a limb, but there are those who would scheme and do all sorts of underhanded tricks to get what they want.

“I am grateful for the reminder, dear Mary.” Julia turned to her sister with a soft smile. “It seems that I will have to keep my wits about me, then.”

“Of course, Andrew will protect you,” the Duchess declared confidently. “After all, is that not what a suitor is for?”

“Oh, I do not think I should need much reminding, Sister dear,” a low voice chimed in from behind them.

All three young ladies quickly turned around to find Andrew walking towards them with amusement glint in his eyes. When his gaze caught Julia’s, his smile deepened. Almost instantly, Julia could feel the telltale warmth on her cheeks.

“Now, if you will excuse me,” he told them, “Lady Julia has promised me her company in the gardens this afternoon.”

Julia was only too happy to be anywhere with Andrew to complain, but her best friend had no qualms about taking issue with his plans for that afternoon.

“Again?” Selina raised her eyebrow at her brother. “You have already taken her out on a walk yesterday, Brother. Perhaps you should apply a bit more creativity in your courtship.”

Andrew promptly turned towards Julia with a soft smile. “Then would My Lady accompany me on a picnic tomorrow?”

“Much better,” Selina remarked with approval. “Just because you have managed to gain her favor does not mean that you should stop trying.”

“Dear Lord, is this what Barrington has to put up with on a regular basis?” Andrew asked in mock horror. “I seem to have been remiss in giving him the due credit for his incredible fortitude.”

Julia watched the siblings banter with each other, and then with a mischievous smile, she slipped her hand into the crook of his arm and looked prettily up at him.

“My Lord, do you truly intend to waste this glorious afternoon on fighting your sister?” she asked, her lips curled into a pout.

For a moment, Andrew appeared to have been robbed of speech as he looked at her, and then, with a furrow of his brow, he replied, “No.”

“Then let us be off,” she told him cheerfully, steering him towards the French doors. Over her shoulder, she threw her best friend a wink.

Selina looked as if she might be on the verge of laughter as she tried to keep a straight face and winked back.

Ladies,Julia decided, should stick up for each other.

Besides, she was not exactly lying when she told Andrew not to waste the afternoon quibbling over trivialities with his younger sister. The sunshine that afternoon was indeed glorious, and her heart could not have been happier.

* * *

Andrew had given thought to a great many things in the past few days, and one of them was his almost insatiable attraction to Lady Julia Lewis. He watched as the afternoon sunlight turned her red hair into a halo of flames about her head, and when her eyes formed crescents when she smiled up at him, he felt his heart skip a few beats.

“Why do you look as if somebody has greatly offended you, My Lord?” Julia asked him with a mischievous smile. “One would think that you find my company this afternoon most displeasing.”

He shook his head and smiled at her. “Forgive me, my dear Lady. It was not my intention to ruin your good spirits today.”

She laughed. “You sound so formal. One would think that I must have given you cause for anxiety.”

Well, truth be told, it is not so much you as your hordes of most dissatisfied suitors who have been haranguing me on our courtship all afternoon!

“In that case, I hope that you had a lovely day today.” She smiled up at him.

It is getting better now.

Andrew had spent the better part of the morning and afternoon having a handful of her admirers alternately regarding him with awe as well as some envy. Fortunately, the Viscount of Cosby had chosen to keep well away from him although Andrew found himself on the receiving end of a particularly cold glare earlier that morning after breakfast.

But Lord Cosby was first and foremost a gentleman, and in the game of courtship, it was not at all undignified for one to concede when defeat was imminent. After all, there was simply a much greater number of young ladies looking for a husband in comparison to eligible bachelors. Andrew only wished the idiot would stop casting lovelorn glances in Julia’s direction.

“It could have been much improved,” he told her softly. “But your company gives me the solace I need.”

Julia tilted her head up at him. “Then my endeavors have paid off rather well.”

Such a simple smile, a simple statement. One that a loving wife might say to her husband when he returned home. One that he found himself longing to hear from her day after day after day…

How wonderful would it be to return to a home with Julia Lewis in it, waiting for him! Trowbridge Estate would never be the same if she ever came to be its Marchioness, and somehow, that did not seem like such a horrible idea now that Andrew thought of it.

“Then how about you?” he asked. “How have you been since last night?”

She smiled as she reached out to catch a leaf drifting in the air. “Mama has certainly stopped pestering me about Lord Cosby,” she said with a slight wrinkle of her nose. “I would even daresay that she is in a bit of a shock after the news.”

“One could hardly tell. Lady Powell looks as stalwart as ever.”

“Yes, and that is because she knows the one rule to survive in the ton,” she replied with a shrug. “Never let them know the turmoil that you are feeling inside.”

“And do you feel the turmoil?” Andrew dared to ask.

Julia cast him a sideways glance and smiled. “As a young, unmarried lady, I exist in a state of turmoil, My Lord. My future relies solely on the man whom I would one day choose to marry if I am to be so fortunate. If I am not, then my father will choose for me.”

“And he chose Lord Cosby?” he scoffed. “That does not speak well to Lord Powell’s astuteness.”

She let out a soft laugh, the sound of which put his whole mind and body at ease. “My father must think of what is best for the family,” she told him with a slight shake of her head. “While I do not agree with my parents’ initial choice, I can well understand their concerns. After all, they have no son to inherit their titles and estates—only two daughters whose fortunes would depend on the men they marry. It is indeed quite a dilemma.”

He frowned. “I would not want my daughter to have to gamble with her happiness for her future.”

“Then I am certain that your daughter will be a most fortunate woman to have you for a father.” As Julia uttered those words, he noticed the deepening pink in her cheeks, even as she turned away from him in an effort to hide her discomfort.

He smiled a little at that small action. Julia Lewis had always come off as feisty, but he had seen a vulnerability in her that was almost as vibrantly beautiful as her outward appearance. He had come to realize that her audaciousness had not come from the fact that she did not care, but that she actually did care.

Perhaps even a little too much.

“Your parents are fortunate to have you think of them, even when you do not agree with their choices,” he murmured.

“And that is because I know that their actions come from good intentions,” she replied softly. “They did not make such a choice lightly, but I have already had more than three Seasons, and without a betrothal in sight, they were right to worry.” She looked up and sighed softly. “I even worry for my sister as well.”

The hand that she laid on his arm tensed just the tiniest bit, and he instinctively covered it with his own, drawing her gaze away from the fluttering leaves and back to him.

“Your family is fortunate to have you for a daughter,” he told her solemnly. “And for as long as I am your most ardent suitor in the eyes of the ton, you can count on me to help you and protect you.”

“You need not go to such great lengths, My Lord.” She blushed prettily. “Only until the end of the Season.”

Only until the end of the Season.

It was what their agreement stipulated—that they appear, for all intents and purposes, to be happy in their courtship, thoroughly enamored with each other, but only until the end of the Season. After that, they must part amicably.

But the more Andrew spent time with Julia, the more loath he became to the idea of having to part from her at the end of their ruse. The more open he became to a more permanent arrangement for the both of them.

The only problem was how he was going to convince her to consider staying with him.