Chapter 35

CHAPTER35

Julia sat down on the sofa in her father’s study as her mother paced the length of the room fretfully.

Her mother had called for all of them to meet in her father’s study after Andrew and the Viscount had left—but not before giving Julia a scathing earful of just what she thought of the whole situation.

The Earl of Powell looked as if he had aged two decades in the span of a few days as he rubbed his temples. Meanwhile, Mary was seated quietly beside her in all this.

“There is no other choice,” Lady Powell finally declared. “You will have to marry the Viscount.”

“I do not wish to marry him,” Julia replied coldly. “Not only is he a liar, he is also a manipulative schemer, and I will not tie myself to such a man for the rest of my days.”

“Then what do you intend to do about it?” Lady Powell demanded. “You have embarrassed us enough with fake courtships and scandalous trysts! Thank God, Lord Cosby still wants to do right by you after everything that has happened!”

If Lord Cosby intended to do right by Julia after everything he had put her through, then he had best stay away from her. She had thought him drab and unimaginative at first, but now she was convinced that the man had been hiding his true nature all along. He was truly despicable, and if she did end up marrying him, she could consider the next half of her life to be as good as finished.

“And what if I do not do as you intend?” she retorted.

“Then I will tie you up and drag you to the altar myself!”

There was a tense silence as mother and daughter glared at each other, with Lady Powell trying to bend her rebellious daughter to her will and Julia fighting back with everything she had left in her.

It was at that point that Mary finally spoke up.

“Mama, Papa, I think that a hasty betrothal would only fuel the scandal,” she pointed out softly. “I agree that we need to act quickly before everything gets out of hand, but I have to say that there is something rather suspicious about this whole affair. We all know that Julia would never meet with Lord Cosby alone, let alone divulge such things to him.”

Julia shot her sister a grateful look. In a room full of volatile tempers, Mary stood out as the sole voice of reason, calmly pointing out the salient facts in Julia’s argument while validating her mother’s worries at the same time.

“I think that Mary is right,” Lord Powell agreed. “A hasty betrothal signifies guilt. We might as well have Julia carted off to Gretna Green with Lord Cosby if that was the case, and that would only sink her reputation to greater depths.”

“But she has no other option except to marry the Viscount!” Lady Powell argued.

“I will not marry your precious Viscount!” Julia reiterated. “I would rather die.”

“If you did, then you would bring this whole family with you!” Lady Powell retorted. “You say you do not want to marry him, but what other options do you have? Are you going to risk destroying another man like you did with Lord Trowbridge? The whole ton is laughing at the poor man and calling him a fool for courting you. Would you put another man through that kind of humiliation?”

If there was anything that wounded Julia more, it was the fact that she had heaped embarrassment upon Andrew’s head with her involvement in the scandal. It was true that no man would ever want a wife who had been “used” by another, and she knew how proud Andrew was. Even if he were to defend her, it would only make him a laughingstock before all of London, and she could not do that to him.

There were worse things than marrying a villain like Lord Cosby, and that was bringing unnecessary hurt upon the ones she loved the most.

Julia closed her eyes and clenched her hands into fists at her sides. She did not want to marry Lord Cosby—she really did not—but she could not afford to hurt Andrew any more than she already had.

And she also had to think about her younger sister, whose reputation would have suffered a blow after her scandal had blown up.

She took a deep breath. “All right. I shall marry the Viscount as you wish.”

She saw the deep disappointment in Mary’s eyes, and she looked away. She could not bear to see the hurt in her sister’s eyes or the pain in her father’s. So, she met her mother’s stern, unyielding gaze instead.

“I am glad that you finally chose to see reason,” Lady Powell scoffed.

Julia shrugged. “As you have pointed out, Mama, I truly do not have any choice in the matter.”

“Good. Since your father is against a hasty betrothal, then we will hold the wedding three weeks from now.”

Julia merely nodded numbly. Three weeks. So, this was all that was left of her life. She stifled a sob and kept her back ramrod straight as her mother continued with her plan for their next course of action.

“But we will have to hold a grand ball to announce your engagement as soon as possible,” Lady Powell continued. “I have decided that the day after tomorrow will be the soonest we can do it. The invitations are being sent out as we speak.”

The Earl of Powell looked at his wife in astonishment. “You have already sent out the invitations?”

Lady Powell looked taken aback for a moment before she recovered her usual aplomb. “Well, time is of the essence!” she insisted. “The longer we delay, the more her reputation will suffer!”

“But will two days be enough preparation?” Mary asked worriedly.

“I think that Mama has been preparing for this for the better part of the year already,” Julia remarked coldly. “I am honestly not surprised.”

Lady Powell glared at her. “Then you should be glad that I have anticipated this.”

Julia could only laugh coldly inside. Her heart was broken. Her spirit was broken. What did it matter if they only had two days to prepare or a year?

She might as well have been dead outside.

* * *

Andrew wished he could hit someone. More specifically, he wished he could hit Lord Cosby.

It would not help matters, but at least it would make him feel better. The only thing that was staying his hand was knowing how it would adversely affect Julia. If it had been otherwise, he would have gone ahead and done it and then faced the consequences himself.

But not Julia. Never Julia.

I promised Selina that I would protect Red. Now I feel like a useless fool who cannot even protect the young lady he cares for the most.

“Oh, you are here! How wonderful!”

He looked up to find his mother gliding down the staircase in a much too cheerful manner for his tastes.

“You are rarely ever home that I now wonder if you have taken residence elsewhere,” she remarked.

“Forgive me, Mother, but there were things that demanded my attention.”

“Oh, well. The Earl of Powell and his wife have just sent us this invitation,” she told him. “They are inviting us to a ball tomorrow to celebrate the betrothal of their eldest daughter to the Viscount of Cosby. It is a bit rushed, I suppose, what with Lady Julia’s reputation suffering such a blow, but they must have been preparing for this for quite a long time—”

At those words, his temper exploded.

“Like hell she is marrying that snake!” Andrew swore.

The Dowager Marchioness looked at him with displeasure marring her lovely features. She bristled and immediately took issue with his tone. “You might be the Marquess of Trowbridge, but I am still your mother,” she reminded him in no uncertain terms. “You had better watch your language and your tone with me, young man!”

Andrew grimaced. He might be the Marquess of Trowbridge, indeed, but his mother still made him feel as if he was an errant schoolboy who needed to be punished for his misbehavior.

“I apologize, Mother, but I cannot accept that,” he muttered through gritted teeth.

“I did tell you before that they appear to be well-matched,” she reasoned. “She is a lovely young lady, and the Viscount is not bad looking either. In terms of status and titles, one would say that it is perfectly acceptable. Wealth is also not an issue, for both parties have enough money to bring to the marriage.”

Outwardly, it would seem that it was, indeed, a perfect match, but Andrew knew better.

He had witnessed in the parlor earlier just how deftly Lord Cosby had manipulated the situation to his advantage. If somebody had said that he had no part in it, Andrew would never have believed it. The man was as cunning as a fox and as slick as oil. He had caught him and Julia at a great disadvantage, but there was no way he could prove it.

“Lady Julia has been implicated in a scandal,” the Dowager Marchioness said slowly. “And while I believe that it is a poorly crafted one, her reputation has suffered a severe blow as a result. Marrying Lord Cosby would certainly solve a lot of things for her and her family.”

“No, it would not.”

The Dowager Marchioness peered up at her son curiously. “Why would you say that?”

“I just know it.”

“Well, those claims would certainly not hold water anywhere,” she muttered. “The best thing for you to do now is to leave the matter of Lady Julia and Lord Cosby well enough alone and find someone else to marry. Someone from my list, preferably. Your courtship with her was a farce, anyway, if the scandal sheets are to be believed.”

“Of course, it was real,” Andrew argued. “I will not allow that idiot Lord Cosby to put out Julia’s fire. And since when did you rely on scandal sheets, Mother?”

His mother’s cheeks flushed a little. “You have always been a rather naughty boy with a glib tongue, Andrew. And you should address her as Lady Julia,” she chided. “It would be highly inappropriate to address her in such a familiar manner.”

His mother certainly did not know all the other inappropriate things that had occurred between him and Julia from his most undignified nickname for her down to the precious stolen moments between them.

“I suppose I have always been.” Andrew shrugged. “And now I shall take this.”

His mother let out a small sound of protest as he reached out and plucked the invitation card from her fingers before tucking it into his coat pocket and heading out.

“Where are you going?” she called out after him.

“Out.”

“But you just arrived home!” his mother gasped, no doubt incensed at his behavior.

“There are things that I need to see to,” he replied, waving back at her.

She would no doubt be more incensed to know that he might even be spending more time away from home and any other social event where she may be able to push another bridal candidate into his direction. He would consider no other candidate on that damned list of hers except Julia Lewis.

Andrew reckoned that he was going to be quite occupied for the next few days.