Chapter 36

CHAPTER36

Powell Estate was in a state of frenzied preparation when Andrew finally made it to the front door. There were servants rushing everywhere, carrying great vases of flowers and all manner of things in preparation for the grand ball they were going to hold tomorrow, no doubt.

But Andrew only wondered how Julia was feeling in all of this. She had called Lord Cosby out on his falsehood in the parlor yesterday, but she could hardly refute the evidence he had in his hand—her hairpin. It was most unfortunate that he could be allowed to spin the most unbelievable lies just because of a simple accessory that she might have even dropped on accident.

“Wesley, who is at the door? Is it th—”

Andrew saw the Countess of Powell come to a halt at the sight of him. A look of stern disapproval crossed her features.

“Lord Trowbridge,” she said coolly. “To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit today? I am afraid that my daughter cannot accept callers right now as she is currently indisposed.”

Indisposed? In what manner?

A fear arose in his heart that they might have hurt Julia to force her to acquiesce to the marriage. Parents in the ton were known to employ various means to make sure that their children bent to their will, and while he had never heard of it coming from the Earl and Countess of Powell, he still wanted to make sure that Julia was all right.

“I have something I need to speak to Lady Julia about.”

“Whatever it is you need to say, you can say it to me,” Lady Powell told him. “I shall make sure to deliver your message to her.”

Like hell I am going to tell you what I want to tell Julia.

However, Andrew had been raised to be a gentleman and a charming one at that. He saw no advantage in making any more of an adversary of the Countess of Powell than he already had.

“There is no need to keep our guest standing at the door, Mama,” a soft voice spoke from inside the house. “Let us not be rude and kindly let the Marquess inside, at least.”

“But he—”

“Shall not be long,” Julia interrupted, her blue gaze flickering to his. “Is that right, My Lord?”

Andrew nodded simply.

Lady Powell looked between them before she finally relented, but not without some parting words for her daughter.

“No more than half an hour,” Andrew heard her hiss at her eldest daughter. “And not without a chaperone.”

“I shall have Harriet with me the whole time,” Julia replied. “Or would you like to listen in on as well?”

Lady Powell glared at her before walking off with an angry sweep of her skirts.

Andrew watched as the Countess disappeared into the house, no doubt to busy herself with preparations for the upcoming ball.

“You should not make an enemy of your mother,” he cautioned. “You know she means well.”

Julia shrugged. “She has always been biased towards the Viscount. One would think that he was her actual offspring instead of me.”

“Red.” Andrew stepped towards her, but she held her hand up in front of him.

“Please, My Lord,” she uttered, “maintain an appropriate distance between us.”

His heart was pained upon seeing her defeated expression. In the span of a few days, Lord Cosby had achieved what a lifetime had not been able to do to her. The Viscount had broken Julia Lewis, and for that, Andrew wanted to break his ribs. Possibly his nose as well.

“All right,” Andrew said hoarsely, stepping in through the door but still at a much greater distance from her than he would prefer.

“I would apologize for my mother’s surliness,” she murmured. “She has been greatly affected by the recent turn of events, and she has been quite busy attending to the betrothal ball, you see…”

“You do not need to apologize for the Countess,” he reassured. “I wanted to see you, Red. How are you holding up under all of this?”

She shook her head. “You need not be overly concerned about me, My Lord.”

“Oh, but I am, Red.”

She smiled bitterly. “I told you not to call me by such an undignified nickname.”

“I will always call you that.”

“Lord Cosby will not appreciate that.”

Once more, Andrew felt the keen urge to hurt Lord Cosby for how badly he had hurt Julia. In the past, it would not have mattered to her what anyone thought of what she would do. For her to consider whether her betrothed would like something was truly out of character for her.

“We are going to get to the bottom of this,” Andrew insisted brokenly.

“No,” she told him softly. “No, we are not. You are not. Things are better this way, you see. I will not have to see your face every day…” She let out a bitter laugh that pained him more than anything she had ever said.

He longed to touch her. To take her into his arms and reassure her that everything was going to be all right. But he could not do it. Not here, at least.

“I shall fix this, Red. I promise,” he swore.

“No, you will not, My Lord,” Julia said firmly. “Although I wish to God that you could—fix this, I mean.”

To his surprise, she went up to him and kissed him softly on the cheek. His eyes closed as he felt her soft lips, her warm breath fanning against the side of his face.

Suddenly, his eyes flew open. If he failed to stop everything, there would be no kisses from her from now on.

He reached out and gripped her upper arm to stop her from backing away.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked hoarsely. “Why are you giving up so soon and leaving just like this? You do this every single time we are together.”

Tears streamed down her cheeks, and he nearly kicked himself for making her cry. But crying was better than watching her die inside slowly.

“Because you hate me,” she wept. “And I hate you. And there is no way that anything between us is going to work, and if I allow myself to do anything more with you—”

“Allow yourself to do what, Red?”

Her cheeks flushed a lovely shade of pink. “You know what.”

His lips curled into a mischievous smile. “You will have to be a little more specific than that, my dear.”

She glared at him, and he felt his chest expand a little more at yet another sign of emotion from her.

That’s it, my darling. Do not allow that nasty piece of work to break your spirit.

“I am not your dear,” she hissed. “And you know what I mean—if I gave myself to you completely, it would be a complete and utter disaster because I would be left wanting more of what I can never have!”

Keep going, my darling. You are doing wonderfully.

At that moment, Andrew swore that he could never allow Julia to marry the Viscount. He would eviscerate Lord Cosby first before he could ever reach the altar.

“I am going to fix this, Red. I promise,” Andrew vowed. “And then I am going to make that turd pay for everything he has put you through.”

He heard the sound of choked laughter, and Julia turned around to give her maid a warning glance. “Contain yourself, Harriet,” she gently chided.

“Apologies, My Lady.”

Andrew felt relief that there was at least someone at her side who felt the same way about Lord Cosby. At least she would not be totally alone in the days where he worked to remedy the situation and rescue her.

Julia straightened up her spine and raised her chin. “Well, my business is no longer any concern of yours, Lord Trowbridge. It does not matter anymore what you think of me or my betrothal.”

She turned around and headed back into the house while Andrew stayed there, watching until he could no longer see her back. Slowly, he bowed to the direction in which she disappeared.

Julia was an extremely strong woman to carry on like this in the face of such adversity, and he would make sure to fulfill his promise to her and rescue her from that vile cretin who had all but forced her family to marry her off to him.

Andrew knew that he could no longer reason with the Lewis family. Somehow, the Viscount had them all by the neck, and there was little they could do beyond delaying the inevitable.

But even Lord Cosby had his own limitations, and Andrew had his own vast connections. There had to be a way to get Julia out of her betrothal, and he was going to start with those damned scandal sheets his mother had been talking about.

Andrew knew how these businesses operated—only money ever mattered to them. The truth never did.

He dug his hands into his pockets and walked back to his waiting carriage.

A typical scandal should last for but a few days before another more tempting morsel showed up. It had already been more than a week, but a particular sheet kept reminding the ton of Julia’s predicament. He would find out who was printing those scandal sheets first, and then, he would force them to tell him the truth about who was keeping these unfounded rumors circulating.

* * *

“My Lady, I still think you should not have turned the Marquess away.”

Julia looked at her maid in the mirror. After she had left Andrew standing there by the front door, she had gone back to her rooms to retire for the rest of the day.

Normally, her mother would complain if she did not bother to help at all in preparations for whatever social event they were hosting, but at the moment, Julia was more of a burden than a help to anyone. Besides, her mama probably felt that she was more likely to sabotage the entire thing instead of being of any actual assistance.

She would not be wrong.

“I cannot be with Lord Trowbridge, Harriet,” Julia said brokenly. “And it would not be fair to anyone at all if I persisted in my foolishness.”

Her maid knelt before her and took her hands in hers. “But, My Lady, you love him and not Lord Cosby!”

Julia laughed bitterly and wiped the tears that marred her cheeks. “Countless other young ladies loved men they could never marry, Harriet. Lord Trowbridge and I are the same although he does not really care about me. Not in the way I want him to, at least.”

“I still think you are making a mistake, My Lady.” Harriet frowned. “But what if Lord Trowbridge is willing to marry you in spite of all this?”

What if he indeed felt that way?

Julia shook her head with a bitter smile. “His mother would never allow it, and even if he pursued it, she would most likely make sure that my life as the Marchioness of Trowbridge would be a living hell. Besides, Lord Trowbridge is a proud man—do you think he would want to marry a woman who the whole of London knows had been caught in the arms of another even while he was courting her?”

The Dowager Marchioness of Trowbridge would never allow such an insult to her son, even if she had once considered Julia as a potential bride.

The only way to get out of this marriage was for the truth about the entire matter to come out, but with less than a day until the official announcement of her betrothal to the Viscount, the chances of it happening were becoming slimmer.

Julia knew, for one, that Lady Amanda Thornton would never stop spreading those lies about her all over London, and Lord Cosby would never back down from the claims that it was he who had been with her in that room in Colman Park.

Unless she could find any evidence that would discredit them both, there was no way she would be able to avoid marrying Lord Cosby.

Although she hoped that Andrew could truly help her fix everything, she knew that she had to prepare herself for the inevitability of her betrothal to Lord Cosby.

If only she could resign herself to accept it all.