Chapter 7

CHAPTER7

Meanwhile, at Trowbridge Estate, a fine carriage emblazoned with the crest of the Duke of Barrington steadily rolled up the drive. Inside, Selina leaned into the comfort of her husband’s embrace as his arm gathered her to his side.

“Did you notice something amiss with my brother last night?” she asked, her delicate features scrunching up a little.

“If you mean that he was not present at Lady Pembroke’s display last night, then I did,” William muttered. “Your brother never misses a chance to witness such feats, and he was woefully absent last night.”

Selina smiled and snuggled closer to him. “Nothing escapes you at all, does it?”

“Sunbeam,” he groaned, “you make it sound like I am the very worst gossip.”

She only giggled and pressed a soft kiss to his jaw. “Not a gossip, my darling. You are hardly in the habit of letting other people know what you have uncovered.”

“Who knows?” William shrugged. “Such information might be valuable one day. Not everything has to be given away all at once.”

Selina could only shake her head as the carriage came to a stop at the front door. Now, as William helped her down, she was visiting as a married woman, but her brother still insisted on waiting for her at the front door each and every single time.

“I shall go see what Mother is up to,” she told William, before pressing a soft kiss to his cheek. “Behave yourself, will you?”

“What about me?” Andrew complained. “Just because you are married, you now neglect your brother? Will you not even greet me at the door now?”

“Of course not.” Selina laughed as she pretended to curtsy to her brother. “Good day to you, My Lord.”

“You are already a duchess, and as such, you outrank him,” William remarked blandly.

“Now, now.” Selina laughed at the two men. “You both behave yourselves, or I shall have Mother help me take the two of you to task.”

Both men inwardly shuddered at the prospect of having the Dowager Marchioness of Trowbridge do precisely that, so they stood there quietly.

“I cannot believe I am letting my mother and my sister threaten me so easily in my own home,” Andrew grumbled as they both followed Selina inside.

“Your sister has always been fierce,” William replied with a soft smile that was reserved solely for when he was talking about his beloved wife. “It is only that you have chosen not to see it.”

“Fierce or not, you know she gets into all sorts of scrapes.” Andrew turned to his friend and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Married life seems to suit you rather well. I was afraid my sister was going to reduce you to a shell of the man you used to be.”

The Duke turned to him with a sly smile. “My friend, what would you know about that? Like I said, go find a wife and see for yourself.”

“Good grief, Barrington! Are you and my mother somehow conspiring against me?” Andrew complained.

“So, the Dowager Marchioness is eager to see her beloved son wed as well?”

“Like you would not believe!” Andrew pushed the door to his study open and strode in with William following after him. “Just last week, she gave me a list of young ladies that she thought were good matches—a list, I tell you!”

The Duke shrugged. “It has long been the favorite occupation of dowagers to meddle in the marital prospects of their children.”

Andrew paused and poured himself a glass of brandy to which his friend only raised an eyebrow.

“I know that you have the tendency to enjoy the finer things in life, my friend, but I did not take you for the kind to seek intoxication in the daylight hours,” William remarked. “I had thought you were well past that.”

“Some days call for the need to fortify oneself.”

“I hardly think that an opera would require one to fortify oneself too much,” William replied wryly. “But to each his own, I suppose. Do not let me stop you.”

* * *

The truth of the matter was that Andrew was not fortifying himself at the prospect of the opera but rather because he had hardly slept a wink last night.

After their encounter in the study in Pembroke Hall, his mind had been consumed with thoughts of Julia and their kiss. She had felt so soft and pliant in his arms and yet so fierce and passionate. Her lips tasted of a heat he had never known before, and he found himself craving it more and more.

He wanted her, and God help him, he wanted more.

But this was Julia Lewis he was thinking of—the woman who had set out to antagonize him from the very moment he first met her. To kiss her had been madness. To desire more of the same would be an effort in futility.

He moved to pour himself another glass when William swiped it neatly off the table.

“What the bloody hell, Barrington!”

“You had better collect yourself before my wife sees you in such a state,” William told him calmly. “There is nothing I hate more than seeing Selina distressed, and you are well on your way to causing that.”

Andrew gritted his teeth and suppressed his frustration. He could get another glass, but William was right. If he carried on like this, it would only upset his sister, and that was the last thing he wanted.

Damn it all to hell.

He should have known that Julia Lewis was going to be a handful, but he did not know that she would possess the ability to totally warp his mind with just a single kiss.

A sharp knock interrupted his thoughts. Andrew looked up to find his butler, Jefferson, hovering at the door.

“My Lord, Lord Cosby is here with his sister, Miss Theodosia Ferguson.”

William smiled slyly. “Well, this should be interesting…”

Andrew shot his best friend a warning glance as he straightened up. “Show them into the parlor, Jefferson. I shall be down in a moment to attend to our guests.”

The butler nodded and left to follow his instructions.

“I gather this Miss Ferguson is one of your mother’s candidates?” William raised an eyebrow in query.

“One of the few that remained.”

“So, you successfully eliminated the rest? How many are left?”

“Five.” Andrew grimaced. “A bit too many if you ask me.”

The Duke merely grinned in reply, and Andrew resisted the urge to bash his face in with his fist. He was simply enjoying himself too much at his expense.

“If you’re so lacking entertainment in your own home, why don’t you accompany me to the parlor to meet our guests?” Andrew told him. “See what you think of this Miss Ferguson.”

“Do you think I would have anything good to say about this Miss Ferguson of yours?”

“On second thought, I doubt it.”

Andrew had almost forgotten that William had lived most of his life seeking revenge. Only Selina had been able to convince him otherwise. But even then, old habits die hard, and his friend still harbored a grave distrust of most people, except for a select few.

When they walked into the parlor, they found Miss Ferguson and her brother seated before a small table while the servants laid out tea and refreshments. There was a basket at her feet decorated with a pretty ribbon.

When Miss Ferguson saw Andrew and William walk in, she immediately shot up to her feet, her face a bit flustered. “My Lord!” she said, bobbing a curtsy. “And Your Grace.”

“Please, Miss Ferguson, there is no need,” Andrew reassured with a mild smile. “Make yourself comfortable. We do not adhere to strict etiquette in this household.”

He heard William choke back his laughter as Miss Ferguson’s gaze slid to that of her more stoic brother, who only nodded subtly in reply.

Andrew supposed that the Viscount’s sister was rather pretty with soft brown curls and striking gray eyes, but she was nowhere as devastating as most young ladies.

Like Julia Lewis.

He quickly tamped the wayward thought as he smiled at the young lady and her brother. However, he was far more concerned with Lord Cosby, who he heard was Lady Powell’s choice for her eldest daughter.

The man before him was tall with a lean build, pale golden hair, and warm brown eyes. Andrew could not help but think that if the Viscount stood next to Julia with her vivid coloring, he would look particularly washed out.

“Lord Trowbridge, I hope you will pardon our unannounced visit,” Lord Cosby said in a mild voice. “My sister insisted on coming here with a gift.”

“Oh?” Andrew raised an eyebrow as he regarded Miss Ferguson, who blushed a delicate shade of pink as she grabbed the basket at her feet.

“I-It’s nothing much,” she murmured. “A friend told me that you would appreciate such a gift.”

“How… wonderful.”

Andrew took the basket from her with a polite smile and opened the lid to peer inside. A pair of luminous eyes stared back at him from within. Moments later, a pink nose emerged, followed by a whiskered face covered in white fur with black markings around the eyes.

It was a kitten, Andrew realized with horror.

The kitten let out a soft meow just as he sneezed violently. The poor kitten was jolted most unexpectedly in its basket and let out a soft hiss of complaint before jumping out and settling itself on Andrew’s shoulder with a grace that could only be characteristic of felines.

“Oh, it likes you!” Miss Ferguson exclaimed, clapping her hands happily.

“I daresay the creature has taken a liking to you.” William snorted, his eyes dancing in laughter as Andrew began to sneeze three times in a row. Even then, he managed to shoot his best friend a glare before a fit of sneezes overcame him once more.

Miss Ferguson, finally realizing that the kitten was the cause of Andrew’s misery, hastily reached out to take the creature off his shoulder.

“Oh, I am so sorry, My Lord!” she apologized, looking quite close to tears as she held the kitten to her chest. “I had no idea that cats would afflict you so. I… I was under the impression that you adored such creatures.”

Andrew smiled through the tears in his eyes. “I do so find it endearing.”

William watched the entire spectacle with ill-concealed glee. “You say that a friend advised you on this gift, Miss Ferguson.” He smiled. “Who should we thank for this thoughtful advice?”

“Oh.” Miss Ferguson blinked innocently. “Why, it was Lady Julia Lewis, Your Grace. She told me that Lord Trowbridge absolutely adores animals and would love to have a cat.”

The moment Andrew heard her say Lady Julia Lewis, he felt the urge to throttle Julia the next time he saw her. The woman was an expert at stirring up trouble, but this time, she might have gone too far!

He smiled at Miss Ferguson, who looked like she was about to cry. “I assure you that I am not in the least upset, Miss Ferguson, and I do appreciate your gift.”

“Y-you do?”

“I most certainly do,” he reassured. “But… perhaps I should excuse myself for a moment. I just need to—”

He quickly walked away just as he started sneezing, holding his hand up apologetically to his guests as he made his way out of the parlor. He had barely gotten out when he started to sneeze most miserably again.

Julia Lewis, I am going to make you pay for this!

* * *

“Do you think Lord Trowbridge will be all right?” Miss Ferguson asked her brother, who stood behind her with a stoic expression on his face.

“Oh, he will be fine,” William told her mildly. “He just needs a moment to compose himself.”

“Whyever would he need to do that?” a cheerful, feminine voice asked from the doorway.

The Duke turned around to find his wife walking in with the Dowager Marchioness of Trowbridge, and almost immediately, his lips curled into a soft smile.

“Sunbeam,” he called out softly, his hand reaching for hers almost instinctively.

Selina blushed prettily but took his hand. “Your Grace, we have guests.”

“They are Trowbridge Estate’s guests,” he argued, and she just looked at him in helpless exasperation.

“Why did Andrew leave so quickly?” she asked. “He did not look quite well when we passed him. Is he ill?”

A soft meow of complaint answered all her queries.

Selina looked down and saw the small calico kitten sitting at Miss Ferguson’s feet. Her face broke out into a wide smile. “A kitten!” she gushed. “Oh, aren’t you the most darling thing I have ever seen!”

She held her hands out towards the kitten, and it happily trotted up to her to rub its face against her outstretched palm, causing her to laugh.

“My sister brought the kitten as a gift for Lord Trowbridge,” Lord Cosby explained. “We had no idea that he would feel unwell because of it.”

“Oh, yes. Unfortunately, he cannot be near them,” Selina murmured as she scooped the kitten up into her arms. “Fortunately, I am not prone to the same affliction as he is. Did the big, bad Lord Trowbridge scare you, little one?”

The kitten yowled in protest, and Selina fawned over it all the more. She tickled its soft pink nose and laughed when it twitched in response.

“Oh, you are such a darling!” she crooned. She turned to her husband with wide eyes.

William merely nodded at her. “Whatever it is you are thinking, the answer is yes.”

Selina let out a happy squeal and kissed the kitten’s nose. “You and I are going to be the best of friends!”

“Oh, thank goodness!” Miss Ferguson sighed in relief. “I was so worried that I might have to take him back, Your Grace. He was so looking forward to his new home, too.”

Selina smiled happily at her. “I suppose I should thank you for this wonderful gift, Miss Ferguson.”

“Think nothing of it, Your Grace.” Miss Ferguson curtsied. “Well, my brother and I should be taking our leave now.”

The Dowager Marchioness, who was watching the entire scene with amusement, smiled graciously at them. “I shall see you to the door, then.”

“I hope you will convey our sincerest apologies to Lord Trowbridge for this inconvenience,” Miss Ferguson murmured.

Selina reassured her once more that her brother was going to be perfectly all right before poor Miss Ferguson and her brother finally left.

A few moments later, Andrew walked into the parlor, perfectly composed. The kitten had already been tucked back into its little basket.

* * *

“I am going to make her pay for her antics,” Andrew swore. “She has gone too far this time.”

“You mean Julia?” Selina shook her head. “You do know that she will simply take this all as a challenge?”

“Well, I, for one, would not want to be in her position,” William remarked dryly. “Your brother is in a rather ungracious mood. He is not wont to be forgiving.”

Oh, Andrew was ungracious all right. In fact, that was a great understatement as he wished he could throttle that devilish fox-woman the next time he saw her!

“Well, at least I got a kitten out of it.” Selina smiled happily at her new pet.

Andrew was only too glad that his sister was able to take in the poor thing. Even as it looked at him with its large, luminous eyes, he could not help but be reminded of the very woman who had sent it to his door—except that instead of innocence, it would be mischief shining from those vivid blue eyes of hers.

Julia Lewis was a menace in the truest sense of the word!