Chapter 10

Sitting in the impromptu meeting, Louisa kept silent and watched the two men discuss this new venture. She made a cup of tea, only to look busy and while listening, she stole looks to Julius.

It wasn't just the sharp lines of his handsome face, the cruel yet sensual curve of his mouth that reminded her of an ancient roman king, it was his aura.

Even halfway reclined in his chair, with one leg crossed over the other, clad in his shirtsleeves, he radiated power, an innate sense of confidence and authority that spurred a welcome sizzle of arousal inside her.

"Steam-powered engine and all the inventions that come from that would revolutionize everything in society," Holbrook added, leaning in, his eyes glittering with anticipation. "Soon, everyone from aristocrats to bricklayers will be investing and I want to the ahead of the curve."

"And what is the initial investment sum?" Julius asked.

"Twenty-five to fifty thousand pounds," Holbrook added, "And you get a certified letter of deposit insurance for your money. Honestly, if it was not for such a thing, I would hardly consider such a massive investment."

"Arrange for the meeting," Julius replied.

Holbrook's smile widened, much like a cat who had gotten a full pail of cream.

Business must be that much invigorating, I suppose.

Once again, Louisa's eyes flittered to the large standing clock in the corner and noted the time, to her surprise it was trailing closer to midday than she had realized.

Julius noticed her distraction, "Is something worrying you, my duchess?"

She shook her head, "I wanted to see if our guests would care to stay for luncheon. I can ask cook to?—"

"Oh, no, no," Holbrook shook his head. "I apologize for interrupting you, Your Grace, but while I thank you for such a generous offer, we shan't be staying."

The two stood and bowed, but then Andrew asked, "If I may, your Grace, how is your dear sister?"

Taken aback by the sudden question, Julius replied, "She is very well, thank you for your consideration."

"Is she in a position to have visitors?" he asked, his hands suddenly clasped behind his back. "My sister asked me to inquire, because she remembers admiring Lady Rose at Lady Westbury's School for Immaculate Ladies as she was a year ahead of her."

"Oh," Julius slipped into contemplative thought. "I do not have an answer for you on that, but I shall ask my sister if she is willing to have visitors. I do appreciate your sister for making such a request and I do hope Rose will accept it."

The young lords shoulder fell in relief, "Thank you, Your Grace."

"Wonderful," Holbrook nodded curtly. "I will send you note when the appointment is set and please, no need to summon your butler, we shall see ourselves out."

"We're on our way out as well," Julian said, standing and took Louisa's hand as she slid from the chair. "We'll walk out together."

As the carriage trundled along the packed streets of London, Louisa looked from her book and mentioned, "Lord Holbrook's son, he seems to be the decent sort."

"He is a quiet one," Julius turned the page of the Times. "He is studious and always has his nose in giant tomes which is partly why I find myself trusting his analysis of this new steam machinery venture."

"But you're still going to investigate further."

"Unquestionably," he replied. "London might think of me as the re-embodiment of Croesus but since I am not in the way of pillaging, war and decimation to add to my wealth, I shall tread carefully."

"If you deem it profitable, I shall tell father," she added. "I know he is on the lookout for new investments."

Quiet settled between them, each of them lost in their own thoughts. In the past year, Louisa had discovered that silence had many forms, and this one was the awkward sort when one had nothing to add to conversation. It itched at her skin.

"Julius…" she hesitated. How could she go about asking his about his proclivities out of the blue? Her words failed her and after a long moment of nothing forthcoming, he looked up, a brow quirked.

"Yes?"

"What…" she swallowed as panic closed her throat off. "…would you prefer for dinner tonight?"

The sound he let out was a cross between a laugh and a snort, "I shall pretend that was the true question you want to ask me, and I will revisit the matter later this evening after we visit Rose. Roasted pheasant would be preferable, thank you."

Ducking her head in embarrassment and frustration, she forced herself to read the novel, but the words blurred before her eyes. Self-recrimination burned through her breastbone, and she questioned herself on why she could not ask him the basics of questions.

She felt Julius's eyes on her, the wight of his gaze rested light at time and heavy at others, but she did not dare meet it. It did not help that his gaze never failed to make her shiver.

The carriage stopped the steps for the Blackwell Manor, she dared to look up, shove the book inside her reticule and took Julius' hand to step out. The arching tower of the Hanoverian era house intimidated her a little but she forced the emotion away.

Bowing, the butler greeted them. "Your Graces, welcome home."

"Thank you, Gegory," Julius nodded, "How is Rose?"

"She spent the morning painting and took a carriage ride to the countryside with my wife," he replied. "I am so very pleased to see Lady Rose pushing herself to interact with more her beloved books."

"Where is she this evening?" he asked.

"I believe she is in the solarium," Gregory replied.

"We shall go there, thank you," Julius nodded, then, taking her arm as the headed to the room up the grand staircase. "We shall ring if we need anything."

The ground floor room was oval with glass panes of the double doors that led to the garden beyond it seemed to flow inside. The chairs were carefully placed around large potted plants that create "hedges" at different parts of the room, the jasmine and lily plants filled the room with their sweet fragrance.

Silk Chinese screens were painted with exotic birds and flowers, single petals were painted at the bottom to give the impression that they were wind-tossed. With the doors wide open, butterflies fluttered in and out of the room to pitch on the flowers and then flit away.

Rose was curled up on a divan, her soft peach gown fitting the ambience. Seeing her brother, she dropped the book and flew into his arms and hugged him tightly.

The tender affection that rested on Julius' face, made Louisa's heart give a silly little hiccup. It was the most emotion she had seen on her husband's face since his reappearance.

"Lady Louisa," Rose said pleasantly. "I am happy to see you again, what brings you by?"

While Louisa sat, Julius took a seat across from Rose and took her hands. "I've been away for a while, and I am concerned about you."

A loving look tinged with exasperation covered Rose's face and she held Julius' hands tightly. "I do appreciate your brotherly hovering; Julius and I cannot be more grateful for your help during my most difficult times, but it is high time you need to go and live your life. I will be fine."

"As much as I would like to trust that, what mother did?—"

"Was inexcusable, but you are helping me through it all," Rose replied. "Honestly, I am better now. Yes, I anticipate stares and whispers if I do go out, but that is to be expected. I will admit that crowds do scare me and that my heart does palpitate uncontrollably if all attention is turned to me, but I will be fine."

Julius did not look convinced. "Rose, I am?—"

"Very protective and willing to call in an army to protect me, I know," Rose replied. "But I am willing and ready to try and reintegrate myself into society—" this time, she turned to Louisa, "—and while I regret not attending your ball after I had promised, I do think it is my time to try again.

"I want to make friends, and I want, one day to have a lovely courtship and marry a husband as honorable, kind and protective as you."

Startled, Louisa's eyes flew to Julius, knowing that he had not been expected such a response—and the tight press of his lips showed it. Feeling pressed to escalate the situation, she stepped in.

"How about starting small," she said, shooting Julius a look and internally cringed at how stoic he had become again, "earlier this day, one of Julius's investors acquaintances and his son came to visit us and the young mentioned his sister was in finishing school with you. She would like to see you, if you would allow it, that is."

Wide eyed, Rose asked, "From Lady Westbury's?"

"Yes, dear," Louisa replied. "I regret not asking the young man what his sisters name is?—"

"Diana Langley," Julian offered. "Her name is Diana, Daughter of the Earl Holbrook, and ten-and-nine years, I believe. Do you remember her?

Relieved that her husband was not outrightly vetoing the plan for Rose to meet Diana, Louisa pressed a little more, "If you like, I can be here with you when she visits or if you would feel most comfortable, we can have her visit my townhome."

"We can do both," Rose replied. "And yes, I do remember her. She had the most curious shade of hair, it was somewhere between brown and red, almost copper, and she had bright blue eyes."

Looking at Julius for confirmation about Rose's memory, the slight nod he gave was enough for her to turn back to Rose. "Are you allowing this meeting?"

"Yes," Rose nodded, but she swallowed nervously. "I do wish I had good things to say about the girls in that school. I was the odd duck in the pond there. I grew used to an awkward kind of silence when one had nothing to add to conversations about the newest fashion and the supporting frippery.

"If I got to talk about it, that is. Then, if I had nothing to say about silk of satin, or who the best eligible bachelor in Town was, I was faced with another silence, the cruel kind when one's classmates stopped talking when one approached."

"That is because not one of those chits were willing to push themselves to do anything more than be eligible to marry," Julius replied. "They care not to learn anything more than rudimentary French, Italian or Latin, learn history, philosophy, art, play the pianoforte or the harp. You did."

Turning, to a blushing Rose, Louisa lightened the mood, "And I thought I was learned. You, my dear, have outdone me. Can you sing?"

Rose shook her head, her face paling a little, "That is where I fell short, and mother was not pleased about it."

Silently, Louisa added that question to her mental list, and reminded herself to ask Julius when they were alone.

"Don't fret about it," she replied, tapping Rose's hand. "I can sink for both of us, that is, if you would care to play, and that is where I fall short."

"I'd love to," Rose replied. "Please, tell Lady Diana I would love to meet her, but are your home first. Now, shall we have a late luncheon?"

As the carriage trundled on, Louisa tossed a few things though her mind about Rose but two and two would tot up to four. Rose seemed like such a lovely, gracious lady… why was she so withdrawn?

"Julius," she looked up, "What exactly happened with Rose? I have met her twice now and I cannot find another lady I would term as gentle and loving as her. What had happened that she has removed herself form the rest of society?"

His jaw flexed and his gaze went hard. For a moment, she wondered if she had crossed an invisible line until Julius spoke.

"My father was a gentleman, no title but of the ton anyway, and he had two faces," Julius said, his gaze roaming over the room. "He made his compatriots think he was a capable, honorable man with decency and pride, but the truth is he was incompetent, selfish and an adulterous lout.

"I thought I was doing us all a service by being in the miliary, at least it would raise Rose's chances of marrying well to a good level, but little did I know, I didn't need to have given so much of myself. When I returned, I realized a distant uncle had named me heir to his dukedom.

"He was childless and according to him, all his relatives had boys that were between scapegraces and ne'er-do-wells. He had to continue the ducal line and I was the best man to do it."

"The night of our wedding—" he trained her gaze out the window for a moment then returned to her, "—someone broke into the ducal home and tried to abduct Rose. Mr Sawyer fought them off with a pistol but it traumatized Rose."

"Oh, dear god no." Louisa felt as if a malevolent spirit dug an icy crater into her heart.

"They had tied her up, drugged her with an anesthetic and gagged her. When we rescued her, she didn't speak to any of us for a sennight," Julius said soberly. "She would hide every night, cower under tables or in her wardrobe. She could not walk by a window without fear?—"

A single tear spilled down her cheek, and Louisa's heart wrenched. A rough thumb wiped the tear away and Louisa leaned into his touch.

"Don't cry," Julius said softly moving from his seat to wrap an arm around her middle. "She is better off now."

"Why—why didn't you tell me?" she swallowed, "I would have understood."

"At that time, I was still wrestling with myself," he explained. "The ghosts of war were still haunting me. I was a military man, Louisa, and wariness was my life. I made sure to have the incident buried deep so no one would dare use it as a weakness against us and succeed in breaching our fortress again. No word of could ever leave our house."

"I had to stay with her," he said. "She did not trust anyone but me. There were times she even turned on Sawyer and his wife as enemies."

"I do and I believe that in time she will be able to put all this behind her," Julius replied. "She'll have a happy, healthy life with a man who loves her, even with her past."

Resting her head on his shoulder, Louisa let out a long breath. She had not known the man her husband was at all, but back then, when they had rushed through the whirlwind courtship, she had not suspected anything of this nature.

"The veil was being peeled away from my eyes, little by little," she whispered. "Julius, can we promise each other something?"

He twisted his head to look at her. "And what's that?"

"That we do not lie to each other," she requested.

"That might be best," Julius agreed, making sure her gaze did not stray from his.

"I have your word?" she asked, hesitantly.

He held her gaze, his expression staid. "Upon my honor as a gentleman."

The frantic pounding in her ears was lessening and relief trickled through her. "I feel that I should reply in kind," Louisa nodded. "I will not lie to you either."

"Good," Julius eyes flew over her face. "Being honest is crucial not only in our day-to-day life, but in the bedchamber too. If I do get swept away with my passion, you will tell me if anything doesn't feel good, if anything is hurting, if you ever want to stop. And I think we must add that with not lying, we should be able to add hard truths to one we must admit to each other." Julius said.

"Speaking of hard truths," she asked quietly. "Is your fear about your…sexual appetite the only reason you stayed away as from our bed after our wedding?"

"There is that, and there is another," he said. "Not only were my predictions a concern, a part of me feared you would not have understood the details of our marriage as it was, but that it was a love match."

"Father explained that to me," she said, "We had not even had a honeymoon."

"That too," Julius let out a long sigh. "Louisa, would you agree that, if at the least of it all, if these six months expire and we are no further than when we started, that we shall remail civil and have an heir to carry on the line? Would you at least agree to that?"

She smiled. "Yes, Julius. I agree."