Page 26 of Lord Trafford's Folly
He grinned, his attention remaining fixed out the window. “Not to mention, many personalities.”
Audrey harrumphed. “I always thought you got your way because you are the son of an earl, but I am coming to realize you would find alternative methods even if you were not.”
Julius shrugged again, glancing at her. “Where there is a will, there is a way.”
One of the buxom women serving tables interrupted them. Julius placed their orders while Audrey sank into her coat, her hat masking her features from the server. Once they were alone once more, she continued the earlier discussion.
“I think perhaps you need to learn an ounce of moderation. Considering …” Audrey gestured toward his injury.
“Perhaps.”
“Lord, help the world if you turned your talents to something useful,” she muttered.
Julius quirked an eyebrow, his gaze flickering to her for the briefest of moments before returning to his observation of Stone’s front door. “A murder investigation is not useful?”
There was a pause. “I apologize if I sounded condescending. It is courageous of you to pursue justice on behalf of your friends. I meant in a general sense, not this specific situation.”
Julius had the urge to remove his glove to twist his ring but, instead, he stuffed that hand into one of his ample pockets. “Ah, but if I did that, I might become Lord Snarling, and we would not want that.”
“Lord Snarling … oh! You mean your father?”
Julius gave a brusque nod. When he glanced her way after several seconds of silence, he found Audrey staring at him with a thoughtful expression. He averted his gaze back to the street, uncomfortable with the intimacy of their discussion.
The serving woman returned, planting two mugs on the table with a firm thunk which caused a few drops to spill and run down the sides. She used a towel to wipe them off and walked away to serve another table.
Audrey pulled her mug closer, lowering her face to inhale deeply. Finally, she spoke. Unfortunately, she returned to the subject of his parent.
“Why do you have to become a version of your father? Why can you not be your own man?”
Julius frowned, cocking his head at the unexpected question. He opened his mouth to reply. “Because … because … because … I … do not … know … why.”
He supposed until that moment, he had thought that maturing meant inevitably becoming his father. But now that she had asked the question, he considered his friends and their relations. The Earl of Saunton, brother to one of his close friends, had inherited his title at eighteen, but he had retained his easy charm over the years even while expanding the wealth and influence of his estates. Saunton had a ready smile and a humorous quip under most circumstances, despite being raised by the peer who had been known as Lord Satan amongst boththe nobility and servants until his untimely death. He had even married last year and was quite taken with his wife, if appearances were correct. Julius had not considered he might have a choice in the man he would become if he allowed himself to evolve.
The tension of the moment was broken, to his relief, a moment later when Audrey raised the mug to her lips and tasted coffee for the first time.
“Bah! This is horrible!”
Julius chuckled. “It is an acquired taste, young lad. The more you drink, the more you will like it.”
Audrey smacked it down on the wooden surface between them. “Not likely. That is my last sip, I think.”
He burst out laughing. Her down-turned lips and disgusted expression were so adorable, it wiped away the worrying sentiments she had raised in his mind, and his good humor was restored.
Audrey and Juliusspent the morning and early part of the afternoon following Stone around his neighborhood. It was fun to be out and about, providing context to the difference between their genders. Julius had far more freedom than she had enjoyed since arriving in London, and in her disguise as a youthful boy, she had observed the world from a different point of view.
Stone left the vicarage midmorning, presumably after working in a study within. He had met with a women’s group from the parish, and visited a young family who had a newborn in their home, before returning to the vicarage.
Julius had whispered that he wanted to see inside, so Audrey acted as a lookout on the street and, with too much time on herhands, her thoughts turned to the scandal she would face when she returned to Lord Stirling’s home. Lady Astley would have arrived to collect her two days earlier and found nothing but her trunk in the hall. Resolutely, Audrey pushed the thought aside. Hopefully she could simply return to her village, where no one would be the wiser that she had vanished with a gentleman for several days.
Julius returned. “I could see them through a window. Stone is sharing tea with his wife and the curate.”
Audrey pouted in disappointment, and they took up a seat in the coffeehouse for a little while, where she eschewed tasting the coffee in her mug yet again. Eventually, they gave up their watch and returned home to share their own cup of tea, with Rose moving around them in the kitchen. The smell of baking bread made Audrey’s stomach grumble in anticipation.
“I cannot see a situation in which Stone is the killer.” She sighed, her elbows crudely wedged on the worktable as she sipped her tea. The vicar, the middle brother of five children, was in his fifties with a jocular manner and a round belly. He seemed satisfied in his role, providing succor to the people he administered to with frequent smiles and chuckles. The people he had met with all appeared to adore him. “He does not strike me as one desperate to inherit a title, or excessive wealth.”
Julius exhaled heavily. “I agree. From the information I have gathered, Stone is relatively wealthy, but he lives a rather simple life. His clothes are not flashy, his wife is sensibly attired, and the vicarage looks comfortable, with no overt signs of his funds on display. The notion of him flying into a passionate rage to bludgeon a baron for wealth and power seems farfetched.”
The bell to the tradesman’s entrance rang, causing both of them to flinch and look toward the street out front in alarm.
