Page 54 of Lord Trafford's Folly
It was sort of laudable that he intended to be candid about the whole thing, but … but … he wanted to have his wifeandunfettered freedom. That was untenable! Did Julius have no notion what a marriage was?
That brought her to a sudden halt.
It was possible he had some odd ideas on the subject. Audrey was herself, by society standards, considered of the lower gentry. Her father had been a physician and landowner, and they resided in the countryside, where the values of a husband and wife differed from these high society types. She believed Lord and Lady Stirling might be estranged. Audrey had not seen the countess or her daughter in some time—a minimum of three or four years since either of them had visited Stirling.
Perhaps this outrageous plan to inform her of his possible intent to wander off with paramours had something to do with whatever arrangement his parents had? She could not be certain, but Julius had implied strained relations between himand his father. She had overheard them quarrel since arriving in London.
Audrey leaned a knee on a settee beneath one of the street-facing windows, nibbling on her lip as she craned her neck forward to see if the carriage had yet left. Two cloaked figures exited below, crossing to mount the waiting steps. The Johns unhooked the steps to put them away, then shut the door to take their places. Their demeanor was watchful, observing the surrounding street with sharp concentration while they went about their duties.
The carriage rolled forward and soon turned the corner to disappear. It was all the cue Audrey needed.
She and Julius had reached a temporary agreement at best. If they were to marry, Audrey had the chance to seduce Julius into a genuine marriage like the one she had imagined for him during their time at Lady Hays’s.
But Audrey was not a skilled temptress who knew the art of beguiling men. She was a young country lass from a small village. Until very recently, she had been a maiden. This did not prepare her for what lay ahead—seducing her future husband into loving her.
The one skill she possessed was her ability to study and diagnose the ills that plagued a person. In order to do that, she needed to understand Julius.
Rising from the settee, she made for the door. Asking Julius what he was about would not reveal much. He would prevaricate if she tried to pry his justifications from him. One thing was evident about the unique individual he was—Julius was intensely private about himself. He showed one face to the world with his foppish garments and glib charms, but she knew there was a keen and calculating intelligence behind the mask he presented.
Julius had his reasons to evade a true meeting of the minds, but she would not be so easily cast aside. The past few days had proven the gentleman was loyal to his friends whom he must love dearly. She needed to tap into that loyalty if she wished to maneuver him into a happy marriage. Since he had proposed, she had concluded, he was now hers and hers alone. Audrey had every intention of holding on to him.
She knew of one person who might be privy to his guarded thoughts. The man whom Julius had implied he admired above all others. And Audrey knew of one place she might find that man—Casanova’s memoirs would be in his bedchamber, and she was going to read them. Within those pages would be the clue to persuading her betrothed. It was time to employ strategy to forge the path she wished to walk with him.
Julius drummedhis fingers on his knee, watching through the carriage window as they drove through the busy London streets. His thoughts were on Audrey—again.
He did not wish to be the sort who wed and kept mistresses. Such behavior had always been repulsive to him. For all the faults of his parents’ marriage, they had never engaged in such contemptible activities. He knew this because he had investigated it for himself. If Lord Snarling had kept a mistress, Julius would have found out about it by now.
For some reason Julius could not fathom, the situation with Audrey had brought up memories he did not wish to recall.
He had returned from his Grand Tour three years earlier, feeling worse for wear from his Channel crossing. Reaching his father’s townhouse, Julius had been looking forward to reuniting with his mother and sister. He had always had a closerelationship with Lady Smiling, and being gone for such an extended time from his family had been difficult. Letters from his mother had kept him informed of developments over the years, and he had kept all of them in his trunk, rereading them when homesickness had occupied his mind.
Little Penelope would be more grown than the little girl he had left behind to complete his education.
Lord Snarling would be ever more distant than he had been when Julius had left.
Lady Smiling would be vivacious and welcome him home with a cup of tea and conversation.
Except … Julius had reached home, bursting in to seek his mother and sister only to find that Lord Snarling was off to the Continent on Crown business. Nothing unexpected there. What had been a surprise was to learn from the butler, whom Julius had not previously met, that his mother and his sister had left for Paris two months earlier and not returned.
Julius had been flabbergasted, writing to his mother at his uncle’s home to clarify why she was still in Paris. He had received a cheerful note in response that she would be remaining for a while yet. She was enjoying her time with her brother, who was attached to the embassy there, and Penelope’s French was improving. Julius was not fooled. The note did not ring true, and he had known his mother was deflecting.
Subsequently, he had written frequent letters to urge his mother to come home. After several months, it became clear that Lady Smiling was not returning, and so Julius had buried himself in his pursuits. The gradual decline of his parents’ marriage over the years had always been frustrating to witness, something which had infuriated him as a youth, but this development had affected him more than he cared to admit. It had been the final straw, leading to his vow to never wed.
Marriage is naught but an unhappy trap.
It was ridiculous that he could not board a ship to visit with his family, and he had attempted to do so twice, but his stomach had roiled at even the mild sway in the docks and he had quickly disembarked. Another crossing was an impossibility. He had cast up his accounts too many times before. The mere idea of boarding made him feel nauseated in the pit of his stomach.
Perhaps Audrey knows of a remedy?
Julius growled at the errant thought.
“Have you offered to marry her?” Brendan was watching him from across the vehicle.
“What?”
“Miss Gideon. That is what you are chewing on, is it not?”
Julius frowned. He did not wish to have his mind read. In fact, he had always gone to great lengths to be inscrutable.
