Page 57 of Lord Trafford's Folly
Brendan’s guards escorted Julius to the front door, waiting for him to enter before departing. As the door shut behind him, Julius cocked his head, his senses telling him something had changed in the few hours he had been gone. His eyes fell on a pile of trunks stacked in the hall.
A vibration of tension ran through him, and Julius exhaled in an effort to relieve it. Striding down the hall, he found the door to his father’s study was open. Julius groaned in dismay, taunting himself for the butterflies fluttering in his gut.
Lord Snarling was back.
Rolling his shoulders, Julius stepped into the doorway.
“What is the meaning of this, Julius!” Lord Snarling stood near his fireplace, holding a letter with a frown on his face. It must be another poison letter from the vicious Lady Astley. Perhaps Julius should have anticipated a second message and searched the study to remove it, but he supposed he had been distracted.
“It is a letter.” Julius smirked with deliberation as he gathered his thoughts. “As to its meaning—I hazard that is subjective to the reader.”
His father looked up, his face set in angry lines. “You ruined Miss Gideon?”
Julius tensed, despite his prediction of its contents. “Ruined is such a … indeterminable concept, is it not?”
Lord Snarling clenched his jaw before responding. “Did you disappear with Audrey Gideon for over a week, when a narrow-minded chaperone with a penchant for gossip was to collect her?”
Julius stared back, wordless. How the bloody hell was he to explain the myriad of details that had led to compromising Audrey’s reputation beyond repair? Or that he was now betrothed to the young lady?
“There were mitigating factors,” he finally replied, no ready quip in the recesses of his mind.
“What could justify … this?” The earl shook the page, clearly on the verge of losing his temper altogether.
Julius considered a facetious remark but, somehow, he understood his father’s point of view on this. They both cared about Audrey, and his outrage was understandable.
“She accompanied me in a bid to save my life. My … circulation was compromised at the time.”
His father dropped his hand to his side, the letter crumpling as he scowled at Julius in perplexment. Then Lord Snarlingshifted his gaze to over Julius’s shoulder and did the damndest thing—he smiled!
Julius squinted in amazement, unable to credit the pleased expression painted across his father’s face. He appeared … happy?
“I hate to hear two of my favorite men quarrel so.”
That voice!
Julius’s spirits soared in startled joy. Spinning on his heel, he found someone unexpected framed in the doorway. She was even lovelier than the last time he had seen her, wearing a colorful Parisian gown. Her hair was twisted into a fashionable coif that displayed the blonde and concealed the brown. As ever, she had a broad smile upon her lips. Julius grabbed the back of an armchair in shock, his knees inexplicably weak.
“Mother!”
Lady Smiling tilted her head, her moss eyes sparkling in the afternoon light. Julius could not believe it—his mother was home.
Audrey was ensconcedin the library, battling through the second chapter of the memoirs. Her lack of sleep, her limited German, and the unfamiliar nature of the subject had made for painful progress through the printed words. She had just woken from a doze, patting her hair to ensure it was still pinned, when a footman knocked and opened the door.
“His lordship has requested an audience in his study, Miss Gideon.”
Audrey blinked in bewilderment, bobbing a nod. The manservant left, and Audrey dropped her head into her folded arms, moaning in agonized denial. Lord Stirling was back? Howwas she to explain what had happened? It turned out there was something worse than facing that fusty lug, Lady Astley. And that was facing someone she respected to explain her mortifying behavior!
Was Lord Stirling aware that Julius had proposed marriage? How was the earl going to react to his heir marrying a nobody from Stirling? No one would defend that she was prepared for the role of a future countess!
Anxiety writhed in her gut. Analytically, Audrey knew it was physiologically impossible for her gut to be tied in a knot, but the empirical sensation of it belied such logic. The scandal had caught up with her, and she must face the first criticism.
Audrey rose, shaking out her shoulders and arms in a bid to gather her courage before heading out the door. Until the footman had announced the earl’s return, she had not even thought about the earl and what he would have to say about all that happened during his absence. Lord Stirling had been a proper guardian, so even after months under his roof, Audrey did not know how he would react.
It was a short walk from the library to the earl’s study, but even so, Audrey noted the signs of occupation. Footmen were carrying a trunk away, which seemed oddly large for the quick trip that the earl had been on. And the servants seemed on high alert—because his lordship was home?
She knocked on the study door, waiting for a command to enter and taking hold of the handle. Squaring her shoulders as if to prepare for battle, she entered.
Juliusand his mother had departed Lord Snarling’s study to talk in private. Sitting on the terrace overlooking the garden,they had a tray of tea between them, Julius still finding his feet after her unexpected appearance.
