Page 41 of A Most Unsuitable Lover
Ian stood, his heart pounding as the time of reckoning grew nearer. His fingers itched to touch Juliette, but it was not to be.
The earl and his comrades stormed into the house, reeking of horseflesh, gunpowder, and blood, a collective joyful guffaw of death-fueled hormones. Ian risked a glance at Juliette one last time, but it was a grave miscalculation. She read his intentions in his eyes and, just as he began to move, she threw her napkin across her untouched plate of food and made to head him off to the doorway. Unfortunately, despite the difference in the length of their strides, she beat him. Short of tackling her, Ian was forced to allow her to greet her brother first. She stood ahead of him as if to block him—as futile attempt as any he’d ever seen because he was a good head taller than she.
“Ethan!” Juliette said a little too loudly, a squeak to her voice underscoring the anxiety he knew she felt. The earl smiled in greeting, excused himself from his companions. All the men made deferential bows in her direction before carrying their excited chatter down the hallway where refreshments had been laid out in the parlor. He looked every part of the earl with his bright red hunting coat, gold piping and buttons, buff buckskin breeches, and immaculately shined black Hessians. He’d removed his riding gloves and smacked them gently against his opposite palm.
“Good morning, sister.” The earl’s eyes caught sight of Ian over Juliette’s shoulder. Though his ice-blue gaze did not warm, he did incline his head in recognition. Ian bowed stiffly.
“How was the hunt?” Juliette asked, drawing her brother’s attention back to her.
“We bagged sacks of game for supper this evening. I expect Cookie will be quite pleased. And what can I do for you, Dr. McCullom?” inquired Hopesend, more interested in why Ian was with his sister than any banal niceties. “Is anything else required for Lady Sommerfeld’s care and recuperation?”
“No, but I was hoping I might perhaps request a few minutes of your time, my lord.”
The earl’s dark brows briefly knit together before he inclined his head and gestured for Ian to follow. Ian inhaled one last deep breath before stepping around Juliette and following Hopesend down the hallway.
∞∞∞
Juliette’s heart raced like a panicked rabbit as she watched her brother lead Ian across the hallway to his study. Indecision froze her for just a moment before she balled her fists and braced herself to follow, slipping into the room just before her brother could fully shut the door.
Ian shot her a pointed look but said nothing.
Ethan’s brow furrowed and he asked if there was something she needed.
Her answer was pathetic, but it was all her frantic mind could produce. “I feel that I should be present for this conversation. I know it concerns me.”
Her brother froze in the center of the room, glancing back and forth between Juliette and Ian. The confusion upon his face was made more remarkable by the fact that Juliette didn’t think she could recall another time he’d looked just so.
“What is going on?” Ethan’s voice was low with foreboding.
“Very well,” Ian cleared his throat and began. “First, I would like to thank you for your hospitality this past week.” Ethan raised one brow and then the other when Ian continued. “Please accept my sincerest apologies for what I am about to say. You deserve to know the truth of it rather than hearing it second-hand.” The pregnant silence was so heavy it made the air in the room difficult to breathe, more so when Ian flicked his eyes at Juliette before looking her brother dead-on when he spoke the next sentence. “Lady Juliette and I shared relations.”
Juliette cringed when Ethan’s wild eyes flew to her. “What?” he demanded incredulously. “How?” The first sparks of anger began to flare in his eyes as the weight of the admission take root. Instinctively, Juliette stepped forward and opened her mouth to speak, fully prepared to accept the entirety of the blame for the situation, as well as the brunt of her brother’s rage. Ian cut her off with a small gesture of his hand at his hip and spoke instead.
“I understand your anger, my lord, and I plan to leave immediately.”
“You’re damned right you will,” Ethan growled. The tremor and wildfire rising to her brother’s face served only to underscore Ian’s calmness. She knew him well enough to recognize the tightly coiled control in Ian’s broad shoulders.
“I care for her…quite deeply, as a matter of fact.” Juliette’s heart tripped at his words, hope just beginning to blossom in her breast. “I would offer for Lady Juliette’s hand if I thought it might make things right—”
“Make it right?” Ethan snarled and went on to confirm exactly what Juliette had feared. “As if I would ever allow her, a lady, to marry you, a Scottish physician with no name and an even less reputable background.” Juliette barely resisted placing a hand on Ian’s arm when she noticed how tightly his fists were clenched. Her brother’s reaction effectively stole any joy she might have felt at Ian’s admission that he had feelings for her. “I know exactly the dirt-poor hovel from whence you came, McCullom; you’re a fool if you think I would allow anyone around my sister without having first been investigated. It would seem your baser heathen nature could hide itself no longer when faced with such temptation.”
“That is unfair, Ethan.” Juliette faced her brother squarely, unwilling to allow him to berate Ian further, especially not when she’d been so much at fault for the situation. “You are wounded and lashing out because of it.” She froze when Ian’s hand closed over her wrist, suffusing her with bolstering warmth and, simultaneously, causing her brother to fly into a rage.
“Ethan, no!” she screeched in shock. In the blink of an eye, her brother charged Ian. She didn’t recognize the person grappling with the man she loved, not the bloodthirst in his dark eyes, the crimson tint to his cheeks, the disheveled appearance. She thanked God Ian was taller and broader than her brother because there otherwise would likely have been a murder.
“How dare you lay a hand on her?” Ethan roared, shoving Ian backward. “How dare you take advantage of a woman who is your better? No doubt you saw an easy target with her naïveté.”
Ian was holding himself in check, standing his ground when other men would have sprawled on the floor. She didn’t know how much longer Ian would be able to do so, however.
A single strong shove nearly sent Ethan sprawling, but he made up for it with his words. He spewed vile curses upon Ian’s head, inciting all manner of blasphemy and calling him names which made her ears fairly burn.
As her brother continued to rave, she quickly became aware that their once private conversation had likely drawn quite a bit of attention from the staff and guests. Even if the words couldn’t be heard, the shouts and thud of toppled chairs would be unmistakable.
Ethan whirled on Juliette, his eyes unnervingly dark and soulless. “I spent years protecting you and this is how you repay me, sister?” Ethan spoke through gritted teeth. “By sneaking behind my back, undermining me, and effectively destroying all the work I’ve done in setting you up as a precious jewel of theton?”
“Enough!” Ian’s clear, booming voice drew an intangible line between the siblings. Juliette’s heart thudded painfully in her chest, but she wasn’t afraid; especially not with Ian there. “You did an exemplary job of locking her away from the world, not protecting her,” Ian said dangerously as he stepped toe-to-toe with Ethan, taking advantage of his height and added weight. The rolling lilt to his voice deepened as he continued. “And you’re foolish to expect anything less from a woman as intelligent as she when you starve her for true life. Juliette has a remarkable mind and a thirst to experience the world. It is nothing but a mark of your youthful hubris that you believed locking someone like your sister away would keep her safe.
“No, it does not excuse what transpired, but maybe it will teach you that all the control in the world would never truly stop someone as determined as she. Accounting for everything but the human spirit is a tragic mistake.”
