Page 38 of Her Beast

Was he strong enough to do what needed to be done?

“Are you sure about what you are about to do, my friend?” Smith asked, easily reading the tension in Malcolm’s body. “Once you take this step, you can’t go back.”

Malcolm hesitated and then said, “I’m sure.”

He knew Smith heard the doubt just as strongly as Malcolm felt it. But that didn’t mean he would change his mind. Malcolm wasn’t even sure that hecouldchange it at this point.

“I owe Sukey this much,” he added.

Smith released him and stepped back. “Just don’t forget what you owe yourself, Malcolm.”

Chapter 7

Julia sat in the carriage alone and fumed.

At least Carl was riding on the box and Netta wasn’t there to torment her on the drive home from her humiliating dinner with horrid Sebastian and his horridly condescending grandmother.

Julia was no stranger to condescension. How could she be? She was a cit’s daughter who’d rubbed shoulders with aristocrats for years.

Before tonight, she would have said that she’d endured every snub known to womankind when she was at school, but the humiliating meal she’d just endured with Sebastian and Lady Winthrop took the cake.

Julia wasn’t stupid; she knew Sebastian hated her and resented being forced to marry her. This was the quintessential marriage of convenience on both sides. Her father wanted the duke’s status and political clout; the duke and Basingstoke wanted her father’s money; and Julia wanted a safe harbor for her brother Richard and to be free of her father and Nadine’s control.

Oh, and Basingstoke also wanted an heir, although she didn’t think he was nearly as keen about that part as her father seemed to believe.

When papa had first told her that Lord Basingstoke had asked permission to court her Julia couldn’t believe it. Sebastian had eluded matchmaking mamas for over a decade. At the age of thirty-eight he was, in the opinion of everyone who was anyone, the prize of the century.

Personally, Julia found Sebastian’s golden-haired, blue-eyed looks insipid and thought he had as much sensual appeal as a box of cutlery. He was like a male version of her: golden and perfect and boring.

But as dismissive as she was of his person, she couldn’t deny that she was looking forward to the power and freedom that marriage to him represented.

Not only that, but for the first time in her life her father had looked at her with something other than annoyance or dislike. For the first time in her life her father had almost smiled when he looked at her.

“Your marriage is the most important thing to happen to our family since I acquired the shipping line.”

Julia had almost fainted from shock when he’d admitted that. According to her father, his purchase of the shipping company ranked up with the Second Coming in matters of importance, so she had certainly risen highly in his estimation. Indeed, for once in her life, she had actually managed to earn Thomas Harlow’s respect.

And almost lost it again thanks to the disaster with Solomon.

Julia scowled at that unwanted thought.My father will forget all about Solomon once he has the duke and his son firmly in his pocket.

Normally that thought would have been enough to soothe any qualms she had about her betrothal, but after tonight… well, suffice it to say that this evening’s dinner had surprised her, and not in a pleasant way.

Tonight had been the first time she’d been around her betrothed without having lots of other people as a buffer and Sebastian’s usual manner toward her—cool and detached—had changed to something else entirely.

In fact, she thought it would be fair to say the man hated her. He and his supercilious grandmother had sharpened their claws on Julia the same way the barn cats in her father’s stables scratched on a stall door.

They’d discussed people she didn’t know, talked about places she’d never been, and generally made her feel like a gauche schoolgirl.

Julia supposed that is exactly what she was thanks to her father’srefusalto give her a Season. And all because Thomas Harlow lived in fear that Julia’s behavior would jeopardize her upcoming marriage.

Well, she thought with a reluctant smile, he was probably right about that. Julia was reckless and prone to impulsive behavior so she would have run amok if she’d had a Season.

Although she would always regret that she’d not been permitted to join Lily—who’d at least enjoyed a few months of freedom before she’d married her earl—she knew she’d have ample opportunity to socialize with thetonin the years to come, and as a duchess rather than a mere cit’s daughter.

A duchess whose husband hates her.

So? Their arrangement didn’t require that they like each other, all they had to do was tolerate one another. He could have his life and Julia could have hers and hopefully—after she’d done her wifely duty and delivered him sons—they’d see each other once or twice a year.

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