Nicholas’s emotions had been mixed at this offhand admission.Anger that Julia should behave so rudely toward him and hurt for the same reason.
Both those emotions had made it impossible to stop himself from retaliating by taking her in his arms and kissing her as a punishment for that fabrication.
Unfortunately, once his lips had touched and tasted hers, he hadn’t been able to stop that kiss from becoming at once hungry and possessive.
To his surprise, after a second or two of shock, Julia had begun to kiss him back with the same fervor.
Indeed, if he closed his eyes, he could still taste her, both sweet and spicy.Feel her soft curves pressing against him.Breathe in the heady scent of her arousal.All of which had both surprised and elated him.
In that moment, Julia’s body had betrayed her, telling Nicholas that, despite every verbal insult to the contrary, at that moment, she had wanted him as much as he wanted her.
Her acquiescence hadn’t lasted long, of course.No, once returned to her senses, Julia had decided to slap him hard across one cheek and so arouse his anger for a second time.It had taken every ounce of his self-controlnotto bend her over his knees right then and there, throw up her skirts, and spank her arse.Hard.
After which, he would have pulled down her drawers to kiss and sooth every inch of her reddened flesh with his lips, tongue, and hands.
Merely thinking about doing that now made him hard.Which was most inappropriate in the middle of the funeral for the elderly woman he had very much admired and loved as much as if she had been his own grandmother.
And therein lay the problem.
Nicholas had known for some time that this day would eventually come, and that when it did, there would be no escaping Julia’s wrath.He doubted that this time she would be satisfied with simply smacking his cheek.
CHAPTERFOUR
“What ishedoing here?”Julia hissed to Amanda.They sat next to each other in their grandmother’s library, as Mr.Masterson had requested.
After the funeral, all who had attended the funeral had gathered in the blue salon to enjoy a reviving cup of tea and cake.Those guests had departed about an hour later, after which the family had been asked to gather in the library for the reading of Lady Roxburgh’s will.
Mr.Masterson had already spoken to the household staff this morning regarding the personal bequests from their previous employer.
Meaning there should only be family members in the library, and yet there he was, the Earl of Wolfingham, sitting between the countess and marchioness.
Julia glared her displeasure at the back of his neck.“He has no right to be here!”If Wolfingham had any sensibility of feelings whatsoever, he would be able to feel her resentment, and yet there he sat, as if he had a perfect right to be here.
She could have understood, perhaps, if he had felt a need to remain after the funeral and had chosen to keep her father and uncle company as they stood near the bay window looking out over the gardens.Such an arrangement allowed privacy between the female members of the family, the beneficiaries, and the lawyer.
But instead of joining the other gentlemen, Nicholas had chosen to sit between the two older ladies present, mere feet away from where Julia and Amanda also sat.
The lawyer had taken his place behind a table at the front of the room.He was a man Julia had never met before his arrival yesterday, when he had introduced himself to her parents and aunt and uncle as Mr.Giles Masterson.He had explained he was the grandson and son of the other two partners of the law firm, Masterson, Masterson, and Masterson, who had long been lawyers to Lord and Lady Roxburgh, with whom that dear lady had entrusted her will.
Giles Masterson was possibly aged thirty at most, with a very serious disposition.Despite that, he looked a little young to be a partner in such a respected London firm.
He had joined the family for dinner the previous evening, of course, and spent the night in one of the guest bedchambers.All so that he could be present this morning at the funeral of his client and then carry out the reading of her will to her family.
Giles was handsome enough, Julia allowed, with his dark hair and steely gray eyes.But his expression was stern and his manner somewhat cold, making him appear much older than the age Julia guessed him to be.He had certainly not gone out of his way to endear himself to either Amanda or Julia the previous evening or today, his demeanor taciturn at best.
Just as well, because Julia, for one, would not believe in the sincerity of any man’s interest when it had long been known that she and Amanda would both become wealthy heiresses upon the death of their grandmother.
That knowledge had been another of the reasons they had joined four of their friends in forming the Spinsters Alliance earlier in the Season: the last thing either Julia or Amanda wanted was to be forced to marry any of the impoverished, if titled, fortune hunters who would pursue them relentlessly simply for the money they possessed.
Giles Masterson, despite his tailored black superfine and pantaloons, along with highly polished black Hessians, was not impoverished exactly, but neither was he a wealthy or titled gentleman.
And so began her suspicion of a gentleman’s true intention, Julia acknowledged heavily.She was relieved, once again, that she and Amanda had made a pact with their other friends not to marry for anything less than true love.
“To my two daughters,” Giles Masterson read from Lady Roxburgh’s will, his voice an emotionless monotone, “the Countess of Ipswich and the Marchioness of Broom, I leave all of the jewelry, given to me by my beloved husband during our marriage, to be shared by them as they see fit.My fortune will be divided equally between my two granddaughters, Julia and Amanda, to be given into their care upon their marriage or attaining the age of one and twenty.Until then, it will be kept in trust and managed by their fathers.”He glanced up.“The next paragraph deals with the agreement that was made in regard to Roxburgh Manor.”
Julia had not thought before as to what was to happen to Roxburgh Manor now that her grandmother was dead.
The Roxburgh title and properties were not part of an entitled estate so would not be inherited by some distant male relative none of them had ever heard of.Julia’s grandfather had the title and estate bestowed on him by King George III, for services to the Crown, and it was not a hereditary title.
