AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Giulia tamped down her mounting elation and nodded to the modiste that she was ready to begin, but all of her best efforts were unable to dampen her smile. The kind gesture from her uncle stuck with her and she felt buoyed up by his generosity. If nothing else, Giulia felt, with very little doubt, that her uncle cared for her. And that brought her a level of contentment she had not felt in quite some time.
* * *
Robert appeared to be happy with the preparations for the ball thus far and Nick assumed he would be too, if Giulia deigned him worthy of previewing any of her ideas. The woman was blasted mad. She was running around the castle and even the town with the trusty bodyguard, Ames, by her side nonstop. Nick had never actually been involved in the planning of a ball before, but he knew that Giulia had not either, and it seemed to him she was now creating jobs for herself, simply to keep busy.
Truly, there were only so many times she could go into Graton to check on the gown she had ordered or the cakes she had commissioned or the draperies she had arranged with the dressmaker’s sister to design and create.
Crossing a foot over the other ankle, Nick leaned back in his chair and fixed his gaze on the door to the ballroom. There had most definitely been a shift between Giulia and himself since the morning after the lemon tart kiss, and he could not figure out what caused her to be so distant.
Now with the ball two days away she was completely ensconced in the ballroom where Nick, conveniently enough, was not allowed to enter under her guise of keeping the decor a surprise.
Nick let out a frustrated breath and stared at the door to the ballroom as if his gaze could penetrate it. From where he sat in the library he had a clear view of the oversized oak double doors and found himself watching them open and close repeatedly as people came and went. The dressmaker’s husband had arrived not a quarter-hour ago with the draperies Giulia had ordered; that must have been a load off of Giulia’s mind.
And then there were Jolly’s nephews, who had appeared a solid hour before and had not yet left. Jolly’s nephews—as untrustworthy as their uncle—were the reason Nick was so absorbed with watching the door to the ballroom, or so he told himself. What on this green earth would Giulia need Jolly’s nephews for? Halstead boasted plenty of men. Denny the footman, Jack, Nick himself, Ames…just to name a few. It was absurd. Nick was stronger than both of Jolly’s nephews combined. He and Ames could easily accomplish whatever Giulia was delegating to those unruly brats.
Footsteps sounded in the hall and two maids approached the door, each laden with trays of food. Not a simple tea service, no. They were armed with ham and chicken, cheese and bread and all manner of fruit. Good heavens, was Giulia feeding an army in there? Nick’s stomach rumbled on queue and his scowl deepened. Like he had thought earlier, Giulia was blasted mad.
But she was incredible, too. He sighed out his frustration, rubbing the sockets of his eyes. His mind wandered to the way she had made him chuckle when he was mostly unconscious from the gunshot, to the adorable way her dark eyebrows pulled together when she was concentrating, even to the confidence and tenacity she exhibited in her determination to keep her distance from him now.
He chuckled as he shook his head back and forth. He had been so jealous when he went to Ames’s room that day and saw their easy banter and close proximity. And his envy had only grown the longer Giulia insisted on keeping Nick at bay.
But now she refused to give him her full attention. She’d kissed him, thoroughly, and then…grown bored of him. Or so it seemed. Had his touch been so repulsive?
He dropped his chin onto a fisted hand, narrowing his eyes as the maids slipped through the doors and closed them securely. Nearing the end of his patience, he was quite ready to storm the ballroom. Perhaps that was exactly what he should do. He chuckled as he pictured himself, donned with the armor displayed in Robert’s study and beating down the door, demanding entrance.
“Mr. Pepper, sir?” Wells said from the doorway, cutting him from his musings. How long had the butler been standing there?
Nick straightened in his chair. “Yes?”
“Tea is served in the breakfast room.”
“Very good. Thank you, Wells.”
The butler nodded and turned away.
“Wait, Wells?”
“Yes?” He turned back, his older face etched in stone.
Nick gestured toward the ballroom. “What precisely is going on in there?”
Wells glanced toward the ballroom doors. When he returned his gaze to Nick, it looked as if the older man was fighting a smile. But that would be uncharacteristic of the old retainer.
“Preparations for the ball, sir,” he said.
“Yes,” Nick said patiently, “but what preparations, exactly?”
“I am afraid you will have to question Miss Pepper, sir.”
“She’s got you under her spell too, then? Very well, off with you,” Nick growled, doing his best to tamp down his annoyance. Evidently, even Wells had switched allegiance. Not that it surprised Nick at all. He would pledge himself to Giulia as well if he was given the option. If she would acknowledge him or even look in his direction once in a while.
He resumed his brooding, putting his afternoon tea and growling stomach on hold while he continued to watch the ballroom doors open and close, admitting every other person in the entire castle.
As the door opened once more, Nick shot to his feet. “Ames!”
The dark-haired man had a few years on Nick, but their height was equally matched, and Nick felt that he would easily win in a battle of fisticuffs. Sizing up Ames, he no longer felt inferior to the man. Jealous on occasion, maybe—no matter how unfounded. But no longer inferior.
Ames waited for Nick’s approach, impatience in his eyes.
