Chapter Three
A month later, Rafe waited in the front parlour at Juliana’s family home, Edgerton Manor, his second visit to his neighbour Lord Waverton’s property since returning to England.
The first time, he’d escorted Juliana home after a hectic week of consultations in which she’d first introduced him to Thomas Sterling, the long-time Thornthwaite tenant who’d kept his cousin Baxter, Juliana’s maid, informed of what was transpiring on the estate.
She’d then accompanied him and Sterling on visits to the estate’s tenants, adding what she’d gleaned from Ian and her own visits about each farm and its workers to what Sterling knew.
She’d assisted him in going over the account books, indicating what Old Taylor had done and pointing out the discrepancies in what his successor had recorded.
With Sterling’s and Baxter’s help, they had located those of the former Thornthwaite staff still in the area and recommended the ones whom the estate had sufficient funds to rehire.
Rafe hadn’t needed Juliana’s unspoken approval to immediately appoint Sterling as his new estate manager before she reluctantly allowed him to escort her home.
She’d argued against it, citing her mama’s probable attempts to entrap him into marrying her.
With no more wish than she to be forced into a commitment unless they were both ready, he assured her that, as a former infantry officer, he was quite capable of evading the enemy.
And quickly demonstrated that ability by neatly sidestepping Lady Waverton’s attempts to delay his departure or maneuver him into a compromising situation with her daughter.
Once Juliana was safely returned to her family, he left her a whispered hope that her other ‘prospects’ might prosper and returned to confront the challenge of slowly restoring his estate.
After a month of hard work, he’d come back to Edgerton to report to her, pleased and proud of the beginning he’d made.
She might not have had the authority to prevent the plundering wrought by the former estate manager—whom he’d reluctantly concluded he did not have enough evidence to prosecute—but she’d nonetheless felt responsible, even though she should not have.
He wanted to let her know how helpful her careful observations and accurate assessment of what had transpired and recommendations on how he might repair the damages had been in beginning to reverse the decline.
As responsible as she’d felt for the welfare of Thornthwaite, its tenants and his brother, he was certain she’d both appreciate and be pleased about the progress he’d made.
And, truth be told, he’d missed her.
He was also eager to discover whether the ‘prospects’ she’d assured him would allow her to escape her disapproving family had indeed come to fruition. If they had not, he felt ready to make more formal the offhand offer of marriage he’d made her before she left Thornthwaite.
Rafe didn’t disbelieve in love, but after a wrenchingly unsuccessful love affair in his youth, he’d decided strong emotion wasn’t the best basis to sustain a relationship for the long haul.
He’d recently counselled his army friend, the new Duke of Fenniston, that a marriage based on admiration, respect, affection and mutual interests supported by physical compatibility was far more likely to offer lifelong happiness than one born of exalted feelings of passionate love that, in his observation, were unlikely to endure.
Smiling, he thought that perhaps it was the interest he’d expressed in the lady he’d advised his friend to seriously consider that had prompted Hart to suddenly see Mrs Hambleden in a new light.
Most likely, their eventual union hadn’t been all his doing, but he did feel quite satisfied that Hart had finally realized the answer to his need for not just a suitable duchess, but one who would make him happy for the rest of his days, was right before his eyes.
Was the answer to his own need for a suitable countess right before his?
True, it had been six years since he’d spent much time with Juliana, but he didn’t think her basic character would have altered much in that time.
Certainly he felt respect, affection and admiration for her.
Suddenly realizing his little Mouse had grown up into a Miss Waverton he found desirable had been a shock, though not an unpleasant one.
She didn’t have the statuesque beauty possessed by her mother and older sister; her figure was too short, lithe, and elfin to ever be considered ‘voluptuous.’ But when he’d embraced her, her firm, small breasts pressed against his chest, her lush little mouth eminently kissable, a purely erotic surge of sensation had overwhelmed what had initially been merely a brotherly desire to give comfort.
Even as a child, he’d found her expressive brown eyes mesmerizing.
Added to her unconscious grace and subtle sensual appeal, he knew without question that the satisfying physical intimacy he valued as an integral part of marriage was definitely possible, were Juliana to be his bride.
Perhaps he’d sensed that physical allure even when she’d first become engaged to Ian, but held on to his image of her as just an engaging child to avoid even thinking of his brother’s future wife in sensual terms. But now that the link was broken…
She’d already demonstrated her competence, her sharp observations in noting what had happened to the estate and the remedies she’d suggested had been absolutely accurate.
Rafe admired her zeal for the natural world and shared it, though not with the passion she felt.
He also shared her disinterest in the dancing, gambling, socializing and general frittering away of time that occupied much of the London ton.
He would be content, as he thought she would, to spend most of their time at Thornthwaite, overseeing the restoration and then the management of the estate while Juliana happily rambled about the woods and fields, observing animals, listening to bird calls, and making her sketches.
If he were truly honest, the main reason he’d come to update her on his progress was to discover how her own prospects had fared. And see if she were willing to discuss the possibility of a union between them.
Would she agree? And if she did not immediately accept him, should he continue to pursue her? He certainly didn’t want to ruin the long friendship they’d shared. Would he be able to convince her that marriage would only add a richer, more satisfying depth to that friendship?
Lady Waverton walked in as he was pondering the question.
‘Lord Thornthwaite, how kind of you to visit! I know Juliana will be delighted to see you. I do hope you mean to grace us with a longer stay this time. No need to rush off!’ she added, giving him a reproachful look.
‘Besides, I’m sure you’ve been working far too hard at Thornthwaite.
You deserve to take a break and let us entertain you. ’
Rafe bowed, kissing the fingertips she offered. ‘I’m grateful, as always, for your hospitality,’ he replied noncommittally. ‘How is Miss Waverton?’
Lady Waverton heaved a dramatic sigh that might have convinced Rafe she was deeply affected by her daughter’s distress, had Rafe not been well aware of how little maternal sympathy her mother had ever displayed towards her.
‘Juliana has been melancholy, as I’m sure you can appreciate, mourning your brother as she does.
Your sympathy and understanding are such a comfort to her!
The late earl’s loss was so devastating… in so many ways.’
Devastating in that you didn’t get her off your hands, Rafe thought uncharitably. ‘Will she be joining us?’
‘Her father asked her to work on a project for us. She’s in the library—we’ve turned a corner of it into a sort of studio for her. I don’t want to interrupt her—the sensibilities of an artist, you know! Let me escort you to her.’
‘Her maid will join us there?’
‘I’m sure there’s no need to wait on Baxter. You are friends of long standing, after all.’
Before Rafe could protest that he’d be happy to await Juliana in the parlour or delay until her maid could join them, Lady Waverton seized his elbow and escorted him out of the room.
Unwilling to break away and cause a scene, as she marched him down the hall, he rapidly considered how he might evade her plan to have him closeted with her daughter.
‘She’s just in there,’ she said, halting and indicating the closed library door. ‘I’ll let you slip in quietly, so you don’t disturb her work.’
A smiling Lady Waverton opened the door and gestured him in.
But before he could protest or back away, Juliana jumped up, seized a china plate from the desk before her and hurled it against the wall.
As it shattered into pieces, she whirled around, spotted them, reversed direction and fled out the French doors into the garden beyond.
‘Oh, that girl!’ her mother exclaimed furiously before, catching herself, she turned to Rafe.
‘I’m so sorry, Lord Thornthwaite! Such unmaidenly behaviour!
But then, she’s never been quite the same after the shock of losing dear Ian, with all the promises he made her unfulfilled, all her hopes for the future destroyed! ’
Rafe was shocked too, though not because he found Juliana’s actions ‘unmaidenly.’ Never before had he seen her other than calm and controlled—and he’d witnessed several occasions where the verbal abuse she’d suffered would have merited a tantrum.
His protective instincts alerted, knowing something must be drastically wrong, he brushed off Lady Waverton’s continuing apologies, hurried through the library and ran out the door after her.