‘Here’s the story we know so far,’ Paine began. ‘Oswalt makes a habit of ruining noblemen. Usually—in fact, always—it’s ruination of a financial sort. He likes the challenge of the chase. That’s what makes the situation with your uncle so difficult. There’s no money to speak of, except for this potential cargo, and there’s no challenge—the two things Oswalt traditionally thrives on. Bottom line, Oswalt is not after your uncle’s money.’
‘But the cargo is valuable,’ Julia cut in. ‘Uncle Barnaby says it will cover our debts.’
‘Certainly that’s true.’ Paine gestured to the letter Julia held. ‘Flaherty confirms that the indigo and cotton carried on the ship will be valuable to your uncle. However, Oswalt is a merchant. He has a fleet of his own ships at his disposal. He doesn’t need to go after your uncle’s cargo. He could have one just like it with less risk and more efficiency.’
‘Then why?’ Julia furrowed her brow. Admittedly, her sheltered experiences with the world provided little for her to draw on in terms of options. ‘If he doesn’t need money, what does he need that my uncle has?’
‘That’s the question we are trying to answer,’ Peyton put in, reaching for another sandwich from the tea tray. ‘Can you think of anything your uncle might be dabbling in? Investments? Agriculture?’
Julia shook her head. Nothing came to mind. ‘I can’t think of anything he’s mentioned over dinner. Most of our dinner conversation is about his Parliament work.’
‘Could that be it?’ Paine asked slowly.
‘I see what you’re thinking,’ Crispin spoke up in excitement. ‘Perhaps Oswalt wants a voting politician in his pocket. If he financially bails out Julia’s uncle, the viscount will feel beholden to him.’
‘That wouldn’t last long,’ Peyton mused cynically. ‘That’s a fairly terminal exchange of goods and services.’
‘Not if Oswalt married the viscount’s niece. Then he’d be in the family and the expectation could go on indefinitely,’ Paine pointed out.
‘And cure his pox at the same time,’ Crispin added flippantly from his corner, forgetting his present company.
Julia sucked in a quick breath. ‘Pox?’
‘Crispin!’ Paine shot his brother a quelling look.
Crispin shrugged, unapologetic. ‘Everyone knows.’
‘I didn’t know!’ Julia cried in a choked voice. ‘Did my uncle know?’ she whispered, unable to keep the horror from her face. The more she knew about the backdrop against which her wedding contract had been negotiated, the darker it became.
Paine shook his head and reached briefly for her hand in a comforting gesture. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Sorry,’ Crispin muttered into his teacup.
‘Let’s focus on one issue at a time.’ Paine resumed his pacing. ‘Perhaps Oswalt is playing for the right to pull the puppet strings in Parliament. Are there other ideas? What else does the viscount have that Oswalt would want?’
‘Land? An estate?’ Peyton suggested.
It was Julia’s turn to respond. ‘My uncle’s estate isn’t nearly half as big as Dursley Hall. It’s hard to believe anyone would go to so much trouble for a small manor when there are larger prizes out there. Besides, Oswalt couldn’t get the estate anyway. It’s not for sale. It’s entailed. Surely a master planner like Oswalt would know that.’
‘That’s it,’ Paine pronounced, hardly needing a moment to think. ‘He’s after the title.’
‘Paine, that’s an enormous leap of logic,’ Peyton cautioned.
‘I don’t see how he could get it.’ Julia agreed. ‘Titles are bestowed by the Crown and my uncle has an heir. Why, Oswalt isn’t even related.’ A hand flew to her mouth. ‘Yet. Marriage to me would change that. Children of ours might inherit if Gray or the others don’t marry. But it seems unlikely that all three of them wouldn’t produce a single son between them.’
Paine shrugged. ‘There are other more direct ways to get a title than staking it all on a roll of the genealogical dice. Oswalt could be made a knight,’ he put in. ‘Perhaps the king would knight him as a favour for saving a peer financially, especially if he was already married to that peer’s niece. The king might even see that Oswalt is named the trustee for the estate since it’s his money propping it up and he would have a connection by marriage.
‘I’ll have Flaherty dig around and see if Oswalt’s put a petition in motion to that end. Additionally, perhaps Oswalt can argue years of economic servitude to the Crown. There’s no contesting that he’s made money for the empire.’ Paine’s eyes assessed her face and she felt herself smile in spite of herself.
She felt better until Crispin said, ‘There’s always murder, too. He could simply marry Julia and then arrange to have the three brothers encounter untimely demises.’
Paine and Peyton shot him quelling looks, but the damage was already done. Julia blanched at the blunt assessment. It was what she’d been thinking. Was Oswalt capable of seeing three young men dead? What kind of tortured soul could wilfully engineer such atrocity? Julia shivered at the thought.
‘None the less, all this speculation assumes the ship comes back,’ Paine continued, trying to gloss over Crispin’s blunt assessment. ‘Need I point out that Oswalt’s job is much easier if the ship doesn’t return? Without the cargo, the viscount owes creditors and Oswalt.’
‘Gray’s ship will come back. He’s never failed,’ Julia said with grim conviction.’
‘Ship or not, the most important issue now is what we will do about Oswalt, assuming that our assumptions are correct.’
‘That’s simple,’ Paine ground out. ‘We go back to London and expose him before he can act on all the machinery he’s put into motion. Once the ton gets wind of his conspiracy to undo one of their own, society will do the rest.’
‘Exposure will require proof. There will be an element of risk,’ Peyton reminded the group sternly.
‘Anything worthwhile contains risk. I am well aware of the risks involved when dealing with Oswalt, probably better aware than most. That makes me eminently capable of seeing this situation resolved to my satisfaction.’ Paine spoke confidently, refusing to be cautioned.
Julia gave him a searching glance. There was so much she didn’t know about his past with Oswalt. His motivations for so fully engaging Oswalt were more than a fleeting concern. Although it was flattering to believe that he did all this on her behalf as her champion, reality suggested there were other, stronger forces at work that prompted his choice.
Paine needed her protection as much as she needed his. Oswalt was dangerous to them all. Around her the men talked of risks and benefits, but she’d had enough. She had to end this before another man, one she cared for immensely, ended up injured or dead. She had to get away from Paine Ramsden for his sake.
Julia stood up and smoothed her skirts. Her voice was firm as she made her pronouncement. ‘Gentlemen, I thank you for your input and your services. It has helped me see the situation I face and, in part, the situation I created when I left my uncle’s home. It is also clear to me that I cannot in good conscience continue to implicate others in a web of my own making. Tomorrow, I would kindly request the use of a travelling coach so that I can return to London.’ She turned to face Paine directly.
‘I am afraid we can’t let you do that.’
Julia looked around in confusion for the voice. She’d certainly expected to hear those words of refusal, but she’d expected Paine to be the one to say them. The feminine tone came as a complete surprise.
Julia stared in amazement as Beth set aside her needlework and rose from the chair she occupied near the work table. Julia had been so wrapped up in the discussion over Oswalt’s motives, she hadn’t heard or seen the woman come in. Beth gave her a kind smile and moved to stand beside her, tossing Paine and his brothers a scolding stare. ‘Shame on you all, you can’t simply ride back to London and declare war on Oswalt. Think about what it will mean to Julia. She’ll be beyond the pale if she shows up in your company.’
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‘We’ll be discreet, Cousin,’ Peyton began in a placating tone. ‘We’ll take her to Dursley House where she’ll be well guarded, and we’ll be with her whenever we’re out.’
Beth gave an unladylike snort that made Julia like the woman immensely. ‘Just like a man, even a well-meaning man. Men don’t have to think of these things, so they don’t,’ she said dismissively. ‘How will you explain Julia’s return? Especially, how will you explain why Julia is at Dursley House and not back with her family? And who will be at Dursley House? She can’t stay there with the three of you! She needs a chaperon, a very formidable one at that. What would the ton say if they knew she was living with three men? Have you thought of that?’
Julia smothered a giggle. In spite of the seriousness of their circumstances, there was a modicum of hilarity behind watching the Ramsden brothers shuffling from foot to foot, staring at each other, waiting for one of them to pick up Cousin Beth’s social gauntlet. In truth, there was no arguing with Beth. She was entirely correct. They had analysed Oswalt quite thoroughly, but had not addressed the immediate concern of what to do with Julia.
‘Point well taken, Cousin,’ Peyton said after a bit more shuffling and staring passed between the brothers and they somehow decided Peyton got to eat humble pie because he was the eldest and the earl. ‘You’re precisely right, as always, about these matters. To start with, I’ll write to Aunt Lily. She’s in town and can take up residence at Dursley House immediately. That will provide Julia with an appropriate chaperon. A chaperon doesn’t get much more proper than the Dowager Marchioness of Bridgerton, fondly known as our father’s sister or Aunt Lily.’
Beth would not be satisfied with half-measures. ‘That’s a fine beginning, but what about the rest? I think it will look exceedingly odd for her to stay with friends with her family so close at hand, mere streets away.’
This was more difficult and for a while Julia thought there was no viable explanation. Surely she wouldn’t have to return to her uncle’s home? She wouldn’t be safe there for a moment and all this would have been for naught.
‘If Julia and I were engaged,’ Paine offered slowly, giving the impression that they were hearing his thoughts the instant he thought them, ‘we could say I wanted her to meet my family and get to know them without the bother of commuting between homes, that I wanted her to spend as much time at Dursley House as possible with my Aunt Lily, since Aunt Lily will be handling the bulk of the wedding plans.’
It wasn’t a perfect explanation, but it was all they had and it did make sense. After all, Julia’s aunt and uncle didn’t move in the same lofty circles as the Earl of Dursley. Commuting between the grand town house of the earl and the shabby, only marginally acceptable neighbourhood occupied by Julia’s family could be viewed as commuting between levels in the social hierarchy and that was awkward for everyone in the ton.
‘Julia’s presence at Dursley House suggests that my marriage has my brother’s full support and, by consequence, that Julia has my brother’s full support,’ Paine said, his conviction growing as his thoughts came together.
‘Well,’ Beth said hesitantly, ‘it might work, but people will still look askance at the speed of such a declaration.’
‘If they do, I doubt they’d dare to speak such a thing out loud. Peyton here will burn their reputation to a cinder,’ Paine said jokingly, but knowing very well that Peyton held power amongst the ton and few dared to cross him.
‘I believe Paine is right in this case, Beth. If people believe I support the match, they might question in private, but won’t dare to breathe a scandalous word in public,’ Peyton averred. ‘Now that’s settled, I think we should proceed to dinner and celebrate an engagement.’
‘It’s just pretend,’ Julia blurted out.
‘Don’t let anyone hear you say that. Our success depends on our believability,’ Paine scolded and Julia sensed the scold was not a tease. He was in dead earnest, as they all were.
That decided it. She had to put a stop to these mad schemes. They risked too much for her and she was cognisant of it to the extreme.
‘I cannot let you all do this. It is too much to ask and it is not your concern, not really. I never meant for this to go so far.’ Julia turned to Paine. ‘Paine, you are chivalrous to a fault and for that, I relieve you of all obligation with my thanks.’
She saw his jaw tighten as she swept past him to the door, but to his credit he did not explode. To her surprise, he actually let her leave the library and make it up to her room. It was disappointing, but for the best. She’d expected him to rant or at the very least follow her upstairs and make an effort to protest her request. But he did none of those things. Yet. Or, perhaps like her, he would soon realise just how out of control things had got and that severing ties with her was in his better interest.
Chapter Fourteen
Upstairs, Julia folded a few gowns back into the tissue paper and placed them in the trunk she’d so recently unpacked. When she’d gone downstairs to give Paine the note, she’d known the missive’s contents would dictate their return to London. But she had not planned to so abruptly sever her ties with Paine. Then again, she had not known the full danger of her situation. She bent over the trunk and heard the door open behind her.
‘Obligation has nothing to do with it,’ Paine drawled. ‘You cannot relieve me from that which was never a duty.’
Julia turned from the trunk, summoning her resolve. She couldn’t extricate herself from this web, but she could set Paine free. Her growing feelings for him dictated she do as much. ‘Don’t do this, Paine.’
‘Don’t do what?’ Paine lounged in the doorway, leaning against the white frame and looking somewhat intimidating in his maleness in her feminine abode.
‘Don’t confuse reality with fantasies and suppositions,’ Julia said meaningfully.
‘Perhaps you’re the one doing that,’ Paine returned, coming to take the clothes she held from her hands. ‘The reality is that you are in very real peril from Oswalt in every way possible, both physically and socially. The fantasy is that you think you can go back to London alone and manage to untangle his deceits.’
Julia shook her head, finding his closeness intoxicating as always. ‘Please don’t try to seduce me out of this.’ She sounded like she was begging and she was. She had no idea what she would do in London, if her uncle would even listen to her and believe her claims, if he would protect her from Oswalt.
Paine’s eyes were intent on hers; her resolve all but collapsed at what she saw in them. ‘Paine…’
His mouth took hers softly. The kiss was slow, kindling a heat in her that would not be rushed. This would not be a frantic, desperate coupling. Nor was it a farewell. Nothing in his demeanour suggested he felt it would be the last time for them. This was a lover’s seduction of a beloved partner and she revelled in it.
Paine unhooked the buttons at the back of her dress, pushing the gown off her shoulders to the floor, his mouth intent on hers. He guided her back to the bed, sweeping away the piles of new gowns with his arm. He eased her back, leaving her only long enough to strip out of his clothes. Then he joined her on the bed, lowering himself over her, fitting himself between her thighs. His slow thrusts were as powerful as any of the more heated couplings they’d shared. Julia found herself powerless to resist the call to pleasure he offered. She fought his temptation valiantly. She knew why he did this.
‘Paine, I can’t allow this,’ she tried to argue between languorous kisses.
‘This is not about rules and contracts, Julia.’ Paine stared down at her. ‘This is an aide-mémoire. When you came to me, you became mine to care for.’ His phallus, rigid and warm and deep inside her, could not have been a more potent reminder.
Paine was gone from her side in the morning as usual. Julia took it as a good sign from the fates. It would be far easier to leave without having to face him. Facing him would mean a quarrel and she’d learned last night that Paine didn’t fight fairly. Still, she was
exceedingly grateful to have one last night with him. What Paine did not understand was that her feelings for him were nearly as hazardous to her as the situation with Oswalt.
Julia rang for a maid and laid out clothes for travel. She would send the maid for a footman to carry her trunk and to see to the coach.
Although it was early, a maid appeared promptly and hurried off to carry out her orders. That made Julia suspicious. The earl’s cousin ran an efficient household, but Julia had expected some resistance since it had been plain that her solution was not welcomed by the stubborn Ramsden brothers. Perhaps the maid had gone to inform Paine instead.
Julia dressed hurriedly, pushing aside her qualms. She didn’t have time to create conspiracies out of whole cloth—not when she had a very real conspiracy to unravel back in London. When the maid returned with a footman, Julia half-expected to see Paine follow her into the room. She experienced a twinge of disappointment when he didn’t.
Without questions, the footman shouldered the trunk and politely inquired if that was all. He and the maid left the room and Julia swallowed hard. All she needed to do was walk downstairs to the coach. No one was going to stop her. She should be exuberant. She held her head high, although there was no one to see her this time of day except the servants, and swept down the stairs.
Outside, the sun was just up, heralding a good day for travel. The horses stamped in the crisp air. The coachman, dressed in Dursley livery, touched the brim of his hat when he saw her. Julia nodded. She took one last look at the house and stepped inside the coach. Paine would thank her later for this.
‘Beautiful day for a drive.’ The object of her ruminations was sprawled on the seat of the roomy coach, impeccably turned out in riding gear, Hessians and a well-tied cravat, the clean smell of his morning toilette subtly filling the carriage.
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