Negotiations were complete. There was just one more negotiation Paine had to manage and that was with Julia. It took all his will power not to blurt out his proposal and rush her off to a vicar immediately before further time passed. He would wait until her mind was at ease. She’d endured too much in one day to fully appreciate his proposal. The last thing he needed was for her to feel he was offering out of a sense of obligation or pity. When he proposed, he wanted her to know it was out of the only thing that mattered—his love.
Chapter Nineteen
The family held their collective breath for the next three days. Sam Brown had boarded the boat to America and they waited to see if any hint of scandal regarding the odd doings in Richmond circulated the ton. In spite of Julia’s ordeal, Aunt Lily insisted the family make a showing at one fashionable gathering each night. She argued that nothing would set tongues wagging faster than being absent from events three nights in a row during the height of the Season.
It was a compelling argument, especially since they’d made such a showing once the Season had hit full stride. They couldn’t let those newly established inroads go to waste. Paine admired Julia’s strength. Each night, she donned a new gown, looking more beautiful every time. She smiled and she danced, keeping up a happy front. If anyone inquired about the Lockhart ship, she simply said, ‘We have no confirmation that the ship sank or that there were no survivors. Until we do, I prefer not to believe the worst.’
She told the truth, as best as they knew it. The day after their return from Richmond, Paine had paid a visit to the viscount, encouraging him not to announce the loss of the ship until it was a certainty.
He wasn’t afraid to admit he had sound reasons and selfish reasons for it. He’d sent Flaherty to search out any truth to Oswalt’s announcement. Flaherty had found nothing substantially reliable to bolster the rumour. There had been some trouble off the coast of Spain. Other sailors reported a heavy storm, but no one could agree on whether or not the Bluehawk had been affected.
Selfishly, Paine didn’t want another obstacle put in his path when it came to marrying Julia. A mourning period would have to follow if Gray was announced dead. That could very likely come to pass, but he wanted Julia firmly wedded to him before that happened. He’d gladly spend six months quietly living outside of Society’s eye tucked away with Julia. But he doubted he’d survive another six months unable to claim her. The viscount had been happy to follow Paine’s lead. Recent events had upended him completely and destroyed his desire to take any action.
Aunt Lily’s insistence bore better results than anticipated. Not only was the ton pleased to welcome back Dursley’s brother, but requests for business assistance came flooding in in response to many of the letters Paine had sent out a few weeks prior and through the connections he’d established at the gatherings. There was even talk of Paine heading up an investment group at the Bank of London. As a third son, dabbling in commerce was highly acceptable.
There only remained wooing Julia to complete Paine’s happiness. He knew she was inwardly worried over her cousin Gray, and that mentally she was grappling with the horrors of her brief captivity, but he could wait no longer.
Paine patted his pockets for the fifth time in as many minutes, waiting for Julia to come downstairs. The weather was brilliant and he was taking her driving. Yes, all three items were there just as they were a few minutes ago and a few minutes before that.
‘I’m ready,’ Julia called from the top of the stairs, a bit breathless from rushing. ‘I couldn’t find my parasol right away.’ She waved the pale green parasol to illustrate her point.
‘You’d be beautiful without it.’ Paine smiled up at her, enjoying the sway of her hips beneath the thin summer muslin gown as she came downstairs. The mint colour of the gown and the forest green grosgrain trim complemented her colouring splendidly.
‘You’re too kind,’ Julia teased, putting her hand on his sleeve. ‘Where are we off to?’
She sounded like his Julia, but when she looked up at him, her eyes were still haunted. They didn’t sparkle like he knew they could. Not yet. They would again, though, he vowed. He’d spend his whole life devoted to seeing that they did.
‘Someplace wonderful,’ Paine said mysteriously.
They drove through Hyde Park, Paine cheerfully nodding to passers-by and stopping to talk with new acquaintances. Julia sat patiently beside him, acting the part of a banker’s wife perfectly, offering intelligent conversation when needed. A banker’s wife! The thought filled Paine with schoolboy giddiness. Who would have thought twelve years ago, or even a year ago, that he would find his inner peace with a wife and a career, with being restored to family and to society—things he’d thought he could live without?
Paine turned out of the park on to a quiet tree-lined street. The street was wide, clean and empty, untroubled by the traffic from the park. A few, large town houses dominated the area. It was clearly a wealthy and exclusive neighbourhood, perhaps not for peers, but for a different type of wealth and power—new wealth and power, the kind that would matter more as England grew into its age of industry, an age that Paine could see already on the horizon and heading towards its zenith.
‘Where are we?’ Julia asked, looking about at the impressive buildings.
Paine brought the carriage over to the kerb and jumped down. ‘Come and see this place with me, Julia. I need to take a look at it.’
He helped her down and produced a key—item number one—from his pockets.
He swung the front door open and waited anxiously as Julia gazed around the wainscoted vestibule, her eye caught by the enormous brass chandelier overhead. ‘It’s fabulous.’
‘I think you should see all of it before you decide that.’ Paine chuckled.
Julia walked ahead of him, eyes wide open, taking in the rich soft tones of the walls done in creamy shades of winter wheat. She gave an audible ‘aaahh’ at the sight of the dining room. ‘That table must seat fifteen people!’
Paine grinned at the sight of the polished mahogany table he’d ordered a week ago, anticipating such a reaction. ‘Actually, it seats twenty.’
‘Twenty?’ Julia commented in awe. She mounted the stairs, her hand trailing on the carved banister. ‘There’s been such attention to detail.’
She sailed through the bedrooms, noting how large and airy they were, how well appointed the views out of the private sitting rooms were where they looked out over the gardens in the back.
When they reached the last bedroom, Paine blocked the way, an arm across the shut door. ‘I have to ask you something before you go in there.’
Julia eyed him suspiciously. He pressed on. ‘Would you like to live here?’
Julia’s eyes went wide with confusion instead of the surprise he’d hoped for. ‘You want to buy me a house?’
‘Actually, I bought you a house, this house if you like it. The moment I saw it, I could see you in it. I could see you at the table presiding over dinners, I could see you walking in the garden, picking lavender. When I saw you in the vestibule, I knew I was right.’
Julia was nonplussed. ‘I don’t need a house. I don’t need one this big. It’s awfully large for one person and I certainly won’t ever have twenty people over for dinner at one time.’
She was rambling. Maybe that was a good sign. She was usually so logical. ‘Well, I’d probably have twenty people over for dinner on occasion and you wouldn’t have to live here alone. I’d like to live here, too, with you.’ Now he was rambling and probably making a muck of things. Paine drew out the second item from his pockets, this one a legal document in a slim leather case. He gave it to her.
‘What’s this?’ Julia said slowly.
‘It’s the deed to the house. It goes with the key.’ Good lord, that sounded dumb. Of course it went with the key.
He’d better get on with it before all his faculties fled. Paine took her hands, gripping them firmly. ‘I want to marry you, Julia. I want to marry you and live in this h
ouse and raise children with you. Would you consider having me?’
‘Marry me? When did you decide this?’ Julia stammered, unsure how to respond.
‘I think I decided it weeks ago when I first met you. I never believed in love at first sight, or really even believed in love until you, Julia. You’ve reformed me. I don’t think I can afford to lose you.’
‘You were always going to lose me. Keeping me was not part of the deal, Paine. I don’t expect for it to be part of the deal now. I’ve overstayed my welcome and you needn’t feel obliged. I admit I am at sea over what to do now.’ Julia disengaged her hands and began walking down the hallway.
‘I didn’t think everything would turn out so well. I thought I’d be publicly ruined and shunned, sent off to the country. I had planned for that in my own way. I rather thought it would all be simpler. I didn’t bargain on all the, um…shall we say “adventure”? Perhaps for you, these past weeks have been quite ordinary, but for me…Well, I’ve got nothing to compare them to in my heretofore very common life. You’ve done well by me and you don’t need to feel obligated to save me.’ She turned her sad green eyes to him.
It occurred to him that she’d been contemplating this all week. While he had been contemplating how to propose, she’d been contemplating how to say goodbye, how to free him.
He went to her, putting his hands on her shoulders, ostensibly to steady her, but perhaps to also steady himself. He was not going to lose her. ‘This is not about obligation, it’s not about passion, although we have quite a lot of that, too. This is about love.
‘I have fallen thoroughly in love with you, Julia. You have brought me peace for the first time in my life. I need you and I want you and, at last, I have something to offer you in return. I’ve got a desk at the bank now, a home that’s not my brother’s, a fortune for you to spend.’ He laughed a little at that. ‘I even have a title.’ Paine pulled out the third item from the inner pocket of his jacket. He gave Julia the folded piece of paper. ‘Read it, it’s a letter from the king.’
Julia scanned it. ‘Oh my, Paine, you’re to be knighted. Sir Paine Ramsden.’ She read further. ‘For invaluable service to the crown. Whatever did you do?’
‘The crown needed to be aware of Oswalt’s treachery against members of the peerage. There were many people, his Majesty included, who were glad to have certain issues, as it were, resolved. You’ll be Lady Julia Ramsden. I am worthy of you now.’
Julia’s eyes watered. Damn it. He hadn’t meant to make her cry. She was supposed to jump with joy, preferably right into his arms.
‘You were always worthy of me, Paine,’ she whispered. ‘When I started this, I was looking for the most dishonourable man in London. I never thought he’d turn out to be the most honourable.’ She bit her lip and smiled through her tears. ‘I don’t suppose you have a ring in those pockets, do you? You seem to have everything else.’
Paine laughed. ‘I most certainly do.’ He pulled out the fourth item, a small velvet box from one of London’s finest jewellers. He went swiftly down on one knee and flipped open the box lid. ‘Marry me, Julia.’
Julia feigned contemplation, tapping a finger against her chin. ‘If I do, will I get to see what’s behind the door?’
‘Vixen!’ Paine slipped the ring on her finger, a brilliant emerald surrounded by a band of tiny diamonds. ‘It’s from my own collection. I had it set especially for you.’ Paine rose and reached for the door.
Julia laughed when she saw the room. ‘You’ve been busy.’
Paine swept her up into his arms and carried her to the low bed. It had been restored, along with the cabinet. It would take time to fix this room up to his expectations, but he couldn’t imagine him and Julia sleeping in any other bed. The need to have her was suddenly swift and urgent as it coursed through him.
She read his need and reached her arms up to draw him down to her, kissing him deeply. ‘Did you bring a sheath?’ Julia murmured, lifting against him.
‘I brought something better,’ Paine said next to her ear, nibbling and sucking at her earlobe.
‘What could be better?’ Julia said, on the brink of losing all reasoning.
‘A special licence.’
She laughed softly, her breath warm against his neck. She shifted her body to accommodate him, taking him between her thighs. ‘You once said I was like the Sleeping Beauty—come awaken me with love’s first kiss.’
He didn’t have to be asked twice. Julia Prentiss was his happy ever after.
Epilogue
Champagne flowed freely in sparkling crystal glasses at the Ramsden wedding breakfast a month later. Surrounded by the Ramsden clan, Julia thought the wait had been worth it. True, Paine had a licence that could have enabled them to marry sooner, but Aunt Lily had argued again on the platform of good form. In the end the argument had made sense. After working so hard to erase the questions of Paine’s past, it made little sense to scotch those efforts with a rushed wedding and all the speculation that would ensue.
Beside her at the head table, Paine drank yet another toast to their happiness, one hand surreptitiously under the table on her leg. Watching him recite his vows at St George’s this morning, one would never have guessed that a mere three months ago he’d been a confirmed bachelor with no thoughts towards being redeemed. Today, he was a man resolutely in love with his wife.
Julia knew the look on his face well because it was the same reflection she saw in the mirror when she looked at her own. She had never guessed such happiness was possible. It seemed a far cry from the darkness of Oswalt’s proposal.
The only minor crimp in her bliss was that her aunt and uncle were not here to share it with her. Although Paine had taken charge of her uncle’s finances and seen the family through the financial aspect of their crisis, no amount of money could compensate them for the loss of Gray. While there was still no confirmation of a body, the Lockharts had given up hope that Gray was still alive at this late date and had retreated to the country to mourn in private.
Still, looking around her, Julia felt she had a new family now in Aunt Lily, Peyton and Crispin, men who Gray would have liked immensely as brothers-in-law.
They were talking with Lily and Beth when Crispin tapped Paine on the shoulder. ‘Excuse me, but there’s someone at the door. I need you and Julia to come with me.’
Paine and Julia followed Crispin to the door where Peyton already stood waiting. ‘Julia, this man says he knows you.’ Peyton stepped aside to reveal the late-come guest.
He was dressed in worn clothes hardly befitting the heir of a viscount, but Julia recognised him immediately. A hand flew to her mouth and she clutched Paine’s arm to steady herself, hardly daring to believe the sight before her.
‘Gray! You’re alive. How?’ The shock of seeing him was so overwhelming she couldn’t organise her thoughts into any coherent pattern.
Paine laughed softly at her surprise and urged her forwards. ‘Go to him, Julia. See for yourself that he’s not an apparition.’
Julia needed no further prodding. She flung herself into Gray’s arms. ‘I can’t believe you’re safe after all this time.’ She stepped back to look at him and then hugged him again, unable to decide if she wanted to hug him or look at him, to see that he was all right.
‘You’re here, you’re really here. You’re not dead!’
Gray hugged her tightly. ‘I am really alive, although it was close. Thanks to Ramsden and Dursley here, I have returned home.’
‘Oh my goodness, your parents, your brothers are going to be so thrilled. You don’t know what this will mean to them!’ Julia’s happiness over seeing Gray ebbed a bit and she lowered her voice. ‘They aren’t here, you know. They’re in the country, mourning you.’
The look on Gray’s face was grim, too. ‘I rather suspect they will mourn me when I get done with them. I can’t believe what they attempted to force you into, my dear cousin.’
Julia cast a glance back at Paine. ‘It’s all in the past, Gray,
and it’s brought me this wonderful man. He’s taken care of me and the family.’ She motioned to Paine. ‘Paine, come and meet my cousin, and, Cousin Gray, meet my husband. Then we must talk. You must have so much to tell.’ She was still giddy with the surprise of seeing him.
‘There is, but I have it on good authority that the most exciting tale to tell is yours and I want to hear all of it. I came to celebrate with you the moment I stepped foot in London. My story can wait.’
‘All tales can wait until you’ve had a chance to change. Come with me,’ Peyton offered, ‘I am sure there’s some clothing upstairs that you can make do with.’
Peyton hurried Gray off to clean up, leaving Julia and Paine alone in the entry. ‘Did you do this, Paine?’ Julia inquired, studying her new husband thoughtfully.
Paine had the good grace to look sheepish. ‘I have some connections in the shipping industry and I put them to work. I was suspicious that nothing had turned up, especially since the coast of Spain is notorious for bodies washing ashore. Sure enough, someone recalled a man of Gray’s description when he passed through a remote sea village. I sent Flaherty after him.’
‘It’s the best wedding gift ever. I could not have asked for more,’ Julia said, tears in her eyes. ‘I was going to wait, Paine, but I have a gift for you, too.’
Paine protested. ‘I have everything I want, Julia.’ He moved to pull her into his arms.
Julia twined her arms around his neck and pulled him close to whisper in his ear.
‘I stand corrected,’ Paine said, his voice trembling slightly. ‘I only thought I had everything I wanted. When, my dear, do you think the gift will arrive?’
‘Around February, in time for Valentine’s Day,’ Julia said softly.
‘And to think this all started because you needed to be ruined and I needed to be redeemed. I think this has ended rather well.’
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