Wild Lily (Those Notorious Americans Book 1)(70)

“We have little in common.”

“Oh, my dear man. We have the past in common.”

He pursed his lips. She was a dog with a bone. “Our past is more than eight years old. To some, that’s ancient history.”

She inhaled slowly, her gaze going around the room. “I remember it all very well.”

“I don’t.”

She scoffed. “Has marriage made you crusty, Chelton?”

“On the contrary.” It’s made me appreciate my wife. He searched the ballroom. In the crush, he’d lost sight of Lily.

“Tamed you, I suppose? Interesting.”

Julian followed Meg’s line of sight. Lily twirled even more gracefully than before in the arms of Pinkhurst. He could be jealous. Could be…if he didn’t know in his soul that Lily came to him each night naked and willing and yes, more in love with him than he deserved.

“And you’re enchanted with her.” Meg’s words were an accusation.

He took them for a declaration. One that surprised him. One he could easily make aloud to her. “I am.”

“It will erode.”

He shook his head, though she’d named his greatest fear. He couldn’t let her see how her prediction gutted him. “I doubt it.”

“All enchantments disappear.” She waved her fan in a flourish. “A genie appears who dissolves the magic.”

That wouldn’t happen with Lily.

“Don’t look so stricken. All is not lost. When your days become humdrum, darling, do send for me.”

“Why?” What could you give me that I cannot find with Lily?

Sparks of resentment flashed in her eyes. “You still hate me for rejecting you.”

When she’d accepted Norfield’s proposal, Julian had proof how easily passion turned to ashes. As if he hadn’t had enough evidence with the poison of his parents’ marriage. Or most of society’s. “Your rejection reaffirmed what I knew from years of observing others. Love is rare and must be carefully cultivated.”

“Ah, yes. I see your point. But do see mine, darling.”

“Pardon me.” He put a foot out to step away.

On a click, she shut her fan and pressed the tip to his chest. “You married her, but you’ll never love her.”

That seared him.

“I know you, Julian. You need a woman for your title, to get your heir. You need a woman for your very healthy appetites. One for your boundless pride. And word of mouth has it, you took this one because you were forced to. A trade to save her reputation, and you your finances.”

He’d kill whoever spread these rumors. “Idle talk.”

“Whatever the cause, darling. You’ll want a woman who understands you. Who puts your need for independence higher than her need for your commitment.”

“You’re wrong.”

“Am I? What odds shall I wager that you haven’t told her you love her?”

“Gamble all you have, Meg.” But it was a bluff. He locked his gaze on hers, the barrier to his soul stalwart and impenetrable.

She glided away with a small huff of satisfaction.





As Nora, Lily’s maid, and his valet, Pendley, finally closed the bedroom doors behind them, Julian poured two glasses of port into the crystal glasses on their sideboard in their sitting room. Since Lily had rejoined him after his conversation with Meg, Lily was unusually somber. It was in her nature to ask him what they’d discussed and he would not avoid her questions.

Lily sailed in, her ivory peignoir whispering behind her across the carpet. Her black hair was down, her face was bright and clean of all rouges and powders. Still, she was extraordinarily lovely to him. Lovelier than when she was dressed and perfumed, a gilding she would never require.

“Thank you,” she said, took his proffered glass and sank to the rose silk chaise longue. Stretching out her elegant legs along the cushions, he noted that she had not taken a chair nor had she left any room for him to sit beside her. “Did you enjoy the evening?”

“I did. But you don’t look as if you’d say the same,” he said, inviting her opinion as he sank in the chair opposite her.

She took a sip of her port and put the glass aside on a small table. “I adored dancing in the garden. Of course.”

He knew for her the thrill of their encounter in the folly was gone. “But?”

She turned the full power of her clear blue eyes upon him. As if she could see through him, she scoured his expression. “Tell me what she has meant to you.”

Julian considered the liquor in his glass. Then put it aside. There was no need to ask of whom she spoke. He had watched Lily trace Meg’s steps as she left him in the ballroom. Their eyes had met and he understood that his wife would ask him the details. She deserved to know.

“Years ago, I was infatuated with her. We were young. It was her coming out season and I was making my own mark on society, it being the first time I actively engaged in the social whirl. She was very popular and had many suitors. But at the end of the season, it was clear that she favored three of us. A Scottish earl with plenty of money from a printing business and another man who was at that time, the largest landowner in England. He was also quite wealthy. In wealth, size of estate and title, I could not compete.”

“But you did.”