The Accidental Countess (Accidental #2)(59)
And Lucy.
Lucy she would never forgive.
“Tell me again what Julian said when he left,” Cass asked Jane in a shaky voice.
Jane took a deep breath. “He told Upton that he intended to return to London and was hoping for orders that would allow him to go to the Continent again.”
“He’s going to France,” Cass said quietly.
“Upton wasn’t certain where he was going, but he thinks that it has something to do with Derek.”
“It does. Julian told me. Well, he told Patience. He said his brother and Captain Cavendish are missing in France. Derek’s looking for them now.”
“I do hope they are all careful,” Jane replied.
“What else did Garrett say?” Cass asked.
Jane winced. “He said he tried to warn you on the last night of the party that your parents were coming. He said you wouldn’t listen. Is that true?”
Cass nodded. “Yes.” More blasted tears burned the backs of her eyes. She resolutely shook them away. She couldn’t cry over this. It was all her own doing. “Did Garrett say anything else?”
“Yes, he said, ‘Please go back to your old ways, Miss Lowndes. I don’t know how to be in your company without your constant barrage of insults. It’s quite dull, really. Not to mention unsettling.’”
That actually brought a smile to Cass’s face momentarily.
“Ah, see there! I got you to smile,” Jane announced. “You should have seen it when I was forced to admit to Captain Swift that I am not only not named Miss Wollstonecraft, I am, in fact, no relation to the family.” Jane sighed.
Cass reached out and patted Jane’s hand. “You’re such a good friend, Janie. I’m lucky to have you.”
“Yes, well, our other good friend is eagerly anticipating my reply to her last letter. She’d very much like to speak with you.”
Cass pressed her lips together. “No. I refuse to see Lucy. She’s the cause of all of this. If we’d just simply told the truth and allowed Pen and Julian to see each other that first day, they would have broken their engagement and Julian wouldn’t hate me right now.”
“I know it’s difficult for you,” Jane said. “But Lucy really did think she was helping. Her heart was in the right place. It always is. You know that.”
Cass clenched her jaw. “I cannot even look at her.”
“All right. All right. I’ll tell her.”
Cass sniffed. “Thank you, Janie.”
“For what it’s worth, I do think she feels awfully sorry,” Jane replied.
Cass groaned and rolled over, hugging the pillow to her chest. “Oh, Janie, I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Jane stroked her hair. “Let’s begin by you telling me where you’d like to be. We can go to Brighton or Bath. I’ll travel with you. We’ll make it a holiday.”
Cass took a deep breath. “I want to go back to London.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Julian finished writing the letter to Wellington. He folded it, sanded it, and sealed it. Then he pushed the missive across the desk away from him and leaned back in his chair. He was staying at Donald’s town house again, a place he truly didn’t belong. He glanced around the room, his brother’s study. Sparse, clean, functional, just like Donald.
Donald had been the perfect eldest son. The only son their father had ever wanted. And now Donald was missing.
Julian stood, walked over to the sideboard, and poured himself a drink. He downed it in one long gulp and poured another.
Warmth began to spread through his limbs, but no amount of alcohol would ever erase the memory of the screams of pain on the battlefield, some of which had been his own.
He took the second drink back to the desk and sat down again. A bit of it sloshed onto his hand. He cursed.
When he’d returned to London from the house party, his first order of business had been finding Penelope’s parents and telling them that he did not intend to marry their daughter. Mr. Monroe had been quite reasonable, actually. Apparently, Penelope had already explained the entire situation to them. They didn’t want their daughter to be unhappy any more than they wanted Julian to be unhappy. Penelope’s parents both wished him well and told him how thankful they were that he’d returned from the war. They inquired after his mother’s health as well as Daphne’s. The entire experience had not been unpleasant. At least something had gone right after that disaster in Surrey.
Julian’s next order of business should have been finding Cassie, but of course his plans there had drastically changed. He couldn’t even think about her. Not after what she’d done. All he cared about now was finding Donald and Rafe.
He grabbed an opened letter from the desktop. He’d received it from Derek today. Julian’s eyes scanned the page for the tenth time. It said the Hunt brothers had followed the trail they’d found when they originally arrived and had a good two more days to travel before they arrived at the location where Donald and Rafe had last been seen. If Donald and Rafe, were, in fact, the two Englishmen their informants had seen. It was all a gamble, but it was the only hope they had.
Julian took another drink. If Donald and Rafe were there, Derek would find them. There could be no one better to look for them, not even himself though he hated to admit it. He’d written that letter to Wellington, asking to join them, not because he didn’t trust his friends to do the job, but because he bloody well couldn’t sit here in a London town house and do nothing while his brother and his friend were missing and his other friends were on their trail. And the truth was, he intended to go after them with or without Wellington’s approval. He’d prefer the former but as soon as he got his answer, he’d be off, one way or the other, unless Derek had already returned with news.