Authors: Beth Trissel
“My
great-g
randfather came
from Scotland.
That
practically
makes us
neighbors, doesn’t it?”
Lyle
gave a laugh.
“
Except for that trouble be
tween the Brits and the Scots. Over now, though.
Care for a
cycle ride
, fair Julia?”
Will had had enough.
He might as well send her to a bar with a ‘take me, I’m s
tupid,’ sign taped to her back.
He
fixed Lyle with a strong gaze.
“
We do
n’t condone fraternizing among
the staff at Foxleigh
,
Mr.
McChesney.”
For a moment,
Lyle’s eyes were
blue ice
, the
thin sort that shatters, and then
they
thawed
in a lazy smile
.
“No worries
,
mate
.
Shall I call round in the morning?”
A
nagging dislike pricked
at
Will
like a splinter
left
too long under his
skin
.
But he’
d already agreed
and they
badly
need
ed
the extra help
.
He’d just have to keep Lyle away from Julia
.
“I’ll give Wilkins a call
.
If you check o
ut you can work
on the
brick
wall we’
re laying in
the ga
rden. It’s slow going.
We must
follow
the
original
foundation
.”
Lyl
e nodded.
“Reckon everything has to be in keeping with the past
here
.
I’ll do my part
to keep it that way
.”
His
assurance sent an odd twinge
through Will
, like a
finger on an old wound.
“See
that
you do.”
****
The
high spirits
so evident earlier
had
fled with Lyle
McChesney’s
arrival and
were
no better after
his departure on the big black Hog.
William had
reverted
to the dark mood
Julia
witnessed
earlier
and it
seemed pointl
ess to attempt a cozy picnic.
Fearing she’d offended him somehow,
she sank
on
to the couch and
reached
for a sandwich
.
He
sat beside her and
did the same
, though his smoldering expression belied any interest in the food.
Julia
bit into
thin layers
of
turkey and ham
sandwich
ed
between crusty bread
with
crunchy lettuce and
fresh
ly sliced
tomatoes
; it could’ve
been
cardboard for all she cared
.
Charlotte’s efforts were was
ted on the two of them
as
they
chew
ed
,
swallowed, and bit again,
with a distinct absence of the lighth
eartedness that had
exhilarated
Julia
before.
William
could b
e so
wonderfully
charming
she floated on a cloud of happiness, or
so
deeply unsettling
she sank
.
A
s if trying to gain liquid courage
,
Julia
guzzled
her
soft
drink
.
She hid
unlady
like belches and set it aside
.
“William,” she said
at last.
He stiffened.
“Don’t call me that
when we’re
in public.”
Blinking
at his retort
, she demanded,
“Why are you speaking to me this way?”
His fathomless
eyes held a mulish glint.
“What way?”
“You know very well. Why are you so put out?
Has this something to do with Lyle McChesney?”
William turned the full focus of his attention on her
.
She squirmed, finding herself in the spotlight.
“
Mr.
McChesney
.
Y
ou honestly don’t have a clue, do you?”
“No.”
Raking
his fingers through his hair
, he got to his feet
.
“Oh, it’s not you
r fault.
You’re just so damn innocent.
You might as well have been brought up in the nineteenth
century with a governess
, old aunt chaperones, a
nd
a
patriarchal father with a gra
y beard down to his chest.
”
Julia
jumped
.
“I sort of
was
.”
“Good Lord.”
Wi
ll sat back down beside her.
“I can’t believe your parents
let you come to Virginia.”
“I
was determined
.
I
pers
uaded them
I’d be
living
on
the premises out of harm’s way
.
Besides, I’m of age now.
”
“
A fat lot of difference that makes
. Well, then.
Lesson number one
,
don’t talk to strange men.”
“Ever?
How will I work as a guide?”
His lips twitched slightly.
“Except for that.”
“How am I to meet
new
people
if I don’t talk to them
?”
“
Lesson number two, m
en are not people.”
“Of cours
e they are.
If I’m forever cut
off
from them
how shall
I get married?”
“
Likely your parents will
c
ho
o
se someone
suitable
when you’re forty
.”
Julia opened her mouth in protest
, but he
held his fingers to her lips
.
“
Dusk is falling.
I should go
now
.”
Closing
her hand ar
ound
his
warm grasp
, she pleaded,
“
Don’t
.
It’s early yet.
”
He groaned under his breath.
“
Not for someone
who gets up at five o’clock to run
.
Let me guess, I’ll bet you think it’s perfectly harmless for me to spend the night
here
?”
“You could sleep on my couch.”
“That would look
gre
at when I leave
in the morning
.”
She
dropped her hand
from his, but
it seemed the most natural thing in the world to curl
beside his
solid frame
.
“W
ould you
like to
stay
,
if no one knew
?”
He gritted his teeth.
“Julia, you’re killin
g me.
We’r
e a little old for sleepovers.
Go h
ave a
nice
hot
bath and
sink into bed.
You
’ll soon be sound
asleep
.”
“What if
Mr.
McChesney returns after you’ve gone?
”
William
li
fted his arm and circled it lightly
around her.
“
Lesson number three,
lock the door
.”
She reveled in his
guarded
embrace
.
“Don’t go just yet.
”
“Shhhh
...
close
your eyes and be quiet
.
I’ll stay awhile.”
Between je
t lag,
all the
overexcitement, and deep contentedness
, Julia felt her eyes grow
ing
heavy.
Closing them as he
’d
insisted wasn’t difficult. Drowsiness washed over h
er and she yawned against him.
“Do you do this for all the new girls?”
“Only
tenacious
,
irritating
Brit
s
.”
She
drifted to
sleep in his soothing hold,
too groggy to be certain, bu
t
thought she heard him whisper.
“Who will protect
you from me, sweet Julia, if not I?
”
More deeply content than she’d been in years
, she loosed a soft sigh.
“Jules.”
Julia knew that
dusky
voice
shadowed with
secrets
an
d
heart-felt desire
...
the voice of love
.
A pulsing tide washed
through her
in a
delirious
surge of
hope
.
C
ould it
possibly
be?
“Cole?”
“
Yes
, my darling. O
pen your eyes.
”
She
found
herself
gently
rocking
in the bow o
f a
slender schooner.
Its
whit
e sails shone
in the twilight
.
Of course,
The May
Queen
, Cole’s ship.
She wanted to lau
gh and cry, to shout out loud.
This was how it
had all begu
n.
He’
d sent
The May Queen
to fetch her from
Portsmouth
after her long voyage from England
.
After two years of impassioned letters and untold miles,
s
he had
finally arrived at Foxleigh
.
The grace
ful ship was moored
in
front of the majestic
house,
the James River lapping at its
sides.
And w
aiting on the
dock, his
hand outstretched, was Cole...
tall, striking, magnificent,
just as she remembered him
.
He’d been hunting, as usua
l, and wore the scarlet coat,
white
breeches
, and black hunting boots
that fitted
him with such elegance.
His head was bare
and
glorious
chestnut hair
wreathed his noble face
.
Was there ever such a man?