Sommersgate House (52 page)

“I’ve taken
care of everything,” Mrs. K whispered, Julia started and looked to
her right at Mrs. K whose head was poking into the hall from the
doorway that led to the kitchen. “I’ll serve you but I’ll be
discreet. Roddy has taken the children to the cottage and Ronnie
has already gone home.”

Julia nodded,
a small, expectant (but slightly anxious) smile on her face.

Mrs. K winked
and disappeared.

Julia heard
footsteps down the hall, and voices.

She went still
and listened.

Voices?

A man’s and a
woman’s.

Julia walked
into the room and the voices became more distinct.

Before
they could turn the corner to the room, she knew. She knew
both
voices.

All the breath
left her body and she realised there was a good possibility she
would faint.

Then Monique
Ashton and Sean Webster turned the corner and entered the dining
room.

Archie and
Ruby’s Heartache

Tonight was
the night.

Douglas wasn’t
going to allow her to hide in her rooms like she did last night
(even at dinner, she gave the ridiculous excuse of a headache
making the children eye each other speculatively throughout the
meal).

He was going
to ask Mr. and Mrs. Kilpatrick to take the children and he was
going to find her, hunt her down if required, and make her agree to
marry him using any means necessary.

Everything was
in place; there was not a nuance he hadn’t considered. He had the
ring in his pocket and he had an enormous bouquet of two dozen
exquisite white roses in his hand.

He knew about
the roses because of Patricia.

While Julia
was hiding last night, nursing her “headache”, Douglas called her
mother. He had never told Julia he’d play fair and drastic times
called for drastic measures.

“Douglas, my
God, is it the children?” Patricia said upon hearing his voice.

“No,” Douglas
replied shortly, still not believing he was making such a call.
“It’s Julia.”

“Is she all
right?” Patricia’s voice was filled with worry.

“She’s fine,”
he assured her calmly, “although I have a problem with her.”

Silence.

Douglas did
silence very well, this time using it to stall while he
contemplated the unpleasant task ahead of him.

Eventually
Patricia was forced to ask warily, “What problem?”

Through
gritted teeth, still not believing Julia had reduced him to this,
Douglas forced out, “I seem to be unable to convince her to marry
me.”

Silence again,
this time the shock was palpable over the phone line.

Then, to his
stunned disbelief, she asked, “Even after the kitten?”

Douglas didn’t
deign to answer.

“The kitten
was a crowning achievement.” Douglas heard the amusement in his
future mother-in-law’s voice, forgot that he actually held some
regard for the woman and at that moment would cheerfully have wrung
her neck.

She continued,
oblivious. “Jewel is stubborn as an ox and she doesn’t like men all
that much, though don’t think I blame her, considering. Must admit,
though, she does hold on to things a bit.”

“A bit,”
Douglas agreed sardonically.

This caused
Patricia to roar with laughter. When she was finished, he could
practically hear her wiping her eyes.

“White roses,”
she said, apropos of nothing.

“Pardon?”

“White roses,
she loves them, her favourites. Start with that and then whisk her
off to Fiji. She’s always said she wouldn’t consider that she’d
truly lived until she went to Fiji, God only knows why but once
that girl gets something in her head, she doesn’t let it go.”
Douglas made no response, he’d lived that nightmare. “And let’s
face it,” Patricia spoke into his silence. “The girl needs a
vacation. If you go, I’ll come out and see to the children.”

It took a
moment for the realisation to dawn that Patricia was helping him
and he hadn’t had to convince her.

“I take it I
have your blessing?”

Three months
ago, Douglas wouldn’t have cared less.

Now, he
did.

“Let me tell
you something, my boy, you’ve had my blessing for fifteen years. I
saw the way you looked at her all this time, Tammy and Gav did too.
Not to mention the way she looked at you. Why do you think you’re
in this pickle? Tammy would be beside herself with sheer,
unadulterated glee. By God, you’ve taken your sweet time.”

He was trying
to cope with being called her “boy” and was definitely not willing
to think of the rest of what she said.

“You want me
to talk to her?” Patricia offered helpfully.

“No,” Douglas
responded forcefully.

She laughed
again and then, after a moment of contemplative silence, she said
softly, “She’ll make you happy.”

He felt
something reminiscent of the dazed feeling he’d had in the hall the
night before but set it aside and said, “I’ve been trying to
convince her that it will be the other way around.”

She gave an
uninterpretable “humph” then she demanded, “See that it is.”

Now he was
walking up the hallway toward the voices in the dining room.

He was looking
forward to this. He didn’t know what he was looking forward to
most, sliding his ring on her finger or taking her to bed while she
was wearing it.

He rounded the
corner and came to an abrupt halt at what he saw.

The room was
set to a romantic glow with softened lighting, a fire burning at
the grate and candles on the table. An elegant table, set for two,
ready for an intimate dinner. Julia was standing in front of the
fire looking ravishing in a stunning black dress with her hair
softly pulled up at the crown, tendrils tickling the glowing skin
of her neck where his emerald hung.

And Sean
Webster was standing opposite her staring at her with earnest
intent.

For the second
time in his life, Douglas Ashton, Baron Blackbourne, completely
lost control.

“
What
the fuck
is
going on?” he demanded, his voice rumbling with barely controlled
rage.

Julia jumped,
a reaction that took her dangerously close to the fire. She didn’t
seem to notice it, her face snapped toward him and he saw that she
was pale.

And her green
eyes, usually alight with some emotion, were completely,
frighteningly, blank.

“Douglas!”
Sean exclaimed, the other man walking toward him beaming. “Good to
see you, man.” And then he stopped and his gaze shifted to the
flowers. He looked from Douglas then turned to Julia and started to
ask, “What the –?”

“Julia?”
Douglas barked, completely ignoring Webster and she jumped again,
taking her closer to the fire, so close she could easily get
burned. “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Douglas finished tersely and he
walked forward, threw the flowers unceremoniously on the table as
he passed, grabbed her upper arm and yanked her unresisting body
away from the flames.

“Do you want
to explain this to me?” he clipped, not taking his hand from her
arm.

“I was –” she
started to speak and her voice was small in a way he’d never heard
before, in a way that, hearing it, made his heart squeeze
painfully. She looked up at him and her eyes cleared.

As she gazed
at him, he saw raw emotion take the place of the blankness that
preceded it. He’d seen that look in her eyes twice before, once
after the first time they made love and again, in the hall
Christmas night after Ruby’s outburst. Both times, seeing it, he’d
nearly come undone.

He surveyed
the room, his hand gentling on her arm.

Julia wouldn’t
invite Sean Webster to a cosy, romantic dinner in his dining
room.

Julia wouldn’t
invite Webster anywhere.

Douglas turned
to the other man. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to
talk to Julia. I heard about Gavin and –” Sean was also surveying
the room, Julia’s dress and the flowers and the cosy scene finally
dawned on him making his face get red. “What are you doing with my
wife?” he demanded hotly.

At his words,
Douglas, already furious, became incensed.

“
She’s
not
your
wife!”
Douglas exploded, “She’s going to be
my
wife!”

Webster’s eyes
rounded and then immediately narrowed. You could see the anger fill
his face the second before he masked it.

His gaze moved
to Julia and his voice turned urgent, pleading. “Jewel, baby, you
have to listen to what I was saying earlier.”

Julia
shook her arm free of Douglas’s hand and he swung back towards her,
ready to do battle for her, ready to throw Webster bodily from the
house if she wanted him to,
not
ready to let her withdraw.

Instead of
retreating into her shell, though, she grabbed Douglas’s hand and
tugged gently on it.

“This was for
you, you know,” she said, her voice, still small, was getting
stronger. “Mrs. K helped me, and Ronnie and Lizzie.”

What he
suspected was true. Julia would never strike out at him that
way.

Never.

That was when
he knew he’d won and he felt the exultation of his victory tear
through his entire system.

Unable
but also unwilling to control his reaction, Douglas pulled her hand
sharply, she fell into his body and his arms shot around her,
crushing her to him. Then his mouth came down on hers brutally,
victoriously, her head was tilted up to him, ready for it,
inviting
it and he kissed
her.

Douglas kissed
Julia with the dazed passion that surged through his body, exultant
in the triumph at her sweet capitulation. It was hot and wet and
delicious and better than he would expect it to be even with all
the kisses they’d shared before.

And Julia
kissed him back without even the briefest hesitation.

“Excuse me!
I’m still in the room!” Webster shouted but neither Douglas nor
Julia looked at him.

“Say it,”
Douglas commanded when he lifted his head.

She smiled, it
was tremulous but it was genuine and he felt his body respond to
it.

“I want to
marry you.” Her voice was back, full, low and husky and he kissed
her again. He couldn’t have stopped it if a freight train was
pulling him from the opposite direction. She wrapped her arms
around his neck, slid her fingers into his hair, pressed her soft
body into his and he groaned his satisfaction into her mouth.

When he let
her go, he kept one arm locked around her while he pulled a box out
of the breast pocket of his suit jacket.

He flipped it
open with his thumb and then ordered, “Give me your hand.”

She didn’t
hesitate but stopped idly playing with the hair at his collar and
extended the fingers of her left hand toward him. He let go of her
waist, took the ring out of the box and tossed it casually onto the
table making her emit a little giggle.

“You’re going
to ruin the table if you keep throwing things on it,” Julia
muttered.

Douglas
ignored her.

“This is
unbelievable,” Webster seethed from behind them.

They ignored
him.

Douglas slid
the diamond, a round, four-carat, perfect solitaire set simply yet
elegantly in platinum, on her finger. Then his hand closed around
hers and he brought the ring to his lips. He watched her the entire
time, heat surging through his body when he saw her lips part in
pleasure at first sight of the ring and then she bit her bottom lip
when her knuckles made contact with his mouth.

“It’s
beautiful,” she whispered.

He didn’t give
her a moment to let it soak in, keeping her fingers held firmly in
his, he turned on his heel and dragged her across the room.

“Douglas where
are we –?” she began.

“Julia you
can’t –” That was Webster who was pale-faced and tight-lipped and
staring at them both like they’d grown two heads.

Douglas walked
right by him as if he wasn’t there.

He took her to
the study, not letting her hand go. He stopped at the side of his
desk, jerked at her hand gently and when her body came close to
his, he dropped it and drew her up to his side with his arm around
her waist.

He picked up
the phone and punched in a number.

“Nick?” he
waited for a response then continued. “We have an unwanted guest.”
He looked at the door to see that Webster had trailed behind them
and was standing in the doorway of the study looking confused and
angry. At Nick’s response, Douglas finished. “Yes, he needs to be
disposed of.”

“I’m leaving,”
Webster stated but then hesitated, looking at Julia, obviously
hoping she’d stop him.

Julia was
paying no attention, she was holding her left hand with her right,
her head bent, staring down at the ring, her face awash with
feminine delight.

Douglas placed
the receiver into the cradle and immediately picked it up again,
dialling two numbers this time. He watched Webster turn and leave
without another word and Douglas completely dismissed the other man
from his mind.

When Sam
picked up the phone he said simply, “Send out the press
release.”

Julia’s head
snapped up and she stared at him as Sam whooped in his ear,
“Hurrah!”

“What press
release?” Julia asked.

“Does this
mean I might get a holiday in this decade?” Sam asked cheekily.

“What press
release?” Julia repeated.

“Possibly,”
Douglas answered Sam and then put down the phone.

“What press
release?” Julia’s lips had puckered and she was regarding him out
of the corners of her eyes.