Page 68 of Unmasking the Earl

“No, no, no.” Julian shook his head and squeezed his eyes tight shut as if in pain. “This is all wrong. You can’t love someone else. You’re supposed to be in love with me.”

“I beg your pardon?” A frisson of shocked fear shot up Cassie’s spine. What was going on here? How could he know that?

Ned started toward Julian but Cassie put out an arm to bar his progress. He obliged, but she could tell from his stiffness he was mind-numbingly angry.

“Explain yourself, Carnforth,” Ned said icily. “Or I may decide to call you out for that insult.”

Julian straightened his shoulders and puffed out his chest in a manner most unlike him. “I have come,” he said imperiously, “to ask Miss Blythe to marry me.”

“What?” Cassie and Ned spoke in chorus as her heart squeezed in confusion.

“It’s quite simple. Cassie is to be my wife. Both our fathers wish it, and have done for some years. She is old enough now to know her own mind—”

“I beg your pardon?” she exclaimed, outrage eclipsing her shock at his unexpected words. She’d been old enough to know her own mind since coming out of leading strings. And she’d always wanted Julian. But not after—

“You mean,” Ned interrupted her fury with his own, “that you have just discovered the stocks which make up her dowry have recently shot up considerably in value.”

Cassie spun to look up at him. How did he know about her dowry? He’d delved more deeply into her business than he’d admitted. Of all the cheek!

“Not at all,” Julian answered in affront. “I am very fond of Miss Blythe, and I think we will have an extremely comfortable marriage. I happen to know she loves me, and I hold her in the highest esteem.”

Cassie’s heart shrank even more painfully. No mention of love.

If Julian didn’t love her by now, he never would. It was a dismal discovery. Ned had been right all along.

Surprisingly, the idea no longer filled her with despair. Was it relief she felt? Or total confusion because her dearest wish for the past six years had finally come true…and all she felt was indifference. How could this be happening to her?

“Julian—” she began cautiously.

“Cassie, let me deal with this,” Ned commanded, stepping past her. “Carnforth, you told me you were betrothed to Lady Lucy Dyer.”

Betrothed? Cassie felt suddenly sick. When? How long had they been engaged?

And why in heaven had Ned not told her? He knew how she felt about Julian! Or had felt…

Sweet Venus, she was so muddled she didn’t know what she felt anymore.

“I am no longer engaged to that lady,” Julian replied, reddening. “It turns out she is far too…mercurial.”

Cassie’s stomach roiled with humiliation. So, he’d only come after her because Lucy had thrown him over. And to think, a month ago she would have welcomed him with open arms.

“That is regrettable,” Ned said. “But you are too hasty, sir. Cassie is no longer interested in you.”

“Excuse me?” she demanded. “I can speak quite well for myself.” Not that he was wrong, but…

“Keep out of this, Cassie,” Ned warned her. “Carnforth and I will settle this between ourselves.”

Furious, she pushed at the unyielding muscle of Ned’s chest and stopped just short of giving him the pummeling he so deserved. “You will not! This is my life you are commandeering. I am the one who decides who I am to marry!”

He caught her by the shoulders and tried to pull her against him, saying, “Cassandra, please. Carnforth doesn’t love you. Your obsession with him is making you do foolish things—”

“Take your hands off her!” Julian roared.

Cassie spun round in alarm, just as he lunged forward. Ned stepped smartly out of the way, hauling her with him.

Julian’s momentum carried him forward, and he caught his foot on the curbstone of a tomb. He toppled over. There was a ghastly crr-ack as his head struck the edge of a neighboring grave marker. He crumpled, limp as a puppet.

Cassie flung herself to the ground and cradled his head between her hands. “Julian! Speak to me!”