Page 51 of Discovering Her Earl

Chapter Sixteen

Things went on as normal between Julian and Elaina over the next week. Or rather better than normal, if normal had been her constant wariness of him. Now he thought them friends.

For whatever reason, his episode seemed to create a bond between them. He’d been vulnerable and she, in turn, made herself vulnerable as well. Sharing the very personal story of the night her parents had died.

And now they were joking and laughing as if they were old friends. And unlike the other times he’d thought he’d won her over, there was no regression as there had been before. Where it seemed she’d let her guard down with him only to regret it later and put the wall back up between them.

He enjoyed their banter and the way she laughed freely at all of his jokes. Or if not all his jokes, then at least his better ones.

He still wondered why she’d disliked him at first, but he was happy enough to have her as a friend that he didn’t mention it. She no longer found him unacceptable and that was all that mattered.

He was also grateful that she never once brought up his episode. Which meant he was left with no alternative but to believe that it hadn’t been as serious as he’d initially thought. Just as Ben had predicted.

“It’s almost as if seeing my weakness made me more likeable to her. But it makes no sense. She is so unlike the women I’m accustomed to. They would have been whispering behind my back to one another before I’d had the opportunity to catch my breath.”

“Of course, Miss Bantham is not like the ladies of the ton. She is lovely. Anyone can see it,” Ben said.

“Are you considering her for yourself?” Julian asked the older man who scoffed.

“Of course not. I have my hands full seeing to you. She is much too active for a man of my age.”

Julian rolled his eyes. Ben was all of fifty and in fine health. If the housekeeper’s smiles were anything to go on, Ben had his hands full with other things as well.

He might have inquired if he thought Ben would ever admit to anything.

“Besides, I was considering her for you,” Ben said as he brushed the shoulders of Julian’s dinner jacket.

“Me?” Julian chuckled. “I will say, I’ve managed to shift her hatred to something more like comradery or dare I say friendship, but to think she would consider me for more than that…” Julian thought of the tempting freckle that hovered just above the curve of her upper lip. The way it moved when she smiled. The sparkle of gold in her brown eyes that took them from warm to sizzling when she laughed. The way she filled out a pair of breeches.

Julian cleared his throat and the inappropriate thoughts away. It didn’t matter if he found the woman intriguing, or even pleased that she no longer despised him as she had initially. She wouldn’t pass his father’s strict criteria.

Julian felt the smile on his face fade away.

“It doesn’t matter who I might want, does it, Ben? My father has tied things up quite thoroughly. I must find a proper wife.”

Ben frowned and let out a sigh.

“Yes. I don’t imagine Miss Bantham is what the late earl had in mind when he thought of the next Countess of Melville.”

“Could you imagine what he would say about her? Breeches? Digging in the dirt.” Julian smiled at the thought. “I don’t know if there would be a name for the color of his face.”

The usually stoic Ben even laughed at that.

“All the things that make her unsuitable to be countess, make her more charming, do they not?”

“Indeed, they do,” Ben agreed. Julian noted the shadow of sadness on both their faces in the mirror’s reflection.

Julian felt the loss of a life he would never have with a wife of his choosing. A woman that brought him joy, not because she was the best countess, but because she was his friend and partner.

In that moment, he realized the disappointment of not being allowed something he hadn’t known he’d wanted, and the pain of wanting it deeply.

Julian had never hated his father more than he did at that moment.

*

Having chosen to forgive Julian Huntly for the actions of his past, created a new problem for Lainey. Without her constant disapproval to grasp hold of, it was much too easy to notice how beautiful he was. How funny. How intelligent, and yes… eventually she even conceded to admitting the man was charming.

Before long she found herself slipping into daydreams of what it might be like if he decided to kiss her, or even more.