Sommersgate House (21 page)

Her step
faltered when she caught site of the unusual look on his face but
she persevered. “Well yes, I was just at the spa and –”

“I didn’t mean
the spa. I meant Julia.”

Her eyes
narrowed. “Of what, exactly, are you accusing me? Did she –?”

“Julia didn’t
say a word,” he informed her and realised it was true.

Julia had been
angry last night and said something about his mother being as warm
as Siberia but that was the extent of it. After Mrs. Kilpatrick and
Charlotte’s descriptions of his mother’s behaviour, he was a little
surprised that Julia didn’t throw that in his face, especially when
she was angry.

“
Well,”
Monique sat in a chair across from his desk, completely composed
except her eyes flashed maliciously. “She’s insufferable. I cannot
imagine what drove Tamsin to torture me in her death. It is,
frankly, too much to take to force her poor, grasping,
American
,” she
said the word with all the xenophobia she felt, “sister-in-law on
us. It is simply
too much!
”

“Unka
Douglas,” Ruby screamed from the doorway.

Douglas looked
up to see Ruby racing across the room toward him and Julia standing
in the doorway, her face pale beneath the rosy blush on her cheeks,
acquired, no doubt, from being outside. Her posture was rigid, her
eyes angry. She was wearing a pair of her faded, snug-fitting
jeans, an item in her wardrobe of which he was beginning to be
rather fond. The jeans ended in a pair of scuffed, old cowboy
boots. She had on a thermal shirt with little pink dots printed on
it, over that a Western-style denim shirt that buttoned part of the
way up with pearl snaps and a thin, pink, downy vest over it all.
Her hair was pulled back from her face in a ponytail at the crown
of her head and her gorgeous face was free of makeup.

Ruby
interrupted his perusal of Julia by jumping up, he caught her in
his arms, lifting her into his lap and she threw her own arms
around him, giving him a big, sloppy kiss on the cheek.

“Hello Ruby,”
Douglas murmured when he caught her eyes.

“We just went
to the supermarket,” Ruby yelled.

“Did you?” he
asked but his eyes moved to Julia.

Monique didn’t
bother to turn and her face remained a frozen mask.

“Yes, we’re
going to make choca-chip cookies today!” Ruby shouted.

“I’ll bet you
are,” Monique muttered scathingly and at that, Julia spoke.

“Come on Ruby,
let’s get washed up and make those cookies.” Her voice betrayed
nothing to Ruby as she extended her arm but her movements were
jerky and Douglas knew she was angry and he knew this was because
she’d heard his mother’s words.

Douglas leaned
forward, put Ruby on her feet and the little girl rushed back
toward Julia. Julia didn’t say a word to either Douglas or Monique.
She just took Ruby’s hand and walked stiffly away.

“Charming.
I’ve been gone for days and she doesn’t even say hello,” Monique
noted, her tone ugly and she ignored the fact that she not only
hadn’t greeted her grandchildren’s aunt, she also had not greeted
her grandchild, nor, Douglas realised something very telling, did
Ruby even look at her grandmother.

He sat back in
his chair, put his elbows on its arms, steepled his fingers and
rested his chin on them. Then he regarded his mother coldly and, as
usual, quickly made his decision.

“Mother, I
don’t believe we’ve had an important conversation,” he declared
with deceptive calm.

“Yes, dear?”
she asked, her eyebrows going up, her face the picture of
innocence. He reacted rather negatively to this familiar faux
expression.

“I think,” he
started, “you need to be aware of my thoughts on the matter of
Julia and the children.”

“And what are
those, darling?” She was the picture of motherly love and concern.
For years he’d ignored it but now it made bile rise up the back of
his throat.

“
Julia
is now a member of this family,
not
a member of staff,
not
a
guest, though you haven’t treated her as such. She will be afforded
all the power and protection that means.”

All
motherly love gone in a flash, her voice now had an edge when
Monique demanded, “Perhaps you should make yourself
perfectly
clear.”

“It means that
Julia’s position here, as co-guardian to Tamsin’s children, is
elevated above yours,” he retorted bluntly and heard her gasp.

“I cannot
believe you’d –” she began.

“
Believe
it,” Douglas cut her off. “If you don’t like it, you can move to
the dower house in Clevedon or I’ll find you a place in London.”
Her eyes widened in fury but unaffected, Douglas carried on. “Now,
do I make myself
perfectly
clear?”

“
I
cannot believe you’d chose that… that…
woman
over me!”

He didn’t
bother to reply.

Then her face
changed, the outrage melting to venom. “I see. I see very well. You
are, of course, welcome to her. She’ll suck you dry, as she did
with Sean, but –”

“That’ll do,”
Douglas declared with such finality her head jerked. She stared at
him a moment, her eyes working then she nodded slowly and rose from
her chair in order to leave.

She moved to
the door but stopped and paused for a parting shot. “I cannot
believe I’ve raised such a cold-hearted son who’d put his mother
out in favour of a money grubbing schemer.”

“Can’t you? As
I remember, you didn’t particularly care to raise Tamsin or me at
all. Both of us you ignored and for my part you left me in the
hands of a vicious and abusive father.”

Again she let
out an outraged gasp, this quite genuine as he’d brought up a
subject that they had never discussed.

Not ever.

“I’ll not have
you talk about your father in that way!” Monique snapped.

“Mother, in
case you hadn’t noticed, he’s been dead for years. He can’t hear
you defend him and then offer you a diamond necklace for your
efforts.”

She blew air
out of her nostrils at this effrontery and then, without a word,
whirled on her heel and left.

Douglas
stared at the door for long moments after she left. He was furious
at the conversation and cursing himself, his mother and Julia who
was inadvertently responsible after bringing up all his old demons
last night during their conversation. Demons he had methodically
locked away. Demons he did not want to,
would not
, face.

It was high
time he had the conversation he’d been meaning to have with Julia
since this morning.

With
determination, he got up and went to the kitchen to do just
that.

The
Proposal

They were
elbow deep in cookie dough, three baking sheets sitting on the vast
kitchen table half-filled with sloppy balls. Ruby was on her knees
on the bench, her fingers a mess, slipping Carter, who was sitting
across from her doing a crossword puzzle, pieces of dough (while
consuming much of it herself) nearly as fast as Julia could put
them on the sheets.

“It would be
nice, Ruby-girl, if your brother and sister had some cookies when
they got home from school,” Julia admonished but her tone was
teasing.

After she said
this, with confusion Julia noticed Carter stiffen and he glanced
swiftly down at his crossword puzzle, all the smiles and winks he’d
been passing Ruby erased from his face.

“Carter.”

Julia jumped
and turned around to see Douglas stroll arrogantly in the kitchen.
She cursed him silently, prowling around like a cat. How a big man
like him could be so damn quiet, she’d never know.

Then her mind
stilled and she stared at him in wonder. He had a face like thunder
and she’d never seen such an expression from Douglas. She was used
to either bland or indifferent, and lately, appreciative, but
thunderous was new to her and it was both frightening and
awe-inspiring.

“Sir?” Carter
asked, dropping his crossword and jumping up from the bench, again
showing an agility of a much younger man.

Douglas came
to a halt next to Julia and declared, “It has come to my attention
that I should make some explanations about your priorities.”

Julia held her
breath. She didn’t know why but there was an underlying edge of
fury in Douglas’s tone that was making her highly uncomfortable.
She did not want, nor did she want Ruby, to witness Douglas abuse
Carter in the way that Monique freely abused the staff.

However, there
was no escape.

Douglas
continued. “My mother has led you to believe that you needed her
permission in regards to Miss Fairfax using your services.”

Julia and Ruby
both looked from Douglas to Carter.

Carter just
nodded.

Julia and Ruby
looked back to Douglas.

“I apologise
for that confusion,” Douglas went on.

Again, Julia
and Ruby’s eyes slid back to Carter, whose jaw, they witnessed,
dropped as this heretofore unheard phrase came from Douglas’s lips.
They turned back to Douglas when he continued speaking.

“
Miss
Fairfax, not only when she’s doing something for or with the
children, but
at all times
,
has priority when you’re assessing your workload.
Understood?”

It was
Julia’s turn to have Carter’s gaze on her face and
her
jaw dropped.

“Furthermore,”
everyone looked back to Douglas, “she’s to have free use of the
Audi TT, the Aston Martin and the Range Rover. Make certain she has
easy access to each set of keys.”

“Yes sir,”
Carter replied brightly.

Douglas turned
his attention to Julia.

“I’d like a
word.” It was phrased as a request but certainly wasn’t one.

She felt her
stomach flip at the fury that still lay in his eyes. She didn’t
know if this stomach flip was fear or something else because in
this mood he was both enormously frightening and perversely
magnetic.

“Um… I’m
making cookies,” she ventured hesitantly.

“This won’t
take long.” He turned to leave and Julia instantly decided it best
not to fan the flames of that temper. She threw the spoon in the
bowl and wiped her hands on the apron tied around her waist then
tore at its strings to take it off.

She tossed it
on the table while indicating Ruby. “Carter, do you mind?”

“Don’t worry,
lass, I’ll watch her,” Carter assured her.

Julia smiled
at Carter and tousled Ruby’s hair before she hurried after Douglas
and saw he was headed to the study. After last night, and the time
before, she didn’t have a lot of good memories of conversations
with Douglas in the study so she called after him.

“
Could
we…?” At her voice, he halted abruptly and turned to her, raising a
haughty brow. “Not the study,” she said, her voice timid and she
cursed herself. Though, she had to admit, he
was
scaring her. What
he
had to be angry about (
she
, surely, was the one who should be angry after what she’d
heard Monique say earlier), she didn’t know but at that moment, she
didn’t want to find out.

“Fine,” he
clipped, changed his direction and walked back through the dining
room, passing her, and he turned right at the door at the end of
the room.

Toward her
rooms.

“Wait…” she
called but he kept going. She thought, hoped, that he intended to
go to the chapel instead but he turned right again, pushing open
the door to her room and she heard a frightened chirp from
Veronika.

“Leave us,” he
commanded brusquely and, as Julia turned into her own room, she saw
Veronika, her face a mask of fear, hurry out.

At witnessing
Veronika’s expression, Julia’s own fear was subsiding, giving way
to anger.

“What on
earth?” she snapped when she entered her room and closed the door
with a slam.

“It has come
to my attention that I’ll be having guests at Thanksgiving,” he
announced, looking about her room.

He picked up a
framed photo from the writing desk that showed Julia with some
friends at Margarita Mayhem Night. He gave it a hard glance and
then put it down. She watched him do this and saw his movements
were rough with rage.

“Yes,” Julia
replied, jutting up her chin and steeling herself for a forthcoming
tirade, “I’m an American and those kids are half-American and we’ll
be celebrating Thanksgiving. Don’t worry, I’ll buy and prepare the
food, and serve it, so you won’t feel a hiccup in the strict
Sommersgate regimen.”

“In future,”
he stated smoothly, “I would like for you to inform me of these
things in plenty of time for me to rearrange my schedule so that I
can be free to attend.”

Her mouth
dropped open again and then she snapped it shut.

“Of course,”
she whispered, surprised. That was the last thing she expected to
hear.

“Charlotte
informs me you have the opportunity of an unpaid consultancy,” he
went on.

She looked at
him warily. He was angry about something, what, she didn’t know.
However, all the things he said belied his apparent wrath.

“Yes,” Julia
agreed carefully, drawing out the word longer than necessary.

“Take it,” he
ordered. “Veronika can use the extra money. I’ll increase her pay
to cover any added duties.”

Julia clenched
her teeth together in an effort not to allow her jaw to go slack
again.

She watched
him as he turned, surprised he knew any personal information about
any of his staff much less an underling like Veronika. He walked
across to the mantel and picked up another photo. This was of her
and Gavin when they were children; she had her arms wrapped around
Gavin’s neck and her leg thrown over his lap. He stared at it a
moment and then set it down, his face impassive.