The American Earl (21 page)

He grinned at me.  He had a lovely smile.  He picked up my hand and kissed it.  I really liked him very much. 

The balcony door opened and Evan came out.  Tom dropped my hand and the two of us looked at him like a
guilty thing surprised,
as Hamlet would put it.

Evan looked grim. “I think you should come back into the ballroom, Julia. The Marquis was looking for you.”

Tom said hastily, “We just came out for a breath of air, my lord. We’re going in right now.”

He took my arm and steered me toward the door.  I had to pass Evan on the narrow balcony and, as I went by him, I stepped on his toe.  Hard. 

He swore.

I smiled up at him. “I’m so sorry, my lord. There’ just not room out here for so many people.”

I went back inside and had my dance with the Marquis.

Chapter Twenty-seven

The morning after the ball, when a sleep-deprived Evan came downstairs, a footman told him that Sir Gordon and Lady Lewis wished to see him in the library. 

“Now?” Evan asked doubtfully. He badly needed a cup of tea.

“Yes, my lord. Lady Barbara has a tea tray in the library.”

Evan made his way down the passage, a slight frown between his thick, blond brows. What could be on Aunt Barbara’s mind that she should demand to see him so early in the day? After last night’s ball he had expected her to remain in bed for most of the morning.

He opened the door and saw his aunt and uncle sitting near the fireplace drinking tea. A small rosewood table had been drawn up in front of Lady Barbara with a teapot and a tray of toast and muffins resting on its polished surface.

“Come in, Evan,” she said. “I’m sorry to take you away from your breakfast but there is tea here if you want some.”

He sat in a chair close to them and took the cup she handed him. After he had drained the cup and felt the hot liquid wake up his brain, he said, “What is so urgent that you must see me before breakfast?”

There was a short silence while Lady Barbara looked at her husband. He sighed and put down his cup. “We may have a problem, Evan, concerning Julia.”

“Julia?” He looked from one face to the other. “I thought she was behaving extremely well.”

“Her behavior is not the issue,” Lady Barbara said.  “The problem is that she appears to have developed a partiality for Thomas Winston, and he for her. Julia cannot be allowed to marry Thomas Winston, Evan. Such a union is unthinkable.”

“Really?” Evan’s spirits rose. He knew there was something not right about the fellow. “Why?”

Silence fell as Lady Barbara looked at her husband once again. Sir Gordon spoke, “She cannot marry him because he is her half-brother.”

It was a good thing the teacup was no longer in Evan’s hand or he would have dropped it. He shook his head as if he hadn’t heard right. “I beg your pardon, sir, but how can that be?”

“It’s simple enough.” Lady Barbara took over, her voice very clipped. “Julia’s mother, Helen, was the Earl of Sheffield’s mistress for years. It is Sheffield who is Julia’s father, not Philip. As he is also Thomas Winston’s father, you can see the problem that faces us.”

Evan was too stunned to speak. His brain balked at what he had just heard. Julia was not his uncle’s daughter?

“How can you be sure who her father is?” he finally asked, his voice hoarse.

“The timing. Philip was in London and Helen was visiting an assortment of country houses during the time Julia was conceived.”

“They may have got together for a night or two,” Evan protested.

Lady Barbara shook her head. “You may have noticed that Julia doesn’t look like us. However, she looks very like the Earl of Sheffield. Those eyes.”

“Then my uncle must have known. But … he accepted Julia into the family as if she was his.”

“He had no choice.  I realize Evan that you may be naïve about such things, but in our world Helen played the game properly. She and Sheffield were discreet; they never flaunted their liaison.  And she had already provided Althorpe with two healthy sons.  She had done her duty by him and she was entitled to lead her own life.  Not even I could blame her; Philip was such a chuckle-head.”

Evan was speechless. He didn’t know what shocked him more, Julia’s mother’s unfaithfulness or his aunt’s easy acceptance of it.

“Does this sort of thing happen frequently in ‘your world,’ Aunt?”

“You are shocked. But when two people marry for property or dynastic advantage it only seems reasonable to allow them to pursue a love life somewhere else. Once an heir has been produced, of course.”

Evan looked at his uncle, who smiled wryly. “One of the reasons I am happiest in the country, my boy.” He put his hand over his wife’s. “I am in the fortunate position of having a wife who is loyal to me.”

Lady Barbara smiled at her husband, then turned back to Evan.  “So you see why we cannot allow Julia to develop a
tendre
for Thomas Winston. A marriage between them is impossible.”

Evan stared at the teapot and wished it contained brandy. “Julia knows nothing of this?”

Sir Gordon said, “Of course not.  Who would tell her such a thing?” 

Evan got up and went to the small cabinet in the corner of the library where the brandy was kept. He poured himself a liberal amount, brought it back to his chair and took a big swallow. Then he said, “What about Maria? She certainly looks like a Marshall.”

His aunt and uncle exchanged another glance. Evan finished the brandy and said, “Tell me.”

“There was an extremely handsome Russian diplomat in London for a brief assignment. Blond haired and blue-eyed. He was also a very fine musician. He played the violin.

Evan slumped forward, his face in his hands.

Sir Gordon said, “I am sorry you had to hear this, Evan. I hope this doesn’t change your sense of responsibility for your cousins. They are not responsible for their birth and they are alone in the world.”

But they’re not my cousins
,
Evan thought.  His head jerked up as another thought hit him.
Julia’s not my cousin after all!

He realized that his aunt and uncle were looking at him with apprehension and he said, “Of course I am still responsible for Julia and Maria. This information doesn’t change that.”

His aunt rewarded him with a relieved smile. “I knew we could count on you.”

Evan frowned. Why had his aunt and uncle brought him into this? Surely they could have handled the situation without his having to know - although it had turned out to be information he found surprisingly welcome.

“But what do you want
me
to do, ma’am?”

“Drive to Sheffield Court and tell the earl he must call his son home from London immediately.  Once Thomas is removed from the scene, Julia will have to find someone else.  I actually have hopes of Ormesby. He seems to like her company. Imagine if Julia, of all people, became a Marchioness!”

She would hate it, Evan thought. 

Sir Gordon said, “There is no reason for the girls to know about this.  By law they are the children of the Earl of Althorpe and nothing can take that away from them.  They are Marshalls.  Period.”

But Julia isn’t a Marshall
,
Evan thought.  What would she do if she found out the truth?  Her whole identity was based on the fact she was a Marshall.  Her pride in her family’s history, her pride in Stoverton, all of that would be taken away if she found out. A cold chill ran up and down Evan’s spine. He must do everything he could to keep this secret.

“Why do you want me to drive to Sheffield?” he asked. “Wouldn’t it be more discreet to send a letter?”

Sir Gordon said, “Letters can get misplaced; I don’t want to entrust information like this to a letter. I would go but this request should properly come from the person who is responsible for Julia. And that, my boy, is you.”

“All right,” Evan said. “I’ll go today. The sooner we are rid of Winston the better.”

“Excellent.  Sheffield Court is in Kent, not far from Stoverton.  If you want you can be back in London by evening.”

Evan stood and felt the brandy on his empty stomach shoot to his head. “I’ll breakfast first and then be on my way. What will you tell the girls when they see I’m gone?”

“We’ll tell them you went to Stoverton to get some papers for the bank loan,” Sir Gordon said.

“Very well.” Evan frowned and added thoughtfully, “I might spend a few days at Stoverton, see how the work I ordered is being carried out.”

“Just make sure you’re back by Friday,” Lady Barbara said.  “The Devereaux ball is that night and the Prince is expected to attend.”

“All right.” Evan stood and left the library on his way to the small dining room where breakfast was served. He hoped very much Julia was not there. He needed time to adjust to the thought that she wasn’t his cousin after all.

Chapter Twenty-eight

Evan managed to get away from Althorpe house before he saw Julia.  He drove the curricle with Sammy perched up behind him, and, as the day was warm and sunny and the roads were good, the trip was accomplished by early afternoon.

Driving under the blue Kent skies, Evan had gone over and over in his mind just how to broach this subject with the earl. Then he had worried the earl wouldn’t be at home. He also wondered what kind of man could father a child on another man’s wife, then leave the girl’s future to the mercy of an unknown American.

Evan wasn’t as overpowered by the neo-classical magnificence of the huge stone mansion that was Sheffield Manor as he would have been a few months ago.  He drove the curricle to the front door of the main three-story block and went up the stairs to stand between two massive columns and raise the knocker.  When the footman opened the door he introduced himself with ease and was invited into a neo-classical hall, it’s pale green color setting off a delicate plasterwork ceiling. The footman showed him into a small drawing room off the hall and told him he would see if the earl was available.

When Edward Winston, Earl of Sheffield, walked into the room ten minutes later, Evan rose from his seat on one of those small gilt chairs he so disliked. “How do you do, my lord,” he said. “I am sorry to interrupt your day, but I come on a matter of some importance. It concerns your son.”

The Earl of Sheffield was an older man than Evan had expected.  He was slender, of medium height, and his full head of hair was gray.  He carried a cane.  He approached Evan without using it and grasped his hand in a firm handshake.  Evan looked into eyes that were gray like Julia’s only darker.  Before he could stop himself, he exclaimed, “My God, you look just like her.”

The earl’s expression didn’t change. “She looks like me would be the proper way to phrase it.”

Evan took a deep breath. The sight of the earl had left no doubt he might have about Julia’s parentage.

The earl said, “Come along to the library, Althorpe. We can be private there.”

Evan followed the older man down a long corridor, past a dining room that could have seated 50 people, to a book-lined room that looked out on the back garden. 

“Sit please,” the earl said, going toward a cabinet in the corner that reminded Evan of the cabinet in Althorpe House.  “Wine or brandy?”

“Brandy, please.”

The earl brought him a glass then seated himself in a comfortable leather chair opposite Evan. “This is about Tom, you said?”

“Yes. Sir Gordon and Lady Barbara have sent me to ask you to call him home from London. Apparently he and Lady Julia like each other rather too much for my aunt and uncle’s comfort. You will, of course, understand their concern.”

The earl had taken brandy as well and he drank off half the glass. “I didn’t know Julia was in London.”

“She is having a season with my cousin, Elizabeth Lewis.”

“A season? Don’t tell me Gordon Lewis is paying for Julia to have a season?”

“He isn’t. I am. Julia needs to find a husband, but clearly your son is not an appropriate choice.”

“Damn. This is the last thing I wanted to happen.” The earl’s mouth set in a grim line. “Of course I’ll get him home. Has their being together caused much gossip?”

“I don’t know. But my aunt is concerned. Julia doesn’t like very many people, you see, and she quite clearly likes your son. They’re both mad about horses and hunting.”

“They get that from me,” the earl said. He lifted his cane and smiled ruefully. “Didn’t quite make it over a fence one day.”

Evan stared at the slender aristocrat sitting across from him and anger swelled inside his chest. “Do you know the kind of life she’s had? Do you know she and Maria were left virtually alone in that house for months on end? Do you know that Julia found her fa… my uncle’s body? He had blown his face away, by the way. A nice thing for a young girl to come across on a morning stroll through the garden!”

The earl had gone white at this last statement.  “I knew that Helen wanted her at Stoverton.  Julia looked too much like me, she said.  She also said that Julia loved being at Stoverton, that it was no hardship for the child to remain in the country.”

“It’s not the fact that she lived in the country that’s the issue.  When I arrived at Stoverton she and Maria and an elderly cousin were living in four unheated rooms - Julia had not enough money to pay for coal.  They were wearing old clothes that didn’t fit and were dependent upon the good graces of the local gentry to send them meat.”

The earl looked stricken.  “That only happened after Helen died.  When she was alive she saw to it that Julia and her sister were taken care of.  When they were left to Althorpe’s care alone, there was nothing I could do.  If I had tried to intervene, the gossip would have been brutal and Julia would never find a husband.  When Althorpe himself died I did the only thing I could, I sent Julia an allowance through her attorney and had him tell her it was coming from one of her father’s accounts.  I wanted to send a great deal more, but it would have looked suspicious to her.”