Somewhere My Love (21 page)

“Thank y
ou, but I’m otherwise engaged.
Overseeing Foxleigh is twenty-four-seven.”

“Really?
Or does overseeing
knockout Brits require your f
ull attention?”

Looking
down his nose at
Nelle
, he
made
damn well certain she
noted his sharp response
.
“Miss Morro
w has only been here
for
three days.
”

“Works fast,”
Nelle
remarked in low pitched venom. 

Will
forced himself to swallow slowly before answ
ering.
“She’s not that sort
of girl
.”

Julia must be deflecting similar queries from Mrs. Patterson judging by her ges
tures and cornered expression.
He ought to resc
ue her and signaled her genteel
attacker.
“Mrs. Patterson, tell us about your trip to London.”

She beamed at him.
“Now
,
Will, call me Loraine.”

He gritted his teeth.
“Loraine,
please
enliven us with your wit.
You have such a way of telling stories.”

Her husband guffawed.
“Like the time she got
stuck in the tower of London.
The guards wouldn’t let her go until they
’d
searched her bag.
I told her not to
finger the jewels.”

“Douglas
, that joke is
st
ale,” his grandmother scolded.
“We all know
Loraine backed into a tight corner
and her posterior simply wouldn’t allow her to turn.”

Julia did the unthinkable and actually giggled.

Mrs. Patterson paled.
“Not in front of company, Nora.”

Was any subject safe?
Will doubted it and plowed into the
savory food heaping his plate.
At least
he could eat and he was starving
. “Delicious.
My compliments to the chef,” he said to the obliging attendant between mouthfuls.

Nelle
nibbled a piece of muffin smeared with the inn’s famous marmalade while he devoured his and tried to ignore her eyes boring into him. 

“What have you been doing to work up such an appetite,” she asked with more than a hint of indelicacy.

H
e nearly choked on his coffee. “Honest labor.
Restoration doesn’t complete itself.”

“No.
S
uppose not.
Is that really all yo
u’ve been up to?”

What a nervy female.
He didn’t owe her any accountab
ility.
“Stop by sometime and see for yourself.”

His first mistake.

“I’d love a private tour.
If you’re not otherwise involved,” she said, raising her voice for appreciative ears.

His grandmother pounced
on the opening
.
“William would be delighted,
Nelle
.
We want you to begin thinking
of Foxleigh as your home
in the not too distant future.
Don’t we, sir?”

Will sat with a forkful of French toast half way
to his lips too stunned to
answer
.
His second mistake.

W
hite and shaking,
Julia stumbled up murmuring
somethin
g about “the ladies.”  Firing
him a look of tea
rful reproach, she
rushed from
the room.

“Whatever was tha
t about?” his grandmother
demanded.

Nelle
smiled
smugly.
“I wonder.”

Will
had
n
ever
come so close to stabbing a woman
and
laid
his fork
down
before
Nelle
found it
stuck
in her throat. “Please excuse me.
I must go check on my guest.”

“Peculiar
girl.” Grandmother Nora remarked
.
“
Certainly has the dramatic flair for an actress,” she added, with a hint of approval. “Still, d
o
n’t let h
er keep you too long, William.
You and
Nelle
haven’t had much of a chat yet
.”

“And I’m so looking forward to it,”
Nelle
purred.

Will had no
intention of returning
.
“I regret my hasty de
parture, but Julia and I must
get back
to the house soon anyway.
I have
a date with my
special
friend.”

Nelle
didn’t appear fooled but Mrs. Patterson’s penciled brows shot up.  “Who?”

“Oh, you wouldn’t know him.”

****

Julia’s chest was
excruciatingly
tight with the barely contained flood of
tears straining at her throat.
How could Will just sit there and let his grandmother practically ann
ounce this absurd engagement? 
He’d never be happy with
Nelle
––
or anyone else
for that matter
except Juli
a.
Why didn’t he have the sense to see it and the guts to act? 

Cole would have
, she told hers
elf as she fled down the hall.
Cole had
proudly introduced Julia Maury to his
mother
, but then, that Julia had been a
high born lady
.
Not a commoner
like this present day
Julia
.
She
should have
come back as royalty, if she’
d truly
come back at all. 

Oh
––
s
he really must be
losing her mind.
She’
d wind up in some
mental ward
weaving baskets.

She r
ushed into the crowded parlor.
“Excuse me
,
” she blurted over and over
, bumping
into guests and furniture
. 

It crossed her distraught mind that she didn’t ha
ve a clue where she was going.
Will had
the keys to the reconditioned
red sports car
he’d brought her in.
And she
couldn’t just drive away in it
without him anyway.

“Miss Morrow?” 

The hostess who’d initially greeted them f
lagged Julia down.
Heavily made-up eyes explored
her in confusion
, as if any female
fortunate enough to be accompanied by Will
iam
Wentworth
couldn’t possibly be exiting without him.

“What’s the matter
, honey
?”
she asked.

A tide
of
emotion m
ade coherent speech difficult.
“I can’
t abide marmalade,” Julia blurted
, and bolted
from the room
with multiple pairs of eyes staring after her.

“You don’t have to eat it!” the hostess called.

Julia waved
in
acknowledgement of the woman’s
attemp
t at conciliation and rushed out
onto the porch.
Ag
ain, heads turned
and she met with arched glances
.
What wouldn’t sh
e give for a moment’s privacy?
None was at hand and she hurried down the brick steps, losing one pu
mp like Cinderella.
She left the shoe
where it lay and fled into the yard, pursued by
an elderly
gentleman in a white suit and
Panama hat bent on returning it
. 

She stopped on the manicured lawn, sides heav
ing, and accepted his offering.
“Thank you,
”
she sniffed.

He studied her sympathetically th
rough lined eyes.
“You’d best p
ut it on
, my dear
.
The pavement’s hot.”

She
thrust her foot into the shoe.

He smiled faintly.
“Shall I tell Prince Charming you passed this way?”

“Julia! Over here!
Julia!”

At the summons, s
he
pivoted
toward the street.
Stopped along one sidewalk, motor still throttling, was Lyle McChesney on his black Harley. 

“That’s no coach,” the older man muttered.  “And he’s no prince.”

“No.
But he’s transport.
” 

“Better than a pumpkin
, I suppose,” the gentleman conceded
.

She walked uncertainly toward the six foot three p
lus Aussie dressed in leathers.
Lyle was pure brawn and all nerve to be here now. 

He removed his black helmet, leaving rumpled reddish hair
pulled back in a
ponytail
.
His tanned face split in a grin as sh
e stepped through the gate.
“I th
ought you
might be game to make a
getaway
about
now.”

“How did you guess?”
She paused on the walk beneath a shady elm, the boxwood
hedge
at her back. 

Lyle fixed her with an appreciative blue gaze.  “Jon Hensley knows a thing or two and
he
doesn’t mind sharing.”

“He shouldn’t.”

“No worries.
You want a lift?”

“I sure would
––
” 

She
gulped as Will
seized her arm.

“You’re
no
t going anywhere with him,” he
growled f
rom behind her. 
“What in hell are you doing here McChesney?”

Lyle eyed
him with a distinct chill in his frosty
gaze
.
“Just out for a ride.  T
hought
I
’d see if this young lady needs
rescuing.
Appears she does.”

He
waved Lyle aside with the demeanor of a man who’d far rathe
r drive his fist into his jaw. “I’m here now.
I’ll see to her.”

“Fine muddle you’ve made of it
so far
, Wentworth
.
Why not give the Aussie a turn?”

“I’m gonna give you a great deal more than that if you don’t leave
––
”

“William!
A word with you!”

He g
roaned under his breath.
“Good Lord.”

Julia looked from the potential combatants to Nora
Wentworth
bearing
down the b
rick path, cane in hand, tapping it assertively as she walked.
She’d left her mink behi
nd and wore a blue silk dress.
Loraine Patterson puffed
at her ar
m
supposedly assisting the older woman, but it wasn’t exac
tly clear who was aiding whom.
Both bejeweled ladies
glittered
in the sun. 

Mr.
Patterson hurri
ed behind them, mopping his shiny
face with a ha
ndkerchief and sucking in air.
God only knew where
Nelle
was.
Probably sipping
her
coffee and smiling
at all
the mayhem
she’d caused
like a cat lapping spilt cream
.

Even Lyle seemed taken aback
by the formidable procession.
“You’re in for it now, mate
,” he grunted
.