Free The Redemption of Julian Price by Victoria Vane

he was honest with her. She’d told herself it was disappointment that he’d followed in Winston’s footsteps, but that wasn’t the entire truth. Deep in her heart, she was jealous that another woman had laid claim to his affections. She knew he cared for her, but sisterly devotion wasn’t enough.
    Her dreams that night were once more filled with Julian, but this time he wasn’t stealing a kiss from her at the fair or galloping hell for leather over the dales. Instead, he was lying alone on a battlefield covered in blood. She awoke with a gasp. Was it merely a dream or an ominous premonition? Had he survived six years only to die a mercenary’s death in Portugal?
    The thought sent a sharp, stabbing pain deep into her left breast. Although they’d parted in anger, she couldn’t let him go without trying to help him. All the money in the kingdom meant nothing compared to the prospect of losing Julian. Whatever it took, she had to convince him to stay.

CHAPTER FIVE
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    J ULIAN ARRIVED AT WINSTON’S TOWN HOUSE in St. James, disheveled and disconsolate following a particularly unpleasant meeting with his solicitor that had followed on the heels of an equally distasteful meeting with his banker. There was no hope. Everything he owned was about to go up on the auction block. He was prepared to down himself in a bottle until his valet, Gibbs, met him at the door with a censorious look.
    “There is a young woman come to call on you, sir. I told her you were not at home, but she was most insistent.”
    “A young woman?” Muriel? “Did she give her name, Gibbs?”
    “She did not. But she arrived in a rather large bright yellow conveyance.”
    “Yellow?” Who did he know with a yellow carriage? Not Muriel, unless she’d found another protector—one with particularly garish taste. No one else sprang to mind. “Where is she, Gibbs?”
    “She waits in your study, sir,” he replied with a sniff of disapproval.
    “Very well. I shall attend her there.” Pausing at the mirror, Julian raked his fingers through his overlong hair and attempted to straighten his cravat. Both efforts were in vain. His visitor would have to accept him as he presented. Still wondering who it could be, he strode across the marble tiles and flung open the door to his study.
    The figure in pale blue muslin jumped to her feet. “Julian! You startled me.”
    “Henrietta?” he gaped. “What the devil are you doing here? Your arrival has wreaked total havoc with Gibbs’ sensibilities. Don’t you know that it’s unseemly for a female to call alone upon a bachelor?”
    “I’m so sorry. I tried to be discreet.”
    “Discreet?” Julian shook his head with a laugh. “Did you truly presume to go unnoticed in a bright yellow carriage?”
    Henrietta colored. “My aunt would not let me go out in a private hack.”
    “She knows you came here?”
    She bit her lip. “Not precisely. She thinks I went shopping. Millie came with me, but I asked her to wait in the carriage. I needed to see you privately.”
    “I’m not in a proper frame of mind for entertaining, Henrietta, especially someone who should not be here in the first place.”
    “But it’s most urgent that I speak to you,” she continued, ignoring his reprimand, “before it’s too late.”
    “Too late for what?” Julian strode to the bottle of port sitting on the side table.
    “Too late to make a difference.”
    “I still don’t know what the deuce you’re talking about.” He poured a glass of port and raised it to his lips.
    Henrietta arched a brow. “Aren’t you going to offer me any?”
    He frowned. “I wasn’t aware that you imbibed strong spirits. I’d be happy to ring Gibbs for some tea.”
    “No, thank you,” she replied with a moue as he downed his drink. “I also came to apologize.”
    “Apologize? For what?” he asked.
    “For prying into your personal affairs. You were right that your mistress is no concern of mine.”
    Julian scowled.