Free Edith Layton by The Return of the Earl Page A

chewed, watching her carefully as he did. “Thank you,” he said, after he’d swallowed. “It is good. And the pigeon? Have you tried it yet?”
    Smiling, she nodded again.
    He took a small bite of that, too. Then he looked at the tiny peas on his plate, then at the ones on hers. “But you haven’t eaten any peas, have you?” he asked softly, his expression wistful as he stared at them. “I wish you would.”
    “You are teasing me, aren’t you?” she asked.
    He smiled, a true warm smile. “Of course. But I had to find something to talk about that wouldn’t make you turn to stone, which is what I seem to have transformed everyone else to this evening.”
    “It is difficult, isn’t it?” she said quietly. “I hope you understand that my cousins aren’t rude or cruel. But you have to admit that your sudden appearance upset their plans. What are they to say? What can they think?”
    “I know exactly what they think, and I do understand,” he said as softly. “There’s not much I can do about that. Now, tell me please, since you didn’t expect to inherit the estate or marry the heir, what has my sudden appearance meant to you, Miss Wiley?”
    Her smile froze. She wasn’t Miss Wiley, but her cousins hadn’t wanted her to mention her name yet.
    “Oh, I see,” he said gently, when she didn’t answer, his interested expression turning cool and polite. “You have an issue with me, too. Maybe,” he mused,“I shouldn’t have tasted that pigeon, after all.” This time, he didn’t seem to be joking.
    Julianne felt his withdrawal and the loss of his approval, and hated it. She struggled for something to say and, in that moment of silence, realized that their quiet banter had stopped other conversation at the table. They were the focus of everyone’s attention. Her cousins and Hammond were watching and straining to hear what they said.
    Her cheeks grew hot. Julianne suddenly decided that she could and would not play this game. She didn’t know who this man was, but she really didn’t know who her cousins were either. One thing she did know. Her cousins were trying to use her, and if this fellow was trying to do the same, there wasn’t much to choose between them. In fact, though he could be an out-and-out villain, in the few moments she’d been speaking with him she’d felt more of a connection than she had with her cousins since she’d gotten here.
    When she came right down to it, it hardly mattered to her who did inherit the title. It would suit her if justice were served, whoever was served up the estate. And if those dunderheads couldn’t think of anything to say to him, then what did they expect? she thought angrily. They’d seated her next to their quarry, after all. She’d been used as a hunting dog, and that was demeaning and unfair.
    Mostly, she realized she didn’t like deception for a very good reason. She was terrible at it, as well as roundly ashamed of herself for trying to be a sneak.
    “We weren’t ever properly introduced, were we?”she said loudly and clearly enough for everyone else to hear. “My name isn’t Wiley. I’m Sophie’s cousin on her mother’s side. Nor do I live near here, or even visit often. In fact, I only just arrived the other day, and only for a short visit. I should be going home very soon, in fact.”
    Well, there was truth! she thought, as a triumphant flush heated her face. She’d ended the game and would probably be told to pack her bags tonight.
    “And so your name is…?” he asked.
    The others in the room seemed to be holding their breath.
    “I am Julianne Lowell,” she said, holding her head high.
    “Julianne…Lowell?” he said slowly, his gaze traveling over her. His eyes slowly warmed, lit with brilliant light, and widened. “From…Little Slough?”
    She nodded, holding her breath.
    “Julie, the tag-along?” he asked, incredulous. “The little pestilence, as Jonathan used to say? Julianne, Jonathan’s little sister?”
    Now she