Page 16

"Your dress is so pretty," Penny said to Laurel as they enjoyed a stroll in the topiary gardens of Hazelden House.

"Your wedding gown was simply magnificent.

You must have the best dressmaker in all of London.

I have never seen anything as unique and it suited you perfectly.

" She looked down at her own dress. "This is certainly nice enough, but it just lacks the bit of I-don't-know-what which makes it special. "

" Je ne sais quoi ?" Laurel asked her.

"You have a French dress designer? Oh, that makes so much sense."

"No," Laurel laughed. "That is French for ‘a thing that cannot be described with words.’ Something you might not be able to describe but which you know when you see it. Or feel it."

Penny laughed too. "Yes, that is it. I am not as skilled at French as I ought to be or I would have known that."

Laurel found herself enjoying the company of her new, if temporary, sister-in-law. Despite his promise to give her a tour of the gardens, Julian had gone off to the mine immediately after tea, fobbing her off on his sister.

Though he had come to retrieve her for tea and made sure she knew her way around Hazelden, his manner toward her had cooled significantly. Her rebuff of his advances had obviously put him in a foul mood and Laurel could not help but feel bad about it.

She had enjoyed the camaraderie they had formed on their trip in the carriage, but it seemed to have vanished.

And that was her fault. She ought not to have reacted the way she had.

But, ever since Lady Katherine’s most informative chat, Laurel had felt both intrigued and terrified of physical contact with her husband.

Not that she feared him hurting her, but simply her own lack of experience. Despite Lady Katherine’s vivid descriptions and assurances, Laurel hated the idea that she would be a failure or disappoint and embarrass herself and Julian.

Yet, what might have happened if she’d responded with interest rather than nervousness?

Well, it was too late now.

After enduring the talk from Lady Katherine, Laurel had failed to heed any of her advice.

She understood the mine was important and Julian had been away for several weeks. But it was less than a day since they married, even if it was a business arrangement.

She could not help but wonder how things might have progressed if she had not put a halt to Julian's attentions to her.

Glancing up, she thought she could pick out the window from which she'd been looking when their close encounter had happened.

The telltale flutter returned to her tummy.

She could swear her skin heated where his lips had touched her shoulder.

"If your designer is not French then perhaps you would introduce me to her?

" Penny said, looking at Laurel anxiously.

"I am to make my come out next year and with only Julian and Grandfather to assist me, I am doomed.

However, now that I have a sister, and an extremely stylish one at that, I am feeling much more optimistic.

Perhaps we could make a trip to London to order some gowns.

If you do not mind me imposing upon you. We have only just met."

Laurel had definitely noticed the gown Penny wore. It was of high quality and well made, but completely unsuitable to the girl. The cut was all wrong for her and the color did nothing to set off the beauty of her complexion or her glossy brown hair.

"My designer is not French and it will not be necessary for us to travel to London. I have designed my clothing myself."

"You jest!" Penny gasped, turning to look at Laurel full on.

"No, I do not jest," Laurel said. Others had questioned her when she claimed credit for her designs and it had rankled her, but with Penny she knew it was more a matter of astonishment than disbelief.

"Would you help me with my wardrobe? Oh, I am most desperate.

As I said, Grandfather and Julian are both extremely dear to me, but they know nothing at all about fashion or anything to do with women.

I am surprised Julian managed to court you at all, frankly.

But I am ever so glad he did." Penny slipped her arm shyly into Laurel's and they continued their walk.

"I am sorry Julian ran off to the mine, that is the sort of thing I meant when I said he has no idea how to court a woman. But I am glad I had the opportunity to get to know you and show you around."

"Is your brother really as uncivilized as you think?" Laurel asked. Curiosity was getting the better of her and she could see Penny was a fountain of unrestrained information.

Penny quieted and her face took on a solemn expression.

"He did not used to be," she said. "Before the accident he was much more jolly and even charming, some might say.

" She paused and then added, "He was sweet on a girl, too, you know.

Lady Edna Horsely. But after the explosion at the mine, she left and went to London.

She said it was because of a desire to travel, but of course it was obvious she was put off by his injuries.

She married very quickly after that, to a duke, no less, without doing any of the traveling she swore was so important to her. "

"It certainly seems like adding insult to injury, in a literal sense," Laurel said, feeling indignation on behalf of her erstwhile husband, though she could not help the abundance of curiosity which coursed through her.

Though theirs was strictly a business arrangement, twinges of jealousy pricked at her and she fought back the urge to ask the chatty Penny for more information about Lady Edna Horsely.

"He was already in a dark mood due to the injury.

Who could blame him? I'm sure the pain was much greater than he let on and then to find his sweetheart could not stand the sight of him?

Well, that sent him into a deep melancholy.

But now I can see it was all for the best because you are here and I like you so much better than I ever liked her. "

Penny continued to gush over her. "You are so pretty and kind. I can tell just from the way he looks at you. He seems much happier since he returned home as a married man."

"That’s very kind of you," Laurel said.

"It is the truth!" Penny said, stopping to look at Laurel directly.

"I am quite sincere in saying Julian looked at you in a very sweet way, one I never saw him use with Lady Edna.

Between you and me, I never cared for her and though it was extremely painful and humiliating for my brother, I was glad when she broke things off with him.

She is married to the Duke of Maitland now, though I have not seen her for some time. "

Laurel was surprised how much Penny’s assurances of Julian's happiness pleased her.

But if he was so happy, why had he abandoned her already?

"Good afternoon, my lord," Grimes, the mine foreman, jumped up from behind his desk and bowed to his employer. "I was not expecting to see you today."

"Why wouldn't you expect to see me?" Julian asked, his tone gruff. "Is this mine not my responsibility?"

"Of course, my lord," Grimes said. "It is simply I had heard you brought a bride back with you from London, though perhaps it was simply malicious gossip.

" Grimes stumbled over his feet and his words and if he had not been in a general state of pique, Julian might have found it humorous.

But today it seemed everything irked him, and his hard-working mine foreman was no exception.

"It is not gossip," Julian stated. "In fact, I am married.

My bride is firmly ensconced in Hazelden House and I am here, seeing to my duties as president of the mining company.

It is not my custom to spend my days at home when there is work to be done.

Now, please fill me in on all of the happenings while I was gone.

How is progress going on the new tunnels? "

Usually being in the office at the mine had a calming effect on Julian. Work gave him focus and focus kept him from dwelling on personal issues and currently his personal issues were not going as planned.

His wife was repulsed by him.

How could he have ever thought she wouldn't be?

They had been so companionable in the carriage on the ride to Hazelden. When was the last time he had laughed and enjoyed himself? Perhaps it had been the champagne and not the company.

No, he told himself. It was Laurel. Her smile and the mischievous streak which had given her the courage to enter into this arrangement with him.

An arrangement he now questioned.

He moved to his office which was located behind Grimes' office. Grimes followed. "Here are the daily reports on production," he said, laying a ledger with neatly written columns of numbers in them. "I think you will be pleased by our progress in your absence."

Julian sank into the seat behind his desk and took a moment to gaze around his office.

Not nearly as opulent as his study at Hazelden, he still liked it better.

Here, life made sense. No interruptions from his sister or grandfather, much as he cared for each of them.

Here he could see the fruits of his efforts.

Books on mining and business principles filled shelves on the wall as well as several maps of the area including two detailed maps of the mine with colored pins showing where the crews were working at any given time.

The map also included a red X in the location where the explosion which took his eye and changed his life occurred.

The tunnel, what wasn't destroyed in the explosion, had been boarded up.

Julian wondered if he'd ever be able to look at that map with the ominous red X and not have his stomach knot up.

Not hear the thunderous blast and feel the force of the walls falling down around him and the men working there.

The shouts of fear and agony. His own moans of pain as heat and flames licked at him. The smell of searing flesh. His flesh.

He realized Grimes was talking to him and turned to give the foreman his attention, forcing back terrifying memories.

"We've had high production in sections three and four," Grimes said, pointing to figures in the ledger.

Julian opened a drawer in his desk looking for a magnifying glass he sometimes used to decipher the long lines of figures in the ledger book to cut back on the strain his right eye suffered from doing the work of two eyes.

Pulling the drawer out further, he searched the items, realizing that more than his magnifying glass was missing.

"Has someone been going through my desk?" he asked. He knew better than to suspect Grimes of such an affront. The man had been a loyal mine employee for decades. But when Grimes momentarily looked away, Julian got a bad feeling.

"My apologies, my lord," Grimes said, shifting from foot to foot.

"Your cousin, Lord Tinnitus, arrived several days ago, unannounced and demanded to see the daily and quarterly reports on the mine.

I did not feel I had the right to refuse him.

He made use of your office, though I did my best to discourage him, but he is, after all, a lord and not one who is prone to listening to reason, if I do say so myself, my lord. "

As if he were not already in a foul mood, the notion of his loathsome cousin invading his personal office at the mine was a violation of the highest order.

"He sat here?" Julian asked. "At my desk? And rifled through the drawers?"

"Yes, my lord," Grimes said, shoulders hunching. "I stayed as close to him as I could, my lord, but he told me to leave him alone and..."

"He is also a grandson of Lord Ebersole and you felt you had no other option," Julian finished for him.

"Yes," he said, hanging his head. "I am ashamed I did not stand up to him."

"I appreciate your loyalty, Grimes. But tangling with my cousin is not for the faint of heart, not that I have any doubts about your abilities to take him on, but he wields his title and power like a cudgel and would have caused untold amounts of grief.

You did the right thing, particularly when I had not given you any instructions on how to manage him.

Frankly, I did not expect him to show his face around here, even if my grandfather did, ostensibly, put him in charge.

Since I was absent he likely saw an opportunity to snoop around.

And apparently nick a few of my belongings.

I can just picture the glee on his face thinking about me returning and looking for my magnifying glass and learning that he had it. "

Julian clenched his jaw and his fingers curled into fists.

Once the mine was his totally and completely, he would make it clear to his loathsome cousin that he was not to be anywhere near the premises.

He simply needed to bide his time.