Hours had passed since Julian had cleaned up, had breakfast, and gone for a ride. He had needed some time to think things through before signing away the woman he loved. It all seemed much clearer to him as he entered the study, but he stopped.
“Just where have you been?!” Juliette suddenly rounded on him, coming toward him with a furious look in her eyes. “I have been looking high and low for both you and Lily for hours!” Her face was flushing with anger.
Looking over her shoulder, Julian noticed Arabella and Benedict with equally worried faces, but it was Juliette who continued to scold him as she hurried past and closed the door. “I cannot believe that you have not found her yet! I am assuming that you were out looking for her, were you not?” She turned back to him with a stern glare and placed her hands on her hips.
Julian felt another ache in his chest as she looked at his sister. “Juliette, there is something that you must know…” He began but lost his nerve. How could he possibly tell her that Lily had run away with the man whom she truly loved?
“No, there is something that you must know,” Juliette said sternly and gestured for him to take a seat behind his desk.
Benedict and Arabella exchanged worried glances but said nothing at all as Julian took his seat, weary from the ride and everything that had happened.
Juliette barely waited for him to be seated before blurting it all out. “You have been such a fool, Julian, and I know I should not say such things, but it is true. This entire matter with Lily, Miss Everet, and even Mr. King is all a big lie!”
“Mr. King?” Julian asked with a frown. Through all of the confusion that had happened, he had forgotten to ask what the man’s name had been.
“Yes, Oliver King! The man whom Miss Everet said Lily is in love with, but it is not true, you see. She is in love with you. I heard everything that was said between Lily and Miss Everet last night when I went to powder my nose. None of it is true!” She paused for a moment to consider. “Well, Lily did want to tell you about Mr. King from what I could gather, but the rest of it is not true!” She stopped breathlessly.
Sitting up straighter in his chair, Julian gestured for her to take a seat as well. “Start at the beginning of the conversation and tell me everything that you heard,” he said sternly.
Taking a deep breath, Juliette composed herself before telling Julian everything he had heard. She started with Eleanor’s confession of contacting Mr. King and ended with the threats of ruining them all if Lily did not sign the papers and leave withOliver. “I wanted to tell you last night, Julian, but you were not in your chambers, and this house is so big,” she said tearfully and shook her head.
Coming to his feet, Julian walked around the desk and knelt in front of his sister, taking her hands in his. “This is not your fault, Juliette. You have done well in telling me what you heard. Are you certain that Miss Everet confessed to orchestrating this entire scheme?”
Juliette nodded and blinked back her tears. “Yes, she wanted to get revenge on Lily for taking you away from her. She even said that she did not care if you never chose her as long as Lily was out of the picture.”
Anger began to build in his chest as Julian let go of her hands and came to his feet. “Will you go and fetch Miss Everet?” he said coolly, attempting to keep his temper in check.
If everything that his sister had said was true, it meant that Lily had been coerced to leave, and the documents were not legally binding even if they were real, which he strongly doubted that they were.
Juliette nodded before coming to her feet beside him and regaining the fire in her eyes. “I will bring her straight here.” She hurried away, closing the study door behind her.
Julian turned to Arabella and Benedict, who still had not said a word. “Did the two of you know anything about this?”
They both shook their heads, but it was Arabella who stepped forward with a tearful look in her eyes.
“I think she wanted to tell me last night at the ball, but I was so caught up in the proposal that I hardly gave her a chance to speak. But I know Lily, Julian, and she was not happy after seeing Mr. King. She looked as if she had been on the verge of tears. I foolishly thought that they were tears of happiness, but I can see now that she had been in distress.”
“She had not wanted to see him.” Julian thought out loud.
Arabella shook her head. “No, she never wanted to see him ever again. She told me as much when she first started receiving his letters threatening her. If you read those letters, you will understand that none of this has come from Lily.”
Julian had begun to feel a little dizzy by the time the study door opened again. He turned on his heel at once and addressed Eleanor directly. “Is any of this true? I am going to give you one chance to redeem yourself and speak the truth. After that, I shall never speak to you again.” His anger began to flare as she glared at her.
“Julian… I never…” She began to stutter, but her words were cut short by Juliette, who suddenly appeared with a maid in tow.
“Julian, you must come at once! My maid has just informed me that Lily’s chambers have been cleaned and her clothes are gone, along with some of her jewelry and other belongings.” Juliette’s eyes were wild with fear.
Glaring at Eleanor, Julian stepped past her and headed in the direction of the door as he spoke to her in passing, “I do not have time for more lies. I will deal with you later.”
Whipping around, Eleanor raised her voice. “Where are you going?”
Stopping with his back turned to the rest of the room, Julian spoke coolly in a determined voice. “To London to find my wife.”’
Chapter 29
The wheels of the carriage rattled into London as Lily looked out at the rainy street. It had just begun to drizzle when she had left the country, and the earth was not being blanketed in a fine sheet of dampness.
Images of the night in the mill flooded her memory.