The Accidental Countess by Valerie Bowman

Author:Valerie Bowman [Bowman, Valerie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781466839434
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2014-10-28T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

After breakfast, Julian made his way into the conservatory. He needed to find his hostess to tell her he was leaving. God only knew how long it would take for Penelope to arrive. He couldn’t stay here any longer after the mistake he’d nearly made with Patience last night. Patience was gorgeous, her body was perfect, her face, ethereal. The way she’d looked in that low-cut gown. Julian shuddered. When she’d asked him to walk with her in the gardens, a warning bell had tolled somewhere in the back of his mind. It wasn’t a good idea to remain close with her. Their interludes at the party had shown him that he was unnaturally attracted to her. He wanted her. Badly. But only a scoundrel would kiss one lady while he was supposed to be engaged to another. No, he would not do any such thing … until he had broken things off with Penelope. And that wasn’t likely to happen if she never arrived. He would return to London. Penelope would turn up eventually. He certainly couldn’t keep chasing her across the countryside. It had been a bad idea to come here. He knew that now.

He made his way past the rows of deep green palms and bright flowers to the center of the conservatory. One of the servants had informed him that Lady Worthing had been seen coming in here a bit earlier. Laughter reached his ears. He turned a corner around a large pear tree and came into a clearing near the iron bench. Patience was there with her watercolors set up again. Only this time she was drawing Miss Wollstonecraft and Garrett Upton. Luckily, Lady Worthing was with them.

“Be certain to paint her book,” Upton was saying to Patience.

“I’d like to put my book—” Miss Wollstonecraft began.

“Ah, ah, ah,” Upton replied. “Don’t forget our bargain.”

Miss Wollstonecraft’s eyes narrowed but she snapped her mouth shut.

Lady Worthing burst out laughing. “Now this is positively delicious.”

“What are you reading this time, Jane?” Upton asked. “How can you stand all those books that end happily?”

“The good end happily and the bad, unhappily. That is what fiction means, Upton,” she retorted.

“Mr. Upton,” he replied with a grin.

Julian watched them closely. It appeared the four of them were close friends, indeed. Miss Wollstonecraft opened her mouth to reply. Not wanting to eavesdrop on their conversation, Julian stepped into the open space and cleared his throat.

All four of them turned to face him. Patience met his gaze and quickly looked away, turning her attention back to her painting.

“Ah, Captain Swift. Good to see you. We have some wonderful news for you,” Lady Worthing called, motioning for him to come closer.

Julian made his way over to the little group. “What’s that?”

“Why, your intended will be arriving this afternoon. I received a letter from Penelope this morning saying as much,” Lady Worthing replied.

Julian closed his eyes, relief flooding him. Lady Worthing was correct. He couldn’t have asked for better news. “I am glad to hear it,” he replied.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.