Libertine's Wife (37 page)

For all of it, he regretted he couldn’t
bring himself to give Drusilla what her father demanded of him
then. He wasn’t attracted to her enough to go to her bed and felt
shallow and mean spirited for it. Her reaction to learn the owner
of the neighboring estate was his mistress would no doubt wound
her.

Julian regretted his treatment of her
and was feeling the guilt. After years of not setting eyes on her
and having Arianne back in his life, he’d forgotten about her. His
recollections of his wife were vague.

She was very sweet and hung on his
every word, he recalled. Her eyes of unremembered color peered up
at him from behind the thickest spectacles he’d ever seen. She was
always looking at him with such sickly adoration. She blushed
unbecomingly every time he looked at her, her dreamy expressions
amusing.

He shivered to recall the red
itchy-looking spots that dotted her face and body, a skin condition
she claimed to have all her life. His mother claimed it an allergy
to the chocolate she stuffed herself with. Her portly body was the
least of it. He recalled her hair and shuddered. Red it was:
outlandish, bright, seething, curly, and wildly
unmanageable.

Julian pitied the girl from the moment
he spied her at a society function. She was hiding behind a potted
palm while he pilfered food from the buffet to take home to his
mother. She caught him stealing food and never commented on it,
asking him to promise not to give her hiding place away. He agreed
and must have charmed the girl in those few moments.

The next he knew, Silas Penworthy
approached his mother, offering to buy up their debts in exchange
for his marrying the girl. He refused until the moment Arianne
pulled the rug underneath him, refusing to marry him, and
compromised Ravensford.

Drusilla was no young girl he was to
find, but twenty-two years of age when they wed. She’d been reared
by nannies her whole life and shamelessly spoiled by her wealthy
father. The girl had an incessant whine in her voice that made the
hair on the back of his neck stick up.

To think she reached any sort of
acceptability was laughable. His curiosity to see her and gauge
that for himself was something he kept to himself. Arianne would
likely see it another way. He looked for her, a sighting to confirm
or disprove what he heard at his club. The looks of envy he
received recently began to encourage him ‘the eyesore’ was
gone.

Julian found himself going to parties
behind his mistress’s back; dropping in on soiree’s unannounced in
hopes of catching a glimpse of her. He was either too late to catch
her before she left, or she wasn’t in attendance. He felt
ridiculous for his chasing his wife around town, failing to satisfy
his desire to see her now.

His sultry mistress was now composed
from her mirth. Her hands were once again sliding over his body,
urging him to her. He sighed as all thoughts of his wife faded
under her lustful administrations.

~ ~ ~

Dru got off her horse and stared up at
the manor house her husband purchased. She dusted off her smart
navy blue riding habit. Her shoulders squared as she looked at it,
hearing about it from listening at doorways while Lady Adeline took
tea with her cronies.

Her blue green eyes filled with pain.
Her husband bought the residence for his mistress, knowing it
neighbored their own property. Tears slid down her cheeks as she
approached the house, rage glittering in her gaze.

The impossible, unrequited love she
felt for her husband the minute she set eyes upon him made her do
the unthinkable now. Her stride was determined as she walked the
horse to the rear of the house, looking around to see it was
abandoned.

Dru investigated the sheds and found a
barrel of kerosene. Her hands trembled with fury as she rolled the
barrel to the back door of the kitchens. Her lovely features filled
with misery as she thought of the last four years of her marriage.
She sought a match.

She watched the flames lick at the dry
old wood until it burst into flames. She watched it burn for a long
time, as she had for years, feeling the pain of Julian’s actions.
It reminded her of her quest to reclaim her negligent mate. He
would learn of the fire and come home, surely?

Thinking of her husband rushing to Vale
House to investigate the damage to his beloved mistress’s house
made her smile. Garret would think it brilliant, if not a trifle
insane. She smiled when she thought of her mentor and lover as she
got back on her horse.

She felt little guilt over the affair.
Garret loved his wife. She loved her husband. The mutual
gratification they both received was enough to soothe both their
wounded pride over their spouse’s behavior.

Garret would hardly condone her burning
down his wife’s childhood home in a jealous rage. She was done
waiting to arouse Julian’s curiosity to come to her. Garret
convinced her once her image was bandied about town, her husband
would come to see for himself what all the fuss was about. It
didn’t happen soon enough to suit her. The image of him with the
exquisite blonde beauty plagued her daily. She’d not wait for
scraps of her husband’s attention any longer.

She was never good at waiting for
anything she wanted. She smiled to recall her demanding her father
give her the handsome young earl when she first saw him, insisting
he was ‘the one’ and would have no other.

Her father bought her anything she
wanted then, a husband was no different. It was different, she was
to find. She overheard the argument Julian had with his mother and
learned he loved another. She felt her heart shatter to know she
didn’t stand a chance of winning him.

When he came to her bed, he was drunk.
The experience was painful and brief, but she was encouraged. When
she woke, he was gone. She learned he refused to come back, blaming
his mother for everything. After that, she refused to give up. She
allowed Lady Adeline to mold her into the perfect countess,
believing her husband would come back to her one day. That one day
soon became years.

When Lord Ravensford arrived to inform
her that Julian ran away with his wife, something snapped inside
her. She’d been patient, a lady now, by all accounts. The feeling
she’d been too complacent, too willing to wait, and might have lost
him spurred her to seek Garret out.

Dru wasn’t sorry for what she learned
from her time with Garret. What he taught her went much farther
than anything Lady Adeline could have. If not for Julian, she could
have fallen in love with Garret. She knew he felt the same. It was
time that she won her husband back by fair means or
foul.

Dru chuckled as she spurred the mount
to the rear of the property and kicked the horse to jump the
ivy-covered dividing wall between. She looked back and was pleased
to see the billowing smoke in the distance. The fire would bring
him to her, as nothing else had.

~ ~ ~

Julian arrived at Vale House and spoke
with his steward. The Dunne estate was a total loss. Black furls of
smoke still filled the sky, the smell of charred wood thick in the
air. The dowager was in her salon with his wife.

Hesitation marked his steps as he
entered; cursing silently the fact he had to come at all. All he
thought of was what he would tell Arianne upon his return to
London.

Julian saw his mother first, seated on
the plush settee. The redheaded beauty in the lime green frock
seated next to her made him gawk in shock. His first reaction was
an openmouthed double-take as he saw Drusilla for the first time in
four years. His expression was rude, comical even. His mother
cleared her throat at his obvious lapse.

Gone, were the spectacles. Gone, was
the grossly overweight shape. The face that met his was devoid of
spots, ivory and perfect. He couldn’t help but notice her amazing
eyes. Those blue-green orbs narrowed the minute he stepped into the
room. His expression was of stunned disbelief. He covered it by
looking away and encountered his mother’s mocking
expression.

“
Julian, my son, we didn’t
expect you. What a surprise?” Lady Adeline spoke with sugary
sweetness, her dark eyes brimming with amusement. “I dare hope you
intend to stay on for dinner?”

Julian forced himself to quit staring
at his wife to address his mother. “I came in response to the fire.
Mr. Noble contacted me yesterday by runner.”

“
Such a shame it was,” Lady
Adeline was saying as her son’s eyes once more fastened on his
wife, who still remained silent at her side. “Mr. Noble said it was
a total loss. Do you intend to stay, Julian?”

Julian couldn’t seem to quit staring.
He forced his attention back to his mother. “I had not thought to,
no.”

“
Surely you will stay on and
allow Drusilla to regale you with her success in London?” his
mother continued, dark eyes noting her son’s continued gaze
lingering on the silent young woman at her side.

“
I suppose I could stay on
and return to London tomorrow.”

The turquoise eyes that met his were
devoid of hostility. Julian became annoyed, wondering if Drusilla
lost her tongue these last four years. He expected her anger, at
the very least.

“
I will see Cook about the
menu. It is good to see you home, my lord,” his wife finally
demurred and rose from the settee, her tall, graceful form moving
past his to the door. He smelled a hint of roses in her wake before
she quit the room. He was altogether disturbed by his reaction to
his wife in those few moments, disgusted to feel the sudden
attraction, despite her hellish hair color that he could never
abide.

“
A ‘thank you, dear Mother’
would suffice,” Lady Adeline said dryly. “Do close your mouth,
dear. I told you I would turn Drusilla into a suitable countess,
and so I have. I’m glad you arrived to notice my efforts. You can
go ahead and say it. I’ve waited years for you to commend me. She’s
quite lovely, is she not? A veritable diamond underneath all that
rough, yes?”

Julian was stung by her chastising
tone. He knew it to be her subtle way of needling him for staying
away. His amazement over his wife’s transformation was forgotten as
he faced his mother. “I came to attend to the damage to my newest
property, madam, not applaud Lady Drusilla’s accomplishments, or
sing your praises for the miracle you have wrought with
her.”

“
A pity about your
mistress’s home.” His mother sighed at his angry look. “I thought
it a bit insensitive of you to buy it in the first place. What were
you thinking, Julian? I daresay Drusilla has no doubt heard the
gossip of your flagrant affair with Lady Ravensford by
now.”

“
What I do in my life is
none of your business, Mother.” Julian’s dark eyes clashed with
hers. “You lost the right to question anything when you lied to
Arianne years ago.”

“
She would have married Lord
Ravensford anyway, my son.” Her bejeweled hand lifted her teacup to
her lips. “How you like to blame me for all of that? I just used
what little influence I had left to persuade her to make you see
reason.”

Julian glared at her. “You mean, you
lied and manipulated her?”

“
What difference does it
make? The end would have been the same. Her fate was already set
when she went with her wastrel brother to London. If it pleases you
to lay all the blame upon me because I refused to allow my family
to be ruined, so be it.”

“
You have done a fine job of
transforming my wife into a lady, Mother,” Julian said coldly, his
eyes filled with distaste. “Let us hope you didn’t pass on any of
your finer attributes to her.”

Lady Adeline nearly choked on her tea,
setting the cup down and gasping in outrage. “I don’t see my son
for four years and I’m beset with insults? How dare you come here
and act as though I’ve ruined your life, Julian! If not for my
interference, we’d live in poverty!”

“
I loved her, Mother!”
Julian’s handsome face was filled with indignant anger. “Did you
think that would just disappear because you manipulated her to send
me away?”

“
Drusilla will make you a
fine wife if you but give her a chance, Julian,” his mother said
with sudden weariness, her dark eyes filled with sadness. “Can you
not try? Even Lady Ravensford gave her husband a chance. You’ve not
said two words to the girl in years. She is not to blame for what
happened then. If you wish to blame someone, blame me. She had
nothing to do with any of it, but has paid for all.”

“
I said I would stay for
dinner, Mother,” Julian said coolly. “It is Arianne I love. My wife
is lovely and accomplished, to be sure, but it is another who holds
my heart. I return to London and her tomorrow. I will have none of
your tricks, my lady. I agreed to dinner, nothing else.”

Drusilla listened at the doorway. A
smug smile crossed her face. She slipped away to see to her errand
in the kitchens. She hummed, her pulses dancing from the first
glimpse she’d had of her handsome husband in four years.

Just remembering the way those warm,
dark eyes felt as they slid over her in stunned disbelief made her
tremble inwardly. A definite gleam filled her gaze as she oversaw
the menu. A man’s appetite was only the first step, she knew,
recalling Garret’s assertion such dishes elicited the proper mood
enhancement. All was in preparation for the night she had
planned.