Page 19 of An Earl’s Christmas Temptation

“It is likely all poppycock and lies come up with by the father after his daughter was passed over for a common Italian woman,” Chelsea insisted, and Julia nodded. Though it did not happen often, it was definitely not unheard of and rumours had certainly been started for less.

“They say that they are rakes,” Julia pointed out, and the look on her friend’s face made her struggle to gulp past the lump in her throat.

“And here was me believing that you did not listen to gossip,” Chelsea exclaimed, crossing her arms over her chest and looking utterly disgusted. Julia felt the same way about herself. She had always prided herself on not taking everything people said seriously.

“And here was me thinking that you did,” she countered, feeling more than a little self-conscious. Chelsea rolled her eyes and shrugged. The both of them glanced quickly over their shoulder at the rest of the room, clearly feeling the urgency of their need not to be caught talking in a way that was not entirely against the Earl of Sutther’s and his brother.

“Does it truly matter that they have a history of rakishness? Does not every nobleman have such a privilege before they are married?” Chelsea pointed out, and Julia had to admit that her friend had a point.

A history of love for women did not entirely discredit a man so long as he had everything else in place. So long as he was wealthy, upstanding, and at least attempted to be discreet, the majority of noblemen were able to overcome such obstacles.

“That is not the only scandal attached to their name,” Julia reminded her. Her skin crawled to even say the words, but she had to be certain that both she and her closest friend were on the very same page.

“Scandals come and go,” Chelsea reminded her. “Just last week they were gossiping about some old earl marrying his mistress after his wife died in childbirth. This week, it’s the Tatfords, and next it will be someone new entirely.”

Those words at least helped to ease Julia’s discomfort on the matter. She nodded her agreement and sucked in a deep breath, thinking carefully before she asked her friend, “Then we are both decided?”

Chelsea cocked her eyebrow for a moment, looking unsure what Julia meant. Then she responded, “You mean we are agreed not to listen to idle gossip and decide for ourselves what these brothers are truly like?” Even as she spoke, an overly excited smile spread across her face, and the air around her practically started to sizzle with delight. “I would so greatly like to see Jonathan again.”

Though Julia’s heart raced at the thought of seeing the elder Tatford again, she couldn’t help but feel a little alarm about her friend’s willingness to already caller the younger by his first name.We are best friends;she reminded herself.She need not fall over titles and such with me.

Yet remembering what her friend and the man had been like with each other in the gallery earlier that night, she could not help but wonder just how close the two of them had already become.

What was worse was the fact she actually felt a hint of jealousy. It had nothing to do with Jonathan Tatford himself, but more to do with his brother and the concern that maybe their connection might be nowhere near as strong as that her friend now shared.

For several days, the two girls attempted to make discreet inquiries about the two young noblemen, and yet every attempt was thwarted by their risk of attaching themselves publicly to two men whose names had been dragged through the mud. Hearing several warnings about letting sleeping dogs lie, Julia and Chelsea were forced to take a step back and regroup in Julia’s bedroom to come up with a better plan.

“How are we ever supposed to see them again if we cannot even find a way of bumping into them?” Chelsea hissed, her voice so shrill that it almost hurt Julia’s ears. It was all too clear to see the frustration in her friend in the form of stiffness. It was throughout her entire body, and a dark look on her face suggested she was growing to the end of her tether.

“For days now, we have been trying to glean a little information on where they might attend next and yet we have learned nothing!”

With a large huff and a grunt, Chelsea threw herself down onto the end of Julia’s bed and grabbed the nearest pillow. Julia had to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing a little when her friend placed the pillow over her face and screamed into it.

Finally, Julia spoke aloud the words she had been telling herself over and over to ease her disappointment at the entire situation. "Perhaps it was simply not meant to be."

With a huff, she kicked off her shoes and threw herself down onto the bed beside her best friend who was really more of a sister to her by now. Chelsea dropped the pillow she had been screaming into and turned onto her side, leaning down on her elbow so that she could look Julia directly in the eye.

"You don't truly believe that, and for once, neither can I," Chelsea exclaimed, her eyes widening with shock. "You of all people have always believed in true love and everything happening for a reason, so would could the reasoning be behind our running into them during the accident and for their offering us a way home?"

"Perhaps those two things were merely the cause and consequence?" Julia suggested, struggling not to cringe at her own sense of seriousness. She knew her friend was right. She had always been the love-lorn and hopeful one.

"We both know that cannot be true!" Chelsea insisted. Shaking her head awkwardly in her hand, she said, "How can that possibly be when we both have… feelings towards the both of them?"

Maybe we are merely fooling ourselves,Julia thought, but she could not bring herself to say the answer out loud for fear she might truly believe it. "Perhaps the time is not yet right for us to meet again," she said aloud, laying her silk-covered arm over her eyes so that she could no longer see her best friend's concerned face.

"Poppycock!" Chelsea exclaimed once more and when she shifted on the bed beside her, Julia sensed she already knew what was coming. With her free hand, Chelsea gripped hold of Julia's wrist and yanked her arm back from her eyes, forcing her to look at her once more. "I cannot help but feel we would have seen more of the both of them if only you had been more forthcoming."

"Me?" Julia gasped, feigning offence, though deep down she already knew exactly what Chelsea was talking about. Her stomach clenched with the knowledge.

"Yes, you. If you had given them your full name and maybe even told them your father’s, we might have seen them again already," Chelsea explained, looking even more upset than she had before.

"I will not use my aristocracy to entice people to spend time in my company," Julia snapped, pushing herself into a sitting position on the bed and crossing both her arms and legs, careful not to flash all of her undergarments as she did so. "Besides, you did not mention to them you are the daughter of an extremely wealthy businessman."

"A wealthy businessman and the daughter of a viscount are entirely worlds apart on the marriage mart, Julia, and we both know it," Chelsea stated. She sat up and looked Julia in the eye only a moment before dropping her gaze to her hands, where she had found a loose thread on her gown.

"That is not entirely true," Julia protested. She hated the thought that her best friend would be any less sought after merely because of who their fathers were. Knowing her like she did, she knew her friend would make anyone an astonishingly beautiful and intelligent wife, no matter her status. In her eyes, her best friend was worthy of a duchy. "Besides," Julia added and this time it was her turn to avert her gaze, "we both know what might happen if I even bother to mention my father's name."

The deep sigh that erupted from Chelsea's throat suggested she knew exactly what she was referring to.

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