The American Bride - By Karla Darcy Page 0,29
from under her headdress and ran down her neck. Her dress was spotted where she had splashed water when she washed her face. In her frustration, Cara bid Julian a barely civil good morning.
"And Richard. What brings you over here? Not planning to ride to the hounds, I presume." Julian chuckled at his own humor.
The boy's face whitened and he clenched his fists at his side. Without speaking he turned and left them, walking as steadily as his tear-filled eyes would permit.
"You, sir, are an insensitive boor," Cara hissed, then as Richard disappeared from sight, she rounded on the thunderstruck Wilton and he met the full blast of her anger. "How could you have said that? You are the most arrogant, callous and cruel man it has ever been my displeasure to meet." With that Cara stormed off in the direction of the Hall.
Julian stood rooted to the dust of the stableyard. No man alive had ever had the temerity to speak to him in that tone of voice, let alone an outrageous little drab of a girl whom he could crush with one hand. His scar-split eyebrow stood out against the whiteness of his face and he plunged after Cara. As she reached the edge of the path his hand snaked out, grasping her arm and whirling her around to face him.
"You are hurting my arm, sir."
"May I remind you, Miss Farraday, that you are a governess here only with my blessing." Julian's voice was sharp-edged steel which went totally unheeded by the angry girl.
"I don't care if you do dismiss me," Cara spat out, jerking her arm out of his grip. "I'll have my say first."
The ferocity of Cara's verbal attack dumbfounded Julian. He towered over the tiny girl who glared up at him, hands on her hips and bosom rising and falling in her agitation. The color was high on her cheeks and her breathing came in gasps as if she had been running. In her defense of Richard she was oblivious to her own danger. Irrelevantly Julian noticed that Cara's anger gave her skin an almost opalescent sheen.
"How dare you criticize me. When I arrived here Belin was dressed and groomed worse than a beggar in the streets of London. And Richard was sullen and hurting because he believes that you hate him. A fine guardian you are, your Lordship," She made of his title a scathing indictment. "Well, you may be the lord of this hall or King of England for all I care but in my mind you are nothing but a bully." Cara's blue-green eyes filled with unwanted tears as she glared belligerently up at Julian. Her chin quivered with emotion but she flung her head back. "And I don't care if you do dismiss me. I shan't take a word back." Then before the stunned Julian could utter a word Cara flung herself down the path to the Hall.
The veins in his temples stood out in angry relief as he glared after the girl. He smacked his riding crop into the palm of his hand relishing the biting sting. He wished the girl were still within reach of his hands. How dare she speak to me so? he raged. He'd show her just what power he possessed in his own household. He clenched his jaws seeing again Cara's blue-green eyes blazing in contempt and her full lips set in a sneer.
"By God, I'll see her thrown out bag and baggage before this day is out," he growled.
Julian stormed back to the Hall, barging past the servants who scuttled out of the path of the angry man. He tore off his riding clothes and flung himself into the bath that his valet Craten had prepared for him. Despite the early hour he bellowed for a brandy and sat in the water sipping the heady spirits.
He should have known that no good would come of his marriage to an unknown American. And now look at the fix his, as yet unseen, wife and the interfering Duchess had gotten him into. They had foisted off on him an irresponsible, impertinent nobody who had the overpowering audacity to reproach him while she ate the very food he provided. He had been in his dotage when he permitted that miniature viper to set foot in his household. He dashed off the remainder of the brandy and thrust the snifter at Craten who hovered beside the tub.
A bully! Julian swore as he took an irreverent swallow of the