Julius's Passion (Regency Club Venus #4) - Carole Mortimer Page 0,11

resentful toward her for that?”

He shrugged. “Many would.”

James smiled. “Bethany was nine years old when I supposedly died, Julius. Nine. Despite our age difference, we were extremely close.” He shook his head. “I am grateful she has been so well taken care of in my absence.”

Julius was well aware of Bethany’s age. “Of course,” he answered noncommittally as he rose to his feet. “I believe it is time I retired for the night.”

The younger man gave him a mocking smile. “Do you require my assistance to undress, Your Lordship?”

The tension left Julius’s shoulders as he grinned. “All I require of you right now is to get your lazy arse out of my bedchamber.”

James was chuckling as he stood. “I will return bright and early in the morning with your breakfast tray, my lord.”

Julius accompanied him to the open doorway. “I hate to put a dampener on any future plans you might have, but I am sorry to say you are far too outspoken and irreverent to ever find employment as a valet.”

“Pity.” James opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. “Good night, Julius.” He smiled warmly. “I do not believe I have said it before, but I am exceedingly grateful you agreed to accompany me here.”

He reached out and gave the other man’s shoulder a quick squeeze of reassurance. “I am happy to be here.” He could perhaps have done without his physical reaction to Bethany Metford, but otherwise, he was more than willing to help James regain the life taken from him so abruptly ten years ago.

James nodded before striding purposefully down the hallway toward the servant’s staircase at the back of the house.

“My lord?”

Julius spun sharply round at the sound of Bethany’s voice. He almost swallowed his tongue when he saw she was dressed only in her nightclothes: an ankle-length white silk robe fastened over a matching nightgown. The combs had been removed from her hair, and it now cascaded in loose curls about her shoulders and almost down to her waist.

She was the most breathtakingly beautiful woman Julius had ever seen.

She was also, Julius reminded himself sternly, the most innocent woman he had ever met and should have been taught that it was not done to accost a single gentleman while dressed only in her nightclothes.

“Was that your valet who just left? I saw the two of you talking,” she added at his continued silence. “Well, I heard the two of you, rather than saw,” she corrected ruefully. “Not what you were saying,” she quickly reassured when Julius’s frown deepened. “Just the murmur of your voices.”

Thank God she hadn’t heard their full conversation!

He and James would have to be more careful in future if they meant for this charade to be believed even for the short time they intended to be here.

As it was, Julius’s immediate instinct was to gather this woman up in his arms and carry her into his bedchamber before closing and locking the door and making love to her all night long.

If this were one of the weekend parties he sometimes attended during the summer months, and a woman approached him near his bedchamber while wearing only her robe and nightgown, then Julius making love to her would have been exactly what she was inviting from him. Unfortunately, with that innocence shining out of Bethany’s eyes, Julius believed she would be shocked, rather than aroused, by his advances.

Bethany gazed up at Julius Soames from beneath her lashes, wondering if he liked and approved of her silk night attire. It was one of half a dozen different color silk robes and matching night gowns her uncle had had sent to her from London in time for Christmas.

She had actually been dressed in men’s breeches and a shirt ready to go down to the river to assist the smugglers when she heard the male voices outside in the hallway. She had quickly changed into this froth of feminine white silk before venturing outside.

Unfortunately, that short delay had resulted in her stepping out into the hallway in time to only see the back of the valet’s head before he disappeared down the servant staircase.

The same staircase Bethany would be using to make her own escape in an hour or so.

Andover bowed stiffly in front of her. “I apologize if our conversation disturbed your sleep.”

“I was reading, so not yet asleep,” she assured lightly. “Um,” she murmured when he made no reply but continued to look at her with those cool blue eyes. “My maid