There was definitely a game afoot and even after this discussion of their “arrangement”, she wasn’t sure of the ground rules.
“I’ll bear that in mind the next time we have a late evening conversation,” he replied, then he picked up the phone and she felt her best bet at that point was to flee the room.
Which was exactly what she did.
Chapter Seven
Douglas’s Decision
The next morning, Douglas rose early and, instead of his usual run, he went to the stables to take one of his horses out to be exercised. They were getting fat and lazy with inattention. Tamsin and Gavin used to come to Sommersgate once a week to take them out but now that they were gone, he was the only one who could do it.
He saddled his chestnut stallion and for over an hour rode him through the wood surrounding Sommersgate. When he was done, instead of leaving it to Carter, Douglas brushed the horse down himself. When he was finished, he went back to the house where he showered, dressed and picked up the phone to call Samantha.
She answered, her voice sounding as if she’d been awake for hours and in that time had arranged peace in the Middle East while baking a complicated soufflé.
He instructed her to clear his schedule as best she could so he could be at Sommersgate in the evenings and to make an appointment at his bank for himself and Julia.
“I see,” she responded meaningfully. “Does this decision have anything to do with a fab… you… las green satin dress?”
Sam had been with him for several years and had lasted longer than all of his PAs. She was able to do this because she was incredibly bright, had the energy of a litter of four week old puppies, was completely circumspect and didn’t fear him. Therefore, he often cut her a fair amount of slack which he would never do for others.
“Just do it,” he told her.
“Righty-ho, boss,” she confirmed jovially and rang off.
He headed to the dining room and could hear the children’s chatter and Julia’s husky-soft voice floating up the stairs.
Yes, in answer to Samantha’s question, it was the green dress. The green dress Julia wore on Saturday evening was superb. That green dress could even be described as sublime.
It was also the green eyes, the way they looked when Julia laughed with Charlotte or when they flashed at him last night when she was angry.
It was also something else, something surprising.
He’d been partial to acquiring empty-headed women because they were easy to acquire and just as easy to throw away.
There was something different about being with Julia.
Julia Fairfax was anything but empty-headed.
He watched as she chatted away with Charlotte and Oliver at dinner, drawing both of them out skilfully and allowing Charlotte to animate the dinner with her usual flair without competition. Then, as Charlotte introduced her around at the gallery, he noted how Julia listened intently to what people said and the judgmental faces changed as she melted their reserve with her natural charm, charm she was able to command even though she admitted to jetlag.
He found he felt what could only be pride when she returned to his side to smile up in his eyes and c**k her ear to hear some banal thing he forced himself to say simply to keep her attention.
She rarely seemed ill at ease with anyone (although often appeared that way around him). She picked up remote friendships, as she apparently had with Mrs. Kilpatrick, and acquaintances, as with Charlotte, as if thousands of miles and months had not divided them.
Last night, however, there was a different Julia. Impassioned and eloquent, he found himself admiring her not only when she calmly read from her lists, smoothly stating her case, but most especially when she lost her temper with him.
“No man has a prayer in the world with Jewel.” Douglas heard Gavin say once, loud enough so Julia could hear him. “She’s bossy, stubborn, too damn fiery and she’s got attitude. She’s more of a headache than she’s worth.”
Gavin may have said those words to tease but the look on his face said he felt they were valuable qualities.
Douglas was beginning to agree with him. He had known many women who attempted to be a challenge in order to make themselves seem more attractive, less easy, more interesting.
He had never met a woman who was an actual challenge.
Thinking of this, Douglas recalled several times in the past when Julia had caught his attention with her passionate nature and natural eloquence.
He remembered once when Julia and Gavin were having a discussion on politics which escalated into an argument. Tamsin had wisely kept neutral and Douglas had just watched as Julia’s magnificent moral fury built up in the face of Gavin’s teasing goading. Remarkably articulate, Julia finished her tirade with a crushing set down that shredded even the mellow Gavin and forced him to accede the point.