Sommersgate House (Ghosts and Reincarnation #2)(52)
Author: Kristen Ashley

What he did believe was that Julia thought that she had truly seen a ghost last night. As hilariously adorable as she was in her fright (and she was, indeed, adorable), it was clear she believed thoroughly in the myth that shrouded Sommersgate. To Douglas’s way of thinking, this was only to his fortune. He was pleased she saw The Mistress last night and hoped the ghost would return and drive her, again, straight into his arms.

He just hoped the next time she ran into him, they were closer to his bed.

The breakfast manfully consumed with still enough left over for another group of their size to eat until they were satiated, everyone filed away from the table. Sam and Charlie headed to the kitchen and Oliver and Douglas were off to the stables when Douglas saw Carter.

Monique was drifting toward the morning room and Julia was seeing to the children when Douglas called out to the man.

“The shrubbery around Miss Fair…” he stopped himself and thought of how the staff addressed her less formally, “Miss Julia’s windows needs cutting back. Please see to it.”

Carter simply nodded but Douglas caught the look of disdain on Monique’s face and the look of pleasure on Julia’s.

Everyone but the women spent the day pleasantly occupied however they saw fit. After breakfast, the children followed Oliver and Douglas to the stables, they all saddled horses and took a morning ride, Ruby seated in front of Douglas, Willie and Lizzie on their own mounts.

When they returned, the children came and went from the kitchen. Charlie and Sam would emerge for a rest but Julia was firmly entrenched in her cooking and Douglas didn’t see her the entire day.

At three, Veronika moved through the house timidly to tell people that supper would be served in forty-five minutes. At the allotted time, Douglas and Oliver met Charlotte at the bottom of the stairwell. Charlotte had changed from casual clothes into a fetching black dress.

“Did it really take you three and Veronika and Mrs. K to make Thanksgiving dinner?” Oliver asked his wife after he’d kissed her cheek.

“No, but we didn’t make a Thanksgiving dinner, we made two Thanksgiving dinners,” Charlotte answered.

“For God’s sake, why?” Oliver breathed, likely still recovering from the breakfast orgy.

“Julia made one for the staff. While we sit down to eat the one Mrs. K and Ronnie made for us, they’ll sit down and eat one Julia and the rest of us made for them. ‘No one,’” Charlotte drawled in a husky, American accent, teasingly mimicking Julia’s voice, “‘Misses out on Thanksgiving.’”

Charlotte turned her face to Douglas to see how he’d react to this news but he kept his expression bland. He knew his friends were speculating about Julia and himself but he had no idea if Charlotte would be an ally or an enemy. She knew too much of his history, especially with women, and she’d formed a close bond with Julia in a short time. He had decided to tread carefully with her.

Douglas, did, however, have a reaction. Nearly all of his friends growing up had servants and many of them had long-standing staff who had effectively become members of their family. Monique and Maxwell Ashton did not share this affectionate bent. Although Douglas himself had never known a time when Mr. and Mrs. Kilpatrick had not been in his life, he knew nothing about them and never asked, first because it wouldn’t have been allowed by his parents and then as pure habit. Yet in a matter of weeks, Julia had made deep inroads into entrenching his servants into the family unit.

No more was said as, just then, the children clamoured down the stairwell followed by Julia who was walking beside Sam, both of them laughing at something.

At the sight of her, Douglas took a swift intake of breath.

Julia was wearing a soft, cream, knit sweater dress that covered nearly every inch of flesh, from its deep, cowl-neck all the way down to her wrists with the figure-skimming skirt swinging gracefully around her ankles. It didn’t matter that it covered every bit of her. Everywhere, the material fit snugly, lovingly accentuating every lush curve. She’d fastened a gold, link belt tantalisingly low on her h*ps and had dozens of golden bangles on both her wrists. And her feet were encased in a pair of tan cowboy boots.

“You might not want to ogle my new best friend,” Charlotte hissed in a playfully irate voice and Douglas, unusually, started. He swiftly shuttered his blatant reaction, his head swung to his friend but he saw Charlie was admonishing Oliver who turned sheepish eyes to his wife.

As Julia and Sam made it to the bottom of the stairwell, the children already rushing to the dining room, Douglas moved forward, intent on one thing.

Dinner may get cold and his careful strategy might be damned but he was going to slip her somewhere so he could privately show her exactly how much he liked her dress. Privately and thoroughly, until she was in no doubt about his particularly strong, insistent feelings about that… fucking… dress.

Julia lifted her eyes to his and Douglas saw hers became startled as she read his unconcealed intent and, at that moment, with her green eyes on him, that dress on her, he didn’t give a good goddamn that she could read him so easily.

However, just then there was a bustle of activity down the hall and Monique came gliding out of the library.

“How delightful, my friend is just in time. Now, another Thanksgiving tradition, a family reunion.”

Douglas ignored his mother but Julia’s eyes followed Monique.

He arrived at her side and bent to whisper in her ear, “If I may have a private word before dinner?”

“What?” she asked distractedly, not looking at him, but instead she continued gazing down the hall and he saw her face pale as she breathed, “Oh.”

Douglas followed her eyes and saw what made her pale. In confusion, he stared at a tall, familiar-looking man with greying blond hair and faded blue eyes.

Then he heard Julia whisper, “My God, it’s my Dad.”

At her words, Douglas’s vision exploded in a white-hot blaze of fury.

* * * * *

Monique was escorting into the stairwell, and fawning over, Dr. Trevor Fairfax, Julia’s father.

Dear Lord in heaven, Julia thought and then she felt the room reel and she was almost certain she was going to faint even though she’d never done such a ridiculous thing in her entire life.

“I didn’t want to say anything because Dr. Fairfax didn’t know if he could make it but here he is! Isn’t this an extraordinary surprise? A family reunion!” Monique announced with malevolent delight.

The room was still spinning and in a desperate effort to steady herself, Julia focused on Douglas. Looking at him from under her lashes, she saw to her distracted surprise that he was staring at her father, not blandly, but thin-lipped, his scar frighteningly defined and a muscle worked angrily in his hard jaw.