Sommersgate House (Ghosts and Reincarnation #2)(69)
Author: Kristen Ashley

On his way back to his rooms, he found himself thinking that, even though she said his leaving would make her the “winner”, he knew by her words, her tone, the line of her body as she walked away that she was wrong, he had won.

Not just tonight, but eventually, he knew that she understood that he’d be the ultimate victor.

And somehow, instead of making him satisfied, it made him vaguely uneasy.

Chapter Fifteen

The Emerald

The next three weeks were bedlam.

Mrs. K got the flu and Ronnie and Julia became acutely aware of just how much Sommersgate depended on her when they tried to make it run as efficiently as its housekeeper, and failed.

Furthermore, Julia and Ronnie weren’t about to let Mrs. K suffer without constant vigilance (Mr. K admitting he was hopeless playing nursemaid) so they took turns running up the hill through the wood to the Groundskeeper’s Cottage to make certain she was fed, watered and medicated.

Adding to this, Douglas informed Veronika that Nick was going to move into the Gate House as soon as possible. The Gate House hadn’t been touched in over three years. So Veronika and Julia had to find someone they trusted to clean it and give it a fresh coat of paint. Both women refused to bother Mrs. K for her contacts, which, Mr. K explained “she keeps in her head”. Hiring a cleaning team and decorator was far more difficult than expected and Nick was forced to stay in Sommersgate House in the interim. This meant one more mouth to feed for Julia (who took over the cooking after one look at Veronika’s borsht) and one more bed to make for Veronika (who always made the beds).

It was the Christmas season and all that was Christmas, decorating, shopping, wrapping, baking, cards and the kids with a variety of parties to attend. Julia had to get her presents bought, wrapped and mailed to The States. She also wanted to be certain the children, in this first Christmas without their parents, felt loved and cared for so she danced attendance on them especially.

Julia’s personal shipping came from home, boxes and boxes of clothes and shoes, mementos, photos and things of Gavin’s that she and Patricia wanted the children to have. Most of it was to go directly into storage but as Mrs. K controlled all storage issues in the house and she was unavailable for two weeks and catching up on backlog when she came back. The result was that Julia’s rooms were a mess.

Through all this, Julia was working longer hours than she promised, scouring through budgets, creating reports and writing business plans.

To her surprise, Douglas had retreated completely. There were no more insane conversations filled with marriage proposals and salacious innuendo.

Not that the last conversation was innuendo at all.

He had been quite clear, concise and detailed about everything he wanted.

Indeed, he’d been crystal clear, perfectly concise and exceptionally detailed.

Just the thought of it made Julia blush and, sometimes, squirm (but, she had to admit, most times she thought of it, she’d shiver, in a good way).

And she thought about it a lot.

Too much.

In fact, all the time.

There had been times when he could have, and in the past would have, made some kind of advance, but he didn’t.

Making matters worse, it seemed that Lizzie was throwing herself into a matchmaking role. If Douglas walked into the lounge while the children and Julia were watching television and Lizzie was sitting next to Julia, Lizzie would shoot to her feet and call out to him, “Uncle Douglas, sit here.” Or if they were out to dinner or all getting into the Bentley, she’d boss Ruby and Willie so Julia would have no choice but to slide into the booth or car next to Douglas or else make a scene. Or if Julia was talking about anything at all, Lizzie would declare, “Uncle Douglas is good at that,” or “You should ask Uncle Douglas, he’s the expert!”

Douglas didn’t seem to be the slightest bit aware of Lizzie’s endeavours, though that didn’t stop her from trying. Julia knew that Lizzie was trying to recreate the loving family she once had and even if this would ultimately lead to nothing, it was far better than her despondency so Julia’s heart went out to the girl, so much so she couldn’t bring herself to disabuse her niece of her notions.

In the meantime, Douglas took them to London to fulfil his promise to Ruby and so they could go Christmas shopping. Monique had (thankfully) been in Paris. While they were there, Charlie helped Julia find a gown for Tamsin’s charity ball.

Douglas even spent time with them during this trip but all the while he was an utter gentleman. He often took Julia’s elbow or put his hand in the small of her back to guide her but that was it.

However, sometimes, when she would talk to him on a crowded pavement or in a store, she noticed that he’d lean down to hear her and his eyes would be so warm and intimate, just looking into their dark depths made her belly melt. In those seconds, she believed he was still up to his tricks. But they were just seconds and nothing would come of it.

They had been photographed in London twice by the paparazzi and both times it had been in the papers (which was something else Julia didn’t need as it was sure to set Monique stewing). One time, it was late in the afternoon, outside Harrods, while they were waiting to get into the Bentley. Ruby was exhausted and Douglas had picked her up and was carrying her as if she weighed no more than a doll. He’d had his sling removed the week before and behaved as if nothing had ever happened, including heaving Ruby around. The little girl had put her head on his shoulder and her arms around his neck. While holding Ruby, Douglas put his hand on the small of Julia’s back to guide her just as she was herding the other two children into the car.

Lord Ashton out shopping with his new family including stylish sister-in-law, Ms. Julia Fairfax, the caption had read.

She’d clipped the picture for reasons she wouldn’t allow herself the time or energy to consider (though Julia had to admit to liking the adjective “stylish” being attached to her). In the picture, he looked so handsome and devoted to his “new family” that if she gave herself a moment, she would have talked herself into believing what the picture looked like what it showed.

They were also photographed in Bristol when he took them all out to a South American restaurant for dinner. This, too, was printed in the paper. Willie had said something funny and Julia had lost herself for a moment, grabbed Douglas’s upper arm and laughed. All three children were giggling and even Douglas was smiling.

Lord Douglas Ashton, now familiarly accompanied by Ms. Julia Fairfax and their nieces and nephew, that caption had read.