Somewhere My Love by Beth Trissel Page B

,” s he squeezed out, closing her arms around his neck , engulfed in emotion too poignant for words.
    “I am wi th you , m ore than you know,” he said softly.   “ But watch well.  There’s a worm in the lily.”
    As before, his warmth dissolved into the misted darkness and left Juli a sobbing in the still garden. Alone in the moonlight. “Cole!”
    ****
    Poor sweet Julia . Heedless of his grandmother’s quizzical eye , Will knelt on the floor in the great hall, cradling Julia in his arms. Her pale lips whispered wo rds too faint to hear as she twisted from si de to side...so disturbe d, as if wrestling with some deep inner grief.  
    “It’s more than heat afflicting her ,” the old woman observed . “ A fit, maybe.  Should you summon the doctor? ”
    Will couldn’t tear himself away from Julia long enough to phone and sensed her distress wasn’t a medical one. “She’ll recover in a moment, I should think,” he said, not at all certain. She seemed so lost and infinitely vulnerable. He w anted to help her, hold her, and bring her back to him. “It’s all right , Julia,” he soothed, aware of Grandmother Nora’s arching eye brows.  
    Blinking her eyes, she looked up at him dazedly . 
    “There . S he’s coming round,” his intent relation said.
    Tears trickled down Julia’s white cheeks and she turned her face against his chest . “Keep me with you ,” she said , as if still oblivious of her surroundings.
    He wanted nothing more.
    “That girl’ s terrified of losing her employment. What on earth have you said to her ?” his grandmother berated him .
    “Nothing. She’s just sen sitive. ” Will wasn’t about to divulge any of the mystery surrounding Julia to his grandmother . She’d never understand. Hell –– he didn’t understand. Only sensed, and senses could not be explained to Nora Wentworth.
    “ The English can be rather odd ,” she nodded, then brightened. “ I declare Miss Morrow makes a better Ophelia all the tim e . Keep an eye on the poor thing and bring her along to brunch tomorrow. That’ll cheer her up. ”
    “Brunch?”  Not another of those tedious rites.
    “Yes. Sund a y brunch at the Marmalade Inn. Ten o’clock sharp. The Patterson’s will be there with Nelly .”
    “Nobody is called Nelly these days except bovines.”
    A frown creased his grandmother’s already heavily wrinkled brow. “How can you compare that grac ious young lady to a cow ? Call her Nelle , if you prefer.”
    He wrinkled his nose. “I prefer Miss Patterson from an aloof distance.”  
    “And I’d prefer s ome hope of an heir beyond you. I don’t care if you’re as queer as a Maypole in December y ou can darn well father the next Wentworth .  I’m not insisting on a litter, though two offspring would be better .”
    G iving her a withering look , he shot back, “For whom?”
    “ For e veryone involved, sir. See that girl is put straight to bed. She’s as white as a ghost. Jon will fetch my driver. ”
    A hoarse cry tore from Julia. “Cole ! ”
    The all too familiar name wrenched Will in the gut. Th at damnable cousin had been at it again . Wou l d she never think solely of him ?
    His g randmother started in her seat. “What in the world was that about?”
    “You were just speaking of ghosts, Ma’am.”
    The next tour group had gathered outside the hall doors at the back of the long room and people were fast growing impatient. Charlotte cracked the white paneled door and stuck her head through to shoot Will a mute appeal.
    “Give us one minute.”
    “And send Millicent through,” his grandmother added, referring to her driver/nurse.
    Will s cooped up Julia , still too shaken to stand unaided and not entirely lucid .  “It’s all right,” he said .
    Her mouth trembled. “No. I t’s not. Cole said.”
    Gr andmother Nora swept her stare over the young woman. “That girl needs to have her head examined. She oughtn’t to have left home in the first place.”
    Julia