All Things Beautiful Read Free

daughter.”
    “What nonsense is this?” Lord Markham interjected. “Carberry don’t think women should be educated. A woman don’t need to know any more than what her husband can teach her behind a closed door, eh, Carberry?”
    Julia ignored her father’s tasteless remark. “And I’ve learned to write, too. Chester taught me. In fact, Chester’s been more a father to me than my own sire.”
    “Ha!” Lord Markham barked. “She prefers a servant to her own father. Let the cit have her!”
    Julia rose to her feet, tall and proud. “No. I don’t have to marry at all. Nor worry about Danescourt. I have Kimberwood. The Beals and I can move there.”
    With a resounding slap, Lord Markham hit his thigh with his leather riding gloves, capturing her attention. “ Had Kimberwood, you mean. I couldn’t sell the estate, but we’ve borrowed against it—with your blessing, I might add.”
    One corner of Julia’s mouth pulled down bitterly. “Mortgaged to the hilt, no doubt. How could I have been so foolish?”
    “Not foolish, my dear—just a Markham.”
    “One and the same,” she shot back.
    Lord Markham bowed his head in agreement. “We’ve put ourselves where we are today, and I can’t say I wouldn’t do it again. However, Kimberwood is useless. The estate has set idle for nigh on ten years, and once you turn five-and-twenty, next year, it will be sold to pay off the notes held against it.”
    “Then why doesn’t Mr. Wolf wait and purchase the estate from our creditors?”
    “Mr. Wolf has a desire to acquire the estate as swiftly as possible and is not willing to wait for the estate to be litigated,” Peter answered in a shaky voice. He had to move this conversation to a less personal level.
    “Furthermore, I’m the one insisting on the marriage,” her father said. “I’ve no fancy to live my life in exile on the Continent. A rich son-in-law has always been my need and my goal.”
    Julia turned toward Peter, cynicism etched at the corners of her lovely mouth. “And this Brader Wolf wants Kimberwood so much he will saddle himself with the Mad Markhams for the rest of his life?”
    “For Kimberwood, he will clear all debts, provide us with a more than comfortable living, and take you off our hands until our dying day,” her father answered smugly, obviously satisfied with the arrangements.
    Father and daughter challenged each other, their clashing wills evidenced in the flint-blue sparks from their eyes. Markham eyes. Amateur poets and would-be lovers had paid homage to those deep-sapphire eyes.
    The silence stretched between them until Lady Markham, finally sated, issued a small burp. The sound startled Julia like a gunshot.
    She turned toward her mother, who coyly patted her lips with a yellowed lace napkin. “Oh, dear,please excuse me. Those horrid biscuits didn’t set well at all. Roger, I do think we will have to let Mrs. Beal go. She’s certainly not earning her wages. My delicate constitution cannot handle such unpalatable food.”
    “Don’t worry, Mama. You haven’t paid Mrs. Beal her wages in over a twelvemonth.” Julia studied her mother with eyes wise and old beyond her years. Then, shaking herself from her unhappy memories, she swung her attention back to her father. “I prayed that God would do something to free me of you—all of you, even my brothers. And now, perhaps, my prayers are answered.”
    “Well!” Her mother huffed, her stays creaking. “You unnatural child. Never wanted to be part of the family? Don’t think I didn’t know you thought yourself superior to the rest of us. Your grandmother spoiled you—”
    Peter interrupted, suddenly wanting to save her, to champion her. If only he were free to marry…. “Julia, you don’t have to accept the man’s suit—”
    “She sure as hell should!”
    “Roger, you’re swearing. We agreed you would not yell at Julia. It never does any good, your yelling at Julia.”
    “My pardons, Louisa, but the girl has driven us