Read Dirty Beautiful Rich Part Three for Free Online

their ideas about short and long walks differed wildly.
    But she couldn’t imagine ever having the chance to see Ireland like this, walking through a private estate, seeing the land at its most wild.
    “Did you have a nice evening?” Lady Clare asked at last.
    Julie’s face was already red from the cold, but she felt her throat tighten. Great, Lady Clare wasn’t going to ignore it. “Um. . . Yes.”
    “You sound doubtful.”
    “Truthfully, I’ve never done anything like that.”
    The older lady smiled softly. “Damian brings out the unexpected in all of us. He always has done. Even as  a boy.”
    Julie smiled, trying to imagine him as a child. It wasn’t easy.
    “I hear you’re going to write a family history,” Lady Clare said, resuming her steady pace, heading towards a rough path winding towards the hills.
    Julie eyed said hills dubiously, wondering at her own ability to keep up with the pack. “He did.”
    “Interesting.”
    Oh great. Here it was. “I know I’m not the most experienced or most logical choice for the job. . .”
    “My dear, it has nothing to do with that,” Lady Clare cut in simply.
    “It doesn’t.”
    “No.” She shook her head and sighed. “I wasn’t doubting your abilities. I know little about them.”
    “Oh.” Julie wanted to kick herself. Why had she assumed the worst about herself.
    “Its simply that Damian doesn’t particularly care for the past. Oh, he loves tales of knights and the castle in the era of medieval brutality. It fascinates him. But if you do do a family history,” the dowager frowned, “I’m sure you will look at the most recent history as well.”
    “I would think so,” Julie agreed.
    The dowager nodded. “Strange.”
    “Why?”
    “Like any old family there are simply things we don’t talk about.”
    “Damian’s father?” Julie chanced, realizing she could be stepping onto very dangerous ground.
    Lady Clare’s eyebrow rose. “You are bolder than I first imagined. Perhaps Damian is correct about you.”
    Julie wanted to ask what exactly Damian had said but doubted Lady Clare would divulge. “Am I right?”
    “You are.” Lady Clare stopped, then placed her worn hand on Julie’s shoulder. “Be careful, my dear. I see the way you look at my grandson. You have no idea how much I’d like him to find a girl who can love him, who will make him love in return. . . But I am afraid that Damian is no longer capable of such a thing.”
    Julie’s heart squeezed tight. Why would his grandmother say this? “I don’t understand.”
    “Something happened when he was still a boy, oh Damian wouldn’t see it that way, would insist he was already a man. But he wasn’t. He was a boy becoming a man. And it changed everything. His parents loved each other, you see. Very much.”
    It was hard to imagine Damian’s mother loving anyone very much. “That’s wonderful.”
    “It was. It was until my son, my darling son destroyed himself, and any sort of kindness left in Alanna. The poor girl grew harder and harder by the day until now, I do believe she’s living stone. Seeing that scarred Damian’s view of love. He simply doesn’t think it’s worth the risk.”
    “But it is,” Julie whispered. She could still remember the way her mother had held her father’s hand as he had slipped away. Peace and love had surrounded them like an unpenetratable shield. That memory was the only thing that had kept Julie’s hope alive in the harsh world.
    Damian’s grandmother smiled sadly. “I know that my dear. My husband and I had a wonderful marriage. Oh, we weren’t soul mates but I never had a better friend. He died before Damian was born. So, the boy never saw another marriage in the family but his parents.”
    “Why are you telling me this?” Julie asked flatly.
    “Why do you imagine?”
    “Lady Clare, you barely know me.”
    “But I know Damian. Because of that, I know you’re different. You’re different than all the other women I’ve never met