‘You are resolved on this course?’
‘I am. We are. We have been in correspondence, Lord Carston and I – there is no longer any need for discretion, I think, for my news will be public soon enough – and he is still of the same mind. I will be married soon, just as soon as it can be arranged.’
Georgie blinked at the news. Lord Carston was very well known to her; he was a close friend of Louisa’s, as he had been of her own father. He was Hal’s godfather, and hers too, a distinguished widower in his late forties with children grown. A handsome, lazily humorous, infinitely tolerant man. And one with hidden depths, clearly. ‘I… Life is so much more complicated than I thought it was, just a few short months ago,’ said Georgie. ‘I see the truth of that more and more with every day that passes. I wish you well.’
‘Thank you. I hope you will stand my friend.’
‘I will. I will be godmother to your child too, if you will have me.’
‘Thank you, Duchess!’ said Miss Spry with a wry smile. ‘That is a generous offer, and I am happy to accept it. There will be rumours swirling about us, I dare say – if not at first, then certainly if I do conceive a child, and then go back to live with Louisa, and remain there. It may involve your family in scandal, certainly in gossip, and so I am grateful that you do not mean to distance yourself from us.’
Georgiana laughed with genuine amusement and shook her head. ‘A scandal, and not caused by me! How can I be anything but grateful?’
‘I suppose that is true! But it is kind of you none the less. Perhaps you and I will be mothers together.’
‘Perhaps.’
Jane looked at her shrewdly. ‘Has anyone thought to ask you howyoufeel about the prospect of motherhood?’
‘Gabriel has. I did not know how to answer him. It seemed theoretical then, whereas now, of course, it is not. Do not think that I am instinctively averse to the idea…’
‘That is just as well!’ her companion snorted.
‘I suppose it is. It’s just… I feel as though I am changing. I’m not the person I was a month ago. In a month’s time, or in six months, I may be different again. I may have a child growing inside me already. I honestly do not know how I feel about that. If I knew, I would tell you.’
‘You are under a great deal of pressure. My situation is different – if I do not conceive, it will matter to nobody in the world but me. Lord Carston, William, does not require an heir from this marriage.’ She saw Georgie’s face and said quickly, ‘I am sorry! You do not need reminding of your situation, I am sure. That was insensitive of me; please forgive me.’
‘Nonsense. It is no less real merely because we do not speak openly of it. One thing I do know – I want to do this for Gabriel if I can, and not because of some notion of duty. I know how much it means to him. I am sure enough of that.’ It was true; she’d come to realise it over the last few days. She would give him everything she was capable of giving, no matter what she might receive in return. And not just her body. She had burnt all her bridges now.
‘I cannot question you. The world is hard enough for women, even women of your class. And more and more I think that it does not matter why people act, or what they say, but only what they actually do to hurt or help each other. Even though thingscan still go horribly wrong, however well one means by one’s actions.’
‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions?’
‘Let us hope not, on this occasion, or we are all bound for ruin.’
Jane stopped her restless pacing and turned to look Georgiana in the eye. ‘I think when we meet again both our situations will be clearer. I hope so. Shall we wish each other good luck?’ They embraced, and then it was time to leave, and in any case there seemed nothing more to be said.
Georgie’s new sister-in-law Blanche and her children also departed that day; they had formed a plan to visit Harrogate, and perhaps take the waters there. It was obvious that this was the merest pretext to leave the newly-weds alone, but they could not be dissuaded, and it was possible that neither the Duke nor Georgiana tried very hard to change their minds. The trip would also give Lady Blanche, she told the couple, an opportunity to visit the Richmonds, who had now returned to their home, and form some more balanced judgement of how Isabella did when she saw her in a calmer, more familiar setting, free, she hoped, from the effects of the severe shock she had received. ‘I will write and tell you how I find her, and what her mother says if we are able to converse in private,’ she said. ‘Do you mean to stay here, or return to the Castle, or…? You could even go abroad, I suppose, if you would care to do so.’
His Grace smiled at his sister. ‘I do not know; we have not had a chance to make any firm plans. I will let you know, of course, Blanche, if we decide to make some change.’
Gabriel was responsive to Georgie’s moods in these days, and gentle except on occasions when gentleness was emphatically not required; he seemed to sense that the sudden departure of all her family and his had left her feeling cast adrift. ‘Would you prefer to go away – to Paris, perhaps, or London?’ he asked herthe next morning as they lay in bed. ‘I can’t help thinking that to be entirely alone with me might not be to your taste. There is no earthly reason why it should be, of course.’
It was one of those occasions when Georgie could not read him; if she had been forced to guess, she would have said he seemed subdued, and perhaps a little hurt, but that was ridiculous, of course. He’d given her no reason to believe she held such power over him. She sat up and leaned back against the pillows, trying to formulate her thoughts, for her own sake as much as his. They were not three days married. ‘It’s not you, Gabriel, or being alone with you,’ she said. ‘The truth is, I am not used to being alone with anyone. I suppose it is only natural – I have five siblings, as you know, and when we are all together there is a bustle such as you cannot conceive. My aunt Sophia has always been there too, and sometimes Louisa, and now Cassandra, of course, Miss Spry, and Bastian’s dear friend Matthew, whom you have not yet met. And in London or in Brighton, when the boys have not always been present, we have been caught up in a constant whirl of social engagements – this was also the case when we travelled abroad last year, and we had companions on our journey too. I do not think I have ever been in just one person’s constant company in my life before. You must make allowances while I accustom myself to it.’
‘I understand,’ he said. ‘I suppose my situation has been very different. I envy you, I think. I have certainly led a solitary and selfish sort of existence as an adult. I was always with Ash when we were young, but Blanche was married when I was ten or eleven, and then my father bought Ash a pair of colours when he turned sixteen – I was at Oxford then, though only briefly. My brother was my father’s obvious favourite, or so I thought at the time, which was perfectly understandable. I was always a disappointment to him, and then of course I embarked on mysadly unsteady way of life, about which the least said the better, I think.’
He had not spoken so frankly of his family before – there were hidden depths there, she was sure, and she would have liked to know more if he felt able to tell it, but perhaps he regretted his openness, for he now moved to distract her in a most effective manner. ‘There are, of course, certain advantages to being alone in the house without family or guests to entertain that I think we both can recognise and appreciate,’ he said silkily, and he reached out one lazy hand and laid it on her inner thigh, then began to stroke her sensitive skin with the lightest and most tantalising of caresses.
He was lying on his side, looking up at her as he spoke, and she became aware that she was naked, exposed to the waist, and that he was regarding her with a glint in his eyes that she had come to recognise. His expression, and his touch, called an instant response from her, and under his gaze her nipples hardened into taut peaks and her skin flushed with heat, a heat that began to gather between her legs and demand attention. She did not attempt to cover herself, but reclined against the pillows, her eyes holding his.
‘No need to get up for breakfast?’ she said, a trifle breathlessly. He had the power – had always had the power, ever since their first meeting – of arousing her with a word, a glance. When that was combined with his touch, she had no hope of resisting, and no desire to do so. Whatever else they had, or did not have, might never have, they had this.
‘No need to get up for luncheon or dinner, if we do not wish to!’
‘I do not wish to,’ she declared.
She pulled back the coverlets and moved to straddle his body, and he shifted to accommodate her, steadying her with his big hands either side of her hips, smiling up at her and waiting to seewhat she would choose to do. She reached forward and took hold of the headboard with both hands, a movement which brought her erect nipples close to his face. He murmured, ‘So damn beautiful…’ and the words as much as the whisper touch of his breath caused her skin to pucker and tighten even more. But still he did not put his mouth on her.
