Yet his indifference is like a knife upon my heart, digging deeper with each passing minute.
She nodded, determined to go about life as if her world had not been indelibly altered, unfortunately by a gentleman who might never think of her again.
Let me simply be a passerby in your memory.
…
It had only been two days since Daniel left Crandell, yet it felt like a lifetime had passed. He’d returned to town and his townhouse in Berkeley Square without fanfare, ignoring the pile of letters and invitations that had awaited him on his desk. The first morning he had tried his damnedest to sleep beyond five, absurdly restless, for he had fallen into a routine of waking up at dawn to complete menial labor.
Daniel had summoned his secretary and had spent the day attending to his various correspondence, investment reports, and estate holdings reports. He was pleased by the report that the workers in his factories had been paid despite being sent home while renovations were completed. He was never the type of man to trust easily, so he wrote a letter to his man of affairs to confirm that the workers were paid in full and the safety repairs were underway.
He’d also written to Mr. Burnell, ordering him to immediately remit the two hundred and eighty pounds owned to Miss Heyford. He had not ventured out in the evening, instead retiring to bed early, only to lie in that bed for hours, replaying scene by scene every interaction with Miss Georgianna Heyford.
He’d forced his mind to recall every instance, her fieriness aboard his yacht, how wary she’d seemed when she claimed him to be her husband, that defiant triumph in her eyes when she’d first sent him to do chores, and then the foolish ways in which he had started to want to be in her presence.
Daniel had barely received any sleep before his body roused this morning at half after five. He’d went to his exercise room and pounded away at the mounted sandbag until his muscles ached, reminding him of how he would feel at the end of the day working about the manor. He took a long, hot bath before venturing downstairs for breakfast. The palatial townhouse had felt empty and cold without the sound of laughter and stomping feet following him around.
His cook presented him with thinly sliced ham, kippers, eggs, and toast with three cups of coffee, yet Daniel thought he would have preferred oatmeal with nutmeg and honey. Irritated, he left the dining room and retired to his library, completing the reports he’d not finished the day before. Daniel spent several hours responding to political correspondences about the bills that needed to be debated at Parliament’s next sitting. After attending to those letters and invitations to political dinners, he went over the reports from his estate steward on his principal estate in Berkshire.
Hours passed, and Georgianna lingered in the back of his thoughts, a sensual shadow with gleaming golden-brown eyes. Blowing out a deep breath, he tossed the pen across the table, watching as it skidded across the smooth surface.
What had she thought upon waking and reading his note?
I wish you had been real.
Had he really whispered that nonsense in the soft curve of her throat, or had he merely thought it, drowning in the desire she’d evoked within him? Daniel scoffed, reaching for the decanter and pouring himself a drink. He knocked back the glass of whiskey in a long swallow, appreciating the fiery trail from his throat to his stomach.
He stood, walking over to the windows overlooking the side gardens. Daniel scrubbed a hand over his face, an annoyed sound hissing from him. Georgianna Heyford had invaded his mind, filling him with dual needs of anger and aching want. He hadn’t experienced this burning hunger for a woman before, and it annoyed the hell out of him that it was for one who had deceived him with unchecked audacity.
What a damn fool he had been, spouting nonsense about it being his duty and honor to care for her. How she must have laughed at him, delighting and relishing in her revenge. Yet when he recalled that curl of hunger in her eyes whenever she looked at him, the sweet way she responded to his kisses, and the breathless way she’d moaned as he had taken her three times for the night…
What the hell was that, my little schemer? Surely not revenge, even one that might have been just deserved.
Georgianna Heyford did not fit into any facet of his life, so it was damn nonsensical to be thinking about her this much. He summoned his butler and advised him to call around the mews for his town carriage to be prepared. Perhaps what he needed was a night about town with his cronies to retrieve his sense of normalcy and to forget Crandell and all its inhabitants. He ruefully accepted her brand of revenge, for it had been unfair and unjust for him to fire her merely to soothe his mistress’s anger and petty jealousy. Now that the monies due had been sent, Daniel acknowledged they no longer owed each other anything. She had been a fleeting yet beautiful fancy, nothing more.
Daniel reached for the pen, intending to summon his brother, for he required him to visit a smaller estate in Northumberland. The report from the steward had been missing for the last six months. He plucked up the fountain pen, and the curled edges of this morning’s paper caught his gaze, especially the bold print calling out his good friend Simon Loughton, the Earl of Creswick. Lifting a brow, Daniel paused, pen in mid-air, and reached for the paper.
Lord Creswick has boldly declared his support for the reform of the Marriage Act. This author wonders if because the earl has seen success with the Reform bill which he had so publicly and fearlessly supported last year to the dismay of many. Creswick is arrogant enough to think his support could impact the deeply entrenched view of this society which mercilessly upholds that women should have little to no autonomy and monetary power. The support for the reform of The Married Women’s Property Act would grant women far more rights than what they are allowed today have garnered little support in the Commons, with many noting the earl and his party fight an impossible battle that may never see the bill argued in the House of Lords.
Daniel lowered the paper, wondering when the houses had called for this particular reform. The current act already permitted married women a small measure of financial independence where they were no longer wholly dependent on their husband’s goodwill and could even work. Whispers had abounded for the past couple of years that necessary reform was much needed, but those whispers had hardly caused any ripple.
Last year in the house, Daniel had given his full support of amending the Reform bill to ensure the working men of Britain had the right to vote. He had not supported the bill from a place of caring, but merely to stand by his good friend, Creswick, in his political fight. Daniel grimaced, lifted the decanter of whiskey to his mouth, and took a healthy swallow.
Why in God’s name was he even thinking about this?
Because a bill like this is damn well important, especially for ladies like the Heyford sisters.Why did he feel so altered, only after spending a little over three weeks with a woman who had pettily deceived him? Glancing at the newssheet once more, Daniel made a swift decision. Setting down the crystal cut tumbler, he called for his coat, top hat, and horse, informing his butler the carriage was no longer needed.
Only a few minutes later, he was being admitted to Creswick’s townhouse in Grosvenor Square and led to the elegantly furnished drawing room. The door opened, and Simon entered, his eyes crinkling at the corners with his smile when he saw Daniel.
“Stannis,” he murmured. “Some said you were dead. I am relieved there is no truth to those rumors.”
“I for one never believed it, Lord Stannis,” another voice said brightly.
The earl shifted to reveal Creswick’s wife, her belly high and rounded with their child. The countess was scandalously bare feet, her mass of vibrant red hair tumbling about her shoulders down to her back. When she noted Daniel arching a brow in question at her feet, she grinned and tossed him a wink.
Bloody incorrigible,he thought with amused fondness.
Daniel pressed a hand over his chest. “I am heartened to hear of your faith in my abilities, Mina.”
