Your presence is requested at 19 Berkeley Square, London. This is not a request you are able to decline, wife. I would urge you to not test my patience, though I have great forbearance for anything you do. I hope to discuss an advantageous offer.
Yours,
Daniel Rutherford, the Earl of Stannis.
“The arrogance of this man! And why does he still call mewife?” Georgianna cried, waving the letter that had been delivered by special courier. “He’s vexing! And he dares to summon me and implies I cannot refuse!”
She rose from the sofa, walked over to the windows, tugged back the heavy drapes, and glared outside. “And what does he mean by this!”
Lizzie lowered the novel she’d been reading and ventured over to stand beside her. “I cannot fathom the earl’s thinking, Georgie—you know and understand him best.”
“Iknow the earl? I do not know him at all,” she said incredulously. “Surely his generosity comes with strings, the kind that will wrap me up into impossible knots I will not be able to untangle.”
What if he should demand what she was not willing to give?I must resist all overtures from the earl, whatever they might eventually be. The quivery feeling low in her belly mocked her silent plea.
“While his actions are befuddling, I do not think Lord Stannis might be so devious—”
She waved her hand, cutting off her sister. “How can you even think so for a moment, Lizzie? Heistrapping me in his web by contriving to make me beholden to him and sinking me into his debt! It is enough that he has sent the two hundred and eighty pounds, so why must he go this far? I do not understand it. I have fired the scullery maid, the cook, the lady maid, and the man of all work that descended on us yesterday, and they have ignored my commands as if I am not the mistress of my home.”
Lizzie cleared her throat delicately. “They did say it was your husband who hired them. I for one am grateful for the governess who has taken Anna and Sarah in hand. Mrs. Wimbotton is a Godsend, and the girls already adore her.”
Her sister winced under the glare Georgianna cast in her direction.
“Will you go to London?”
“No,” she said stubbornly, hating the surge of uncertainty that gripped her heart. Whatever did he mean by his actions? It was not a declaration of any sort of affections, for she was not foolish enough to ever think a man of his consequences would want to be attached to her. The earl ruthlessly gambled with her reputation, though she guiltily realized she had done the same by instigating this mad ruse.
“Perhaps now that the entirety of Crandell thinks you are his countess, Lord Stannis has to keep up appearances by sending servants here,” Lizzie murmured, her eyes gleaming as if the entire sordid mess was a vast source of entertainment. “We must admit Mrs. Hayle would be highly suspicious otherwise. Perhaps all of these good graces will be withdrawn once Jonathan and I are married.”
That practical supposition from her sister centered Georgianna. “I will still be deeply in the earl’s debt, and I know he will collect,” she whispered.
“How?”
She blushed, and her sister’s eyes widened.
“Georgie, whatever are you thinking!”
She groaned and dropped her hands into her palm. “I have lost all reasoning and good sense. I am not thinking anything important.”
Except she knew men like him seduced women like her into being their mistresses, wooing them with power and money and charming arrogance. Georgianna reached into the envelope and withdrew the first cabin ticket aboard the train, departing tomorrow. “There is no return ticket.”
Lizzie seemed uncertain, then she said, “You should go.”
“Why?”
“Because you want to.”
Shocked, she snapped her gaze to her sister, who stared at her with more awareness of the situation than Georgianna had allowed. She swallowed tightly and closed her hands over the envelope, crumpling the paper. There was much inner turmoil she kept from her sister, fearing it would burden her shoulders. Georgianna no longer wanted to hide anything from Lizzie. “I am afraid the earl will ask me to be his mistress.”
“I know,” Lizzie said softly, “especially when it is clear to me you want so much more.”
Those words were a harsh blow to her heart, and she staggered away from the windows to sink into the sofa. “Are my desires so written plainly on my face?”
“No, but you did come alive when you saw the letter was from the earl. You burned…like a star, Georgie. I have never seen you so.”
Flushing, she looked away and briefly closed her eyes.
I’ll not be any man’s soiled dove.Standing, she stooped to pick up the ticket that had fallen from her clasp. “I shall go and pack.”
