An arrogant brow lifted. “Come now, did you not enjoy it?”
“Not enough to repeat the experience,” she said tartly.
His lips tugged, and that look in his eyes gleamed even brighter. “I am wounded,” he said drolly, pressing a hand over his chest. “I was hoping the reason you are here is because the maddening want was mutual. Was I truly mistaken?”
“Yes!”
A frown flickered over his face. “Are you not here because you received my invitation to drink with me in my cabin?”
Good heavens!“No.”
He stiffened, then bowed deeply. “I can only beg for forgiveness.”
Her chest heaved with the force of her emotions, and she narrowed her gaze, recalling his words upon seeing her. Was that why he had kissed her so just now? He thought she had sought him out to continue…to continue their supposed madness? “No one found me and relayed an invitation for a dalliance. Even if someone had, I would have rejected it, my lord. The only matter between us, Lord Stannis, is what is owed to me. I respectfully demand the remainder of my wages.”
“Yourwages?” That brow lifted again, and his gaze swept over her in a searching glance. “Who are you really?”
Georgianna took a deep breath. “I…I am the chef aboard your yacht! I have labored for several hours, providingexcellentfood and service for your…your lady love and your guests. Now that my services are being prematurely dismissed, Mr. Burrell is declining to pay the balance owed to me as per your orders, my lord. The balance owed is eighty pounds!”
That admission seemed to render him silent. “Thechef?”
She offered him a tight smile. “Yes, the head chef, my lord.”
For a moment, he appeared shocked, then the earl’s expression became inscrutable. “Ah…now I understand why I was unable to find you last night.”
The implications that he had searched for Georgianna without knowing her identity and role on his ship sent her heart hammering. “You searched for me to…”
His expression veiled even further, and a rueful smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “That I did, like a fool.”
Georgianna shook her head, aghast. “The rumorsaretrue, and even knowing of them I am amazed at your audacity and capacity for licentiousness. You clearly planned a dalliance with those ladies,threeof them, and even after, you were not satisfied but thought…but thought that I…”
“Everyone was dismissed from my cabin minutes after you departed,” he said coolly, turning away from her to attend to a stack of letters. “However, it does not matter. You are indeed dismissed.”
Georgianna fisted her hands at her side. “Why?”
He continued in an indifferent tone, without looking up from the correspondence he shifted through. “We are close to Dover. Mr. Burnell will take a small boat and escort you to shore. He will ensure you travel home in a private compartment on the train or a carriage if you prefer.”
She took a halting step forward, almost rattled by the change in the earl. His far too alluring mask of sensuality had vanished, and in his place stood a man of refined elegance and chilling civility.
Georgianna chose her words carefully. “What I would prefer, my lord, is that I do the job I was hired for and that I be paid the sum promised.”
“Denied.”
His polite indifference rankled her. “If you would be so gracious as to inform me of the reason, my lord.”
He stilled, before shifting to face her. “My…good friend does not like your food, it seems. A rash appeared on her face this morning, and she spent the night casting up her accounts. The food was tainted.”
Shocked concern curled through her. “Is she well? There have been no complaints, my lord. I would have been told.”
His gaze hooded. “This was the only case.”
Outrage sizzled through Georgianna’s veins as awareness dawned. “There was nothing wrong with my food, my lord. Your good friend,” she cried furiously, “did not like that you were kissing me, an embrace I did not invite but which was tossed upon me because ofyoumistaking my reason for being in your cabin!”
Her chest heaved with the force of her feelings, and she had to take a deep breath to steady herself. Being rash and angry would not solve anything. “Please remit the money owed. Preferably the three hundred pounds promised, as I am being relieved through no fault of mine, my lord.”
I need it…please. Yet her pride would not allow her to voice that last thought.
He lifted a brow. “Your services are exorbitant, and surely you do not expect to be compensated when the very person you were supposed to please with your skills has suffered deleterious ill effects?”
