‘I wondered where you two had got to,’ Jake drawled, staring deliberately out into the garden.
Fred felt a moment’s embarrassment before remembering that Jake had caught him doing things far more scandalous than kissing a girl in the moonlight. But it had been years since he had behaved so.
And the woman in question had never mattered before. Georgiana was his wife. It was his job to protect her from scandal, not to lead her into it. He did not want his friends thinking of her as the sort of woman who would entertain the advances of a man like the one he used to be.
Georgiana had turned to examine her reflection carefully in the window, as if searching for any trace of what they had done together. She would find none, he was sure, other than a slight flush on her cheeks. All the same, she muttered something about the need to go to the retiring room and hurried past the Duke, back into the ballroom.
‘I told you she would do you good,’ Jake said, smiling after her.
Fred stared after her, still wondering if that was true.
* * *
Perhaps her husband liked her after all.
For the rest of the evening, George did her best to regain her composure, chatting amiably with the gentlemen who danced with her and sharing gossip with the ladies they escorted. But what she actually wanted to do was to follow Frederick Challenger around the room like a moonstruck girl.
Her head was in the clouds after the waltz. Her body tingled from the kiss on the terrace. The little part of her mind that was capable of coherent thought was focused on what was likely to come, once they got home. After discovery by the Duke, they needed to be discreet for the rest of the evening. That was probably why Frederick was distant but polite to her once he returned to the ballroom.
But once they were home and could be alone, everything would change. He had admitted he was wrong about her, while they’d danced. If he could change his opinion, then so could she. He was still rather stuffy, of course. And too concerned with the opinions of others.
But Jacob had said that Frederick had not always been that way. When he forgot himself, as he had on the terrace, she liked him better. A single goodnight kiss might be all that was necessary to renew his life and change hers. Now that they were finally on the way home, he lounged in the carriage seat opposite hers, his face in shadows.
‘I had a nice evening,’ she said, smiling to let him know that he was part of the reason for her happiness.
‘That is good,’ he said, but made no effort to give his opinion of the ball.
She touched the necklace he had given her, running her fingers down the chain to her bosom. ‘And I like your gift. It is very pretty.’
‘You are very pretty.’ The compliment surprised her, for she’d already begun to fear that he was going to pretend nothing had happened between them.
‘Thank you.’ She spread her fingers across her bodice. ‘Do you like my new gown? It is more daring than I am used to.’
His answer to this was nothing more than low, hoarse breathing. But it was proof that Polly had been right. It was easier than she’d thought to influence a man, even one as proper as Mr Challenger.
She toyed with the necklace again. ‘I had planned to make Polly take it up. But Caroline insisted that it was no different than all the other women were wearing…’
‘Caroline?’ He scrambled to sit upright as if trying to put more distance between them.
‘Viscountess Linholm,’ she said, though it should not have been necessary to remind him of his own sister-in-law.
‘What were you doing with my brother’s wife?’ For a moment, a ray of moonlight struck his face. In the pale, white glow he looked almost angry.
‘Shopping,’ she said. ‘I believe it was what you demanded of me, just this morning.’
‘I never gave you permission to associate withthat woman,’ he said, as if the very sound of her name might be poisonous.
‘That womanis a member of your family,’ she said. ‘And my family as well, now that we are married.’
‘I forbid you to see her again,’ he said. She did not need daylight to know that his expression was as stern as it ever had been.
‘Forbid me? If you were a normal man, you’d be encouraging me to visit her.’ More than that, she had thought it would make him happy. Why had she bothered to try?
Now he was leaning towards her, not in love, but in menace. ‘Stay away from Caroline and my brother as well.’
‘Which brother?’ she said, trying to hide her hurt in sarcasm. ‘You have two of them, I believe.’
‘Caroline’s husband,’ he said briefly, as if she were being deliberately obtuse.
