‘Whatever for?’
‘I was imprudent,’ Christian said, still not looking up.
‘Everyone is, from time to time,’ George agreed, wondering if her husband set the same rules for his younger siblings as he did for his wife.
Christian nodded. ‘But our family has a reputation for it. Frederick has always said if I wish people to think better of me, I must take care to moderate my behaviour.’
‘That is nothing more than common sense,’ George said. ‘I fail to see what good it does for Frederick to lecture you on a thing which you will discover for yourself.’
Christian looked at her as if this had not occurred to him.
‘You are of age, are you not?’ she prompted.
He nodded.
‘And you do fewer foolish things than you used to, I expect.’
‘Of course,’ he agreed.
‘Then the trend will likely continue. You will grow into just the sort of responsible and respected gentleman you have always wished to be. But until then you must allow yourself the occasional mistake without worrying that others will think ill of you.’
‘Frederick has never made mistakes,’ Christian said with bitterness.
‘I am sure he has,’ George said. If his absence today was an indication, he still considered their marriage to be one of them. ‘He pretends he has not. But he is mortal, therefore he is as fallible as the rest of us.’ When her brother-in-law still looked doubtful, she added, ‘I am his wife and know him better than you.’
The last was an enormous lie, but Christian seemed to relax a little upon hearing it. Then he frowned. ‘That is all well and good. But I doubt reminding him of his own fallibility will encourage him to help me out of the mess I’ve made.’
‘Tell me about it,’ she said. ‘Perhaps there is something I can do.’
‘I have run through my entire month’s allowance at the tables of that damned club of his,’ Christian said in frustration. ‘When he hears of it, I am sure to get a lecture about my irresponsibility. It will be all the worse when I have to borrow my rent money from him later.’
Having received a week’s worth of Mr Challenger’s moralising, she could not help but feel sympathy for him. ‘Is there no way to win the money back without telling him?’ she asked.
‘They will not take a marker at Vitium et Virtus,’ he said. ‘Since I have no cash, they will bar me from the room.’
A thought occurred to her. ‘I have money,’ she said. Quite a bit of it, really, even after what she had spent at the dressmaker’s.
‘I could not take your household money,’ he said. ‘Suppose I lost it?’
‘Then I will say that it was all my fault,’ George said. Considering his current opinion of her, Mr Challenger would have no trouble believing it.
But, suppose she did something so terrible that he wanted to pack her off to the country? He’d said they must remain in town until people had no reason to comment on their sudden marriage. But if he refused to spend his nights at home, gossip was inevitable and not her fault at all. Yesterday morning, he had hinted that he would sleep in the same bed with her as if it was a punishment. But it was clearly an empty threat.
And one day later, an opportunity was presenting itself that would both help the young Mr Challenger regain his allowance, while making his elder brother so incandescent with rage. No matter what he did to her after, it had to be better than the humiliation of last night’s sudden departure.
She looked at her husband’s brother and smiled. ‘Do not worry, Christian. I have a plan that will render your indiscretion insignificant by comparison.’
* * *
Fred settled back in his chair in the owners’ suite and raised a toast to Nick’s empty place before drinking. He had lost count of the number of brandies he’d had since arriving at the club in the wee hours of the morning. But several of those drinks had been necessary to convince himself that the room he had chosen upstairs was as comfortable as his own home. A mattress designed for fornication did not always provide a good night’s sleep. And the lurid pictures on the wall provided a constant reminder of the things he was not doing with the woman who had been near to fainting in his arms scant hours before.
If she had been anyone else’s wife but his own, the way forward with Georgiana would have been a simple one. Bed her and forget her. But marriage was complicated. Despite what Georgiana had been hoping for, one could not totally forget one’s own spouse when it became convenient to do so. After even a single night of bliss, there might be a child to contend with. And his parents, who could hardly stand the sight of each other, were frequently forced into each other’s company at social gatherings.
After losing his head on the terrace, Fred had stopped to consider what consummating his marriage might mean. But each time he had tried to list the problems it might create, he had glanced at Georgiana—an eager, responsive and carnally curious beauty—and he had been ready to risk his future for a few minutes of passion. He’d sat in the carriage, at war with his own common sense, watching as she touched the breast he had kissed as if coaxing him to do it again.
He had wanted to refuse her and retreat back into the safe distance they’d maintained from each other since their first meeting, but it was too late for that. He was lost. When they arrived home, they would make love. He would worry about tomorrow when it came.
Then she had invoked the name of the demon from his past and he’d realised what he should have known long ago. It was happening again, just as it had before.
