The dog gave her one more baffled shake of the head and then wagged his tail and followed her into her new home.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Mutiny.
After years in the army, Fred had never seen so much as a hint of it from any of the soldiers in his command. But after less than an hour in Georgiana’s presence, the loyal Sargent had turned against him.
Not only had the hound come into the house, he had fallen asleep on the sofa in the library. When Fred had scolded him for it, the dog had obeyed and retreated to the rug by the fire. But not before giving him an accusing look to remind him that some members of the family treated him better than this.
Most annoying of all, at bedtime, the dog followed his mistress to the lady’s suite, occupying a better place than Fred himself was allowed.
Perhaps his current uneasiness was the dog’s fault. Fred had not thought about the embargo placed upon that one room until he had watched the door shutting on the pair of them. The dog had done nothing to earn a place in her bed. And Fred had given her a necklace.
Such thoughts were unworthy. Wives were not like mistresses. One should not expect rewards in the bedroom for jewellery. Both gifts and affection should be given as a matter of course. Besides, the gift he had given would hardly have turned a courtesan’s head. Its silver setting was far too simple to rate more than a peck on the cheek.
And yet, as she had with the plain gold chain, Georgiana had fairly glowed with pleasure when he’d given it to her.
Proof she was easily impressed. Her innocence would extend to the bedroom, as well. If and when he passed that threshold he would be expected to teach her and put her pleasure before his own. After a lifetime of sexual conquest, bedding a virgin would likely be overrated and disappointing.
But he could not stop thinking about doing it.
* * *
He thought of her as he lay in his bed, unable to sleep. He thought about her the next morning at breakfast, as they ate on opposite sides of the table and she slipped scraps to the dog under the table. He thought about her later in the morning as he took a ride alone to avoid her. And he thought about her in the afternoon as she took a walk to avoid him. As he dressed for dinner, he caught himself humming the same minuet that she had been whistling to the mynah bird in an attempt to retrain him.
If he was going to leave her here and return to the city, then he should not be bothered by how little time they spent together. If things went according to plan, he would hardly see her at all. Why then did he feel jealous that birds and dogs, and even ants, got more of her attention than he did?
The most enjoyable thing about the country house had always been its solitude. But suddenly, he could find no peace in it. When he was alone, it was as if she was still with him. He could feel her walking his land like a caress on his body and hear her laugh on the breeze that touched his face. The thought of impeding separation made him want to seek her out immediately to convince her that there must be another way.
When they met again at supper, the amethysts glittered above a gown of dove-grey satin. She was different tonight, elegant and silent. When he looked at her, he could not seem to recall what it was about her that had bothered him before, or why he was so eager to escape her.
In the carriage, she had coaxed him into conversation and their time together had passed easily. Since then, she had been silent. Perhaps she was waiting for him to make the next move. When he could no longer stand the silence he attempted conversation. ‘Did you enjoy your walk this afternoon?’
She paused with the soup spoon halfway to her mouth, looking at him through the fringe in her lashes as if trying to find a hidden meaning in the words. Then she finished the spoonful, giving herself additional time to find an answer. At last, she spoke. ‘I liked it very well, thank you.’
Had he really been holding his breath for this ordinary response?
‘Did you take the path to the pond?’ It was the nicest view of the house, had she turned to look back.
She nodded. ‘There was a family of ducks on the water. Five little ones not yet fledged. Tomorrow, I will them bring some breadcrumbs from my tea.’
‘I will ask the housekeeper to prepare a bag for you on such days as you wish to walk,’ he said, searching for something to offer as an olive branch.
‘You needn’t bother. If I wish for such a thing, I am quite capable of doing it myself,’ she replied. There was no rancour in her tone. But it gave him very little to offer her if she was able to take care of herself.
‘I did not know if you would be comfortable approaching the servants,’ he said, trying to find a way out of the hole he had dug for himself. ‘A large staff can be intimidating.’
‘I am not the least bit intimidated by servants,’ she said, giving him a faintly irritated look. ‘I am not some child that needs looking after.’
‘I did not think you were,’ he said, though it was precisely how he’d viewed her before their marriage. But tonight, it was impossible to see her as anything other than fully grown.
‘If you do not think me a child, then please stop treating me as one,’ she said in a surprisingly reasonable voice. ‘If I had not married you, it would have been someone else.’
‘Nash Bowles,’ he reminded her.
She shrugged. ‘Perhaps. He was not my first offer, only my most persistent. And though I had accepted no one, I expect I would have been married to someone by year’s end, and ready to be so, if only to escape my stepmother. Though Marietta does not like me, she has spent years teaching me to take over the management of a home and I am not the least bit frightened of the task. It is what women do, you know, instead of going off to university and starting clubs that decent women should not know about.’
‘I see,’ he said. His sisters were being trained up much the same way. But he had never thought of Georgiana as capable of anything but chaos.
