It was not her figure that fascinated him. It was the smile and the twinkle in her eye. She stopped between verses of the bawdy song she was singing to throw back her head and laugh as if she found the words as naughty as the audience did. He had never seen anyone so glad to be alive.
At least, he hadn’t seen anyone so happy in over three weeks. How would he ever forget the past when everything about the girl on the stage seemed to remind him of Georgiana? His wife was nothing like the red-headed singer. She was shorter and with a body more boyish than buxom. She was blonde, not ginger. He had heard her sing and it was nowhere near as good as the woman on the stage. But when she laughed it was as if she had not a care in the world.
‘Do you fancy her?’ Snyder was standing behind him, looking not just intimidating but threatening.
Fred reached into his purse and tossed the man a gold coin. ‘Give this to her, with my compliments on her abilities.’ Then he found a second coin for Snyder. ‘And bring a bottle of the good claret to the office for me. Then lock the door and see that no one bothers me, especially not her.’
* * *
His glass was empty and he could not seem to recall how it had happened. Fred reached across the table for the brandy bottle to refill it, to find that was empty as well.
Had he eaten? A better question would be, when had he eaten? It had been several days since he’d even bothered to go home, sitting in the private suite at night and sleeping alone during the day in a bedroom upstairs. He’d brought the bird with him for company, but it seemed to have forgotten anything Georgiana had taught it.
He could remember meals, but not the taste of them. And his body was sending mixed messages on the subject, as if trying to convince him that he was both empty and full at the same time.
‘Are you all right?’
‘Eh?’ Clearly things were worse than he thought. By the look on Jake’s face, he had been speaking for some time, but Fred had not even noticed he had entered the room.
‘I said, are you well?’ Jake spoke again, slightly louder this time, to drag him back to conversation.
‘Of course I am.’ His friend had no right to ask. By the shadow on Jake’s cheek, he had forgotten to shave again.
‘Then I suggest you begin to act in a manner that proves it. You spend far too much time at this club and you do not appear to enjoy any of it.’
‘Physician, heal thyself,’ he grumbled. ‘You are here almost as often as I am.’
‘Then, at least take the damn bird away,’ he suggested.
‘Damn bird! Damn bird!’ the mynah cried.
‘It reminds me of Georgiana,’ Fred said, feeling like an idiot for admitting it.
‘Then you have been away from her too long, Frederick,’ Jake said, shaking his head.
‘Frederick!’ announced the bird.
Fred grabbed a cork from the table and tossed it in the bird’s direction, making it flutter off its perch. ‘I can’t go to her. She no longer wants me.’
‘Then make her want you again. Buy her a necklace. Say you’re sorry. Tell her you love her.’
Had he ever done so?
It had not seemed urgent, when he’d had a lifetime in which to say the words. And then, she’d been gone.
‘I love you,’ the bird called.
‘And that is no consolation at all,’ he replied.
‘I love you, Frederick.’
He turned, searching for something else to throw.
‘Frederick. I love you. I love you, Frederick. Pretty bird, have a grape.’
When he’d taken it away from his sisters, it could do nothing but curse. There was only one person who could have taught it the words it spoke now.
He lunged across the room and grabbed the bell pull to ring for Snyder. When he did not appear immediately, he grabbed the door and threw it open, shouting into the main room until the porter appeared at a run.
