She laughed then, soft but genuine. “I suspect you’re right.”
Their meal drew to a close with no rush, no awkwardness, only a shared sense that this was the first of many conversations still to come. Outside, the day had turned brighter, as though the clouds themselves were taking their leave.
When Mrs. Hemsley returned to clear the dishes, she found both plates nearly empty and her mistress more at ease than she had seen since she had arrived.
As Mrs. Hemsley cleared the plates, Georgina glanced at her mud-spattered boots and then at Weld. “Next time,” she said dryly, “you might also warn me to bring a stronger appetite.”
He smiled, slow and genuine. “Consider this your first lesson in mining, Lady Ravenstock. It always leaves a person hungry for more.”
Her answering laugh, quiet but warm, lingered between them as Mrs. Hemsley swept the dishes away. Even as the humor faded, her gaze drifted to where his hand rested near his cup, strong, steady, and capable. She wondered if he knew how much she had leaned on that steadiness today.
It wasn’t his strength alone that unsettled her. It was the ease of it. The quiet way he carried responsibility, not as a burden, but as something he’d already chosen.
Perhaps he did. Perhaps, she thought, he had offered it on purpose, the same quiet assurance he’d carried underground when the shadows pressed close. There might be more to this partnership than obligation, though duty, she admitted, was not the worst place to begin.
Chapter Six
Weld rose asMrs. Hemsley swept away the last of the dishes. “Lady Ravenstock,” Weld said, rising to pull back Georgina’s chair, his voice even but a shade too formal for the warmth lingering between them.
Georgina placed her hand lightly on his sleeve. His gaze flicked to it, then rose to meet hers.
There was nothing improper in the gesture, yet the warmth of it lingered, as if her fingers had whispered something her lips could not.
He held her gaze a moment too long, enough to make her wonder if he felt it too.
“After this morning,” she said, her tone both warm and steady, “I believe we’ve earned the right to set formality aside.”
She let the moment stretch, holding his gaze. “You may call me Georgina.”
A flicker of something, surprise, perhaps even quiet relief, crossed his features before he answered.
“I would like that very much,” he replied, his voice low, the warmth in it feeling earned rather than assumed. “Then you must call me Alex.”
Her lips curved, not quite a smile but near enough to soften her expression. “Alex,” she said, tasting the name with quiet satisfaction. The sound of it was familiar, yet entirely new. “It suits you far better thanLord Hawkesbury.”
She had said the name before, in other lifetimes, acrosschessboards, down quiet corridors at Ravenstock. But now it carried meaning. Not nostalgia. Not propriety. Just truth. And the faintest thread of something she wasn’t quite ready to name.
A spark of dry humor touched his eyes. “So I’ve been told.”
For a heartbeat, it was as though the years between them had faded away, leaving their footing less formal and more familiar.
They moved toward the window together, as if by silent agreement. Pale sunlight spilled across the floorboards, casting long shapes from the mullioned panes. Outside, the hills sloped gently toward the mines, shadows trailing from their ridges.
“You saw more in the mine today than most would have,” Alex said, his gaze lingering on the horizon. “Archer won’t sleep easy tonight.”
“I rather hope not,” Georgina replied, her tone edged with quiet resolve. “Too much has been lost already. If a sleepless night keeps him alert, so be it.”
A glint of approval touched his features. “Good. Because I suspect there is more to be found beneath those timbers than bad luck.”
They left the morning room and walked together along the corridor, their steps unhurried, though the quiet between them anything but empty. The hush of the house settled around them, broken only by the soft fall of their footsteps.
“Alex,” she tried the name, soft but certain.
He glanced toward her, a subtle warmth in his expression, as though hearing his name from her lips after so many years kindled something dormant between them. “Yes?”
“I would like to understand more about the mine, the accounts, the holdings.” She kept her gaze forward, though her attention was fully on him. “If I am to take my role seriously, I must see more than a single shaft and a set of ledgers.”
He considered her for a moment. “You wish to see the accounts?”
