“Ah, that look.” Alex glanced at Georgina. “Well, yes. You used to—”
“I didn’t do anything.” Her voice made Alex think twice before he said anything else.
Alex cleared his throat. “I’ll arrive first and look around for you. Let them think I’ve grown impatient for your company.” He didn’t hide the laughter in his voice. “It will give me time to look around before you make your entrance, without giving anything away.”
Alex stood, and Lock rose with him.
“Thank you, Jeremy. You have been more than helpful. You’d best go home. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Lock nodded to the ladies. Mrs. Hemsley saw him out.
Alex rubbed his hands together, then turned to Georgina. “You don’t have to go.”
“Yes, I do.” She was adamant. “It’s my side of the mine that is being robbed.”
She didn’t flinch at the words. Not anymore. It wasn’t grief that burned now, but the sharp heat of injustice. Of ownership. Of resolve.
He inclined his head, conceding the point. “Then I’ll go ahead. Give me a few minutes and follow afterward.”
Georgina walked with him down the corridor and stopped at the door.
He turned and glanced at her.
“Alex… you will be careful.”
“Of course, I will. They want us to see nothing. So we will accommodate them.” He opened the door and was gone.
Georgina drew herself up, smoothing her skirts as she returned to the parlor. “If they expect to see me as nothing more than a lady out of her depth,” she said, her voice calm but edged with quiet determination, “then I must look the part. Almost.”
Mrs. Hemsley stepped forward at once, keen eyes narrowing as she took Georgina’s measure. “Almost,” the housekeeper repeated, with the faintest hint of a smile. She reached for the folds of Georgina’s gown, adjusting the neckline by a careful fraction. “A little less governess… a little more…” She let the words trail off, but the meaning hung between them like a secret passed hand to hand.
Georgina arched a brow. “Temptress?”
“Temptation,” Mrs. Bainbridge corrected smoothly, stepping in with a discerning glance over Georgina’s ensemble. “Subtle enough to be accidental. Obvious enough to make them wonder.”
Mrs. Hemsley fastened a loose strand of Georgina’s hair near her temple, then, with a deft, knowing twist, let another curl fall deliberately free. “There,” she declared. “Too hurried for propriety,” Mrs. Hemsley said with a wicked little nod.
“I hope they choke on it,” Georgina replied, though a hint of a smile touched her lips.
“They’ll choke,” Mrs. Bainbridge’s gaze sharpened with approval. “And believe every last morsel of the tale we feed them.”
Georgina exhaled a steadying breath, her pulse quickening beneath the quiet theatre of it all. “Then let’s give them their performance.”
As Georgina fastened her cloak and reached for her gloves, Mrs. Bainbridge’s voice followed her, low and steady with a spark of mischief beneath the steel.
“Remember, my dear,” she said, like a final lesson before battle, “even a queen must let her crown tilt now and then, if only to keep her enemies guessing.”
Georgina glanced back, a flicker of defiance lighting her eyes. “Then let them wonder which way it will fall.”
Mrs. Hemsley, never to be outdone, gave a brisk nod of approval and added, “And may they be too busy watching your crown to notice your sword.”
*
Dusk had begunto settle by the time Alex reached the mine. He dismounted at the edge of the yard, the air thick with silence and something just beneath it.
The mine looked no less grim by dusk, the shadows long and heavy across the yard.
He moved directly to the mine workings. Few men remained. This shift was nearly over. The rest of the men had already gone for the day. The carts, which were usually in the stable yard, were in neat rows close to the mine entrance. A few more stood empty just inside.
