“Oh, do call me Amelia. Everyone does.”
“Very well. Amelia it is.”
Her hostess faced the other girls in the room. “Everyone? I’m sure you know Lady Georgiana Halley. Her cousin is the Duke of Wycliffe.”
“Ooh. I heard that he married a governess,” one of them chirped. “Is that true?”
“Emma was the headmistress of a girls’ school,” Georgiana said. The feeling in the room seemed…odd. Hostile, almost. The hairs on the back of her neck pricked. “And cousin to a viscount,” she added, accepting a cup of tea from a footman.
“And now she is a duchess,” Amelia took up, motioning Georgiana to sit down beside her. “So nothing in her past signifies in the least.”
The look she gave Georgiana seemed full of secrets, as though she was prompting Georgie to say something in defense of a woman’s character. Beginning to feel annoyance creep in, Georgiana sipped her tea. She might be outnumbered here, but she was by no means unarmed.
Though she’d seen them at the various events of the Season, she didn’t know most of the young ladies at all well. They were daughters and nieces of barons and knights, mostly, and a granddaughter or two of a higher-ranking nobleman thrown in for good measure.
The girls began chatting again, silly things about fashion and weather, and she relaxed a little. Perhaps she was just nervous and was misreading things.
“Lady Georgiana,” Amelia said softly. “I am surprised to see you here.”
“I wanted to apologize to you,” Georgiana returned.
“Really? Whatever for?”
“For Lord Dare. My plans have gone distressingly astray, I’m afraid.”
“How so?”
After seeing the note, Amelia had to know already. If she wanted to hear another apology, though, Georgiana was willing to accommodate her. Glancing at the other girls, she said, “I think this conversation requires a bit more privacy, if you don’t mind.”
“Hm. I suppose my guests can spare me for a few minutes.” She stood, drawing Georgiana up with her. “Excuse us for just a moment, won’t you?”
The tittering and giggling didn’t diminish as Georgiana followed her hostess out of the sitting room and down the hall to a smaller room that overlooked the quiet street. “Your home is truly lovely,” she said, taking in the expensive, tasteful decorations again.
“Thank you. Now, did you really come here to apologize for your…indiscretions with Tristan? It’s not necessary, I assure you.”
Georgiana swallowed down her retort. Amelia had a right to be angry. “It is necessary, because I told you that I would help you win him as a husband, and I’ve done anything but that.”
“Nonsense. You’re the reason I will win him as a husband.”
Be polite, Georgiana reminded herself. “This has all been a terrible misunderstanding, and I feel awful about it. I only wanted to help you. You must believe that.”
“I don’t believe it for an instant,” Amelia replied, the calm smile still on her face. “But as I said, it doesn’t signify. I have set my sights on Lord Dare, and I will marry Lord Dare.”
“Through blackmail?” she bit out, before she could stop herself.
The girl shrugged. “I’m not so silly that I wouldn’t use something that came my way.”
Direct questions and indignation seemed to be netting her better results. “You stole them.”
“And how did Tristan get them, pray tell?”
Georgiana started to snap out an answer, then closed her mouth again. Yelling wouldn’t help anything. “Amelia, what happened between Tristan and me was completely unexpected, but I do not intend to let you use it to harm either of us. Surely you wouldn’t do something so…unnecessary, that would harm both your friendship with Tristan and with me.”
“We are not friends, Lady Georgiana. We are rivals. And I have won.”
“I don’t think this is a contest, Am—”
“And my actions are necessary, because Tristan already informed me that he has no intention of marrying me.” She sighed. “I suppose he still doesn’t have to do so, but what happens next will be his fault, then. I told him that you were playing a trick on him and teaching him a lesson, so he won’t want you now, anyway. Once he and I are married, I’ll give your nasty little items back to you, and we can all be happy.”
