“Georgie…”
“Demonstrate your patience, brother. Why haven’t you?”
“I haven’t found what I’m looking for yet.”
“But you are looking?”
“Yes.”
“Clinton isn’t, and look how many years it’s been since his wife died. He says he just doesn’t want to go through that again. Warren isn’t, but of course he’s still nursing his bitterness and will likely change his mind eventually, as fond as he is of children. Boyd isn’t. He claims he’s much too young to settle down. Drew, now, says he’s not ready to give up the fun of looking—”
“Hetoldyou that?” Thomas came very close to raising his voice.
“No.” She grinned. “That was just one of the things I overheard.”
He gave her a purely disgruntled look. “What’s your point, Georgina? That you’ve decided you’re not going to look anymore?”
“No, I’ve just met someone with still another view on marriage. And I can safely say he thinks hell would be preferable.”
“My God!” Thomas gasped as all the pieces came together. “No wonder it didn’t make sense. Who is he?”
“An Englishman.”
She cringed, waiting for the explosion. But this was Thomas. He merely asked, “What’s his name?” But Georgina had already said more than she’d intended to.
“His name doesn’t matter. You won’t be meeting him, and I’ll never see him again.”
“Did he know how you felt about him?”
“No…maybe. Oh, I don’t know.”
“How did he feel about you?”
“He liked me well enough.”
“But not enough to marry you?”
“I told you, Thomas, he thinks marriage is a fool’s mistake. And those were his exact words, no doubt said to keep me from hoping.”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart, I truly am. But you know, this is no reason to set yourself against marriage. There will be other men, maybe not here, but Clinton means to take you to New Haven with him when he visits our two nieces. And if no one appeals to you there, Warren intends to take you to New York.”
She had to smile at that. Her brothers, all of them, meant well. And she’d enjoy seeing her nieces again. She had wanted to raise them herself when Clinton’s wife died, but she’d been only twelve at the time and was being raised more or less by servants herself, or whichever brother was home at the time. So it had been decided that they’d live with their grandparents in New Haven, since Clinton was so rarely home himself. Fortunately, New Haven wasn’t so very far away.
But if she was going to visit anywhere, she’d have to do it soon, before she started showing and all hell broke loose. Maybe most of her brothers would be back to sea by then. She could hope.
Right now, she’d agree to anything to end this discussion, before Thomas thought to get even more personal in his questioning.
“I’ll consider going, Thomas…if you’ll do me a favor. Don’t tell the others about…well, what I’ve told you. They wouldn’t understand how I could fall in love with an Englishman. I don’t understand it myself. You know, I really couldn’t stand him at first, his arrogance, his…Well, you know how those blasted lords can be.”
“A lord, too?” He rolled his eyes. “No, I can’t see any good reason to mention that to my dear brothers. They’d likely want to start up the war again.”
Chapter Thirty-one
“Blast it, Georgie! Don’t you know better than to do that to a man?”
Georgina blinked at Drew’s sharp tone, before his words sunk in. “Do what?” she asked innocently, already realizing by the way he was clutching the vase he was holding that he’d nearly dropped it when he’d glanced at her. Why she’d surprised him, though, she wasn’t sure, since she’d spoken to him when she entered the study.
“Come into a room looking like that,” he explained testily, glaring at the low cut of her evening gown.
