James wasn’t going to comment on that. Talking to these imbeciles was a headache in itself. Slowly, with extreme care, he got to his feet. As he did, so did Warren and Clinton, who had been sitting down. James almost laughed. Did they really think he had anything left in him that they need worry about just now? Bloody giants. Little George couldn’t have anormalfamily, could she?
“By the by, where is George?” he wanted to know.
The young one, who’d been pacing the floorboards in agitation, stopped in front of him to glower hotly. “That’s not her name, Malory.”
“Good God, indignation over a name, now.” And with a lack of the indifference James was known for, “I’ll call her any bloody thing I like, puppy. Now where have you put her?”
“We haven’tputher anywhere,” Drew’s voice came from behind him. “She’s right here.”
James swung around, winced at what the sharp movement did to him, saw Drew first, standing between him and the sofa. And on the sofa, stretched out and looking as pale as death, and quite unconscious, Georgina.
“What the bloody hell!”
Drew, the only one to actually see the murderous expression that crossed James’s face as he started toward the sofa, tried to stop him, but wished he hadn’t as he landed with slamming force against the wall. The impact tilted every picture on the wall, and a crash was heard out in the hall, where one of the servants was so startled by the sudden loud noise that she dropped her tray of glasses.
“Let it go, Warren,” Thomas cautioned. “He’s not going to hurt her.” And to James, “She merely fainted, man, when she got a good look at you.”
“She never faints,” Boyd insisted. “I tell you she’s playing possum so she won’t have to listen to Clinton yell at her.”
“You should have beat her when you had the chance, Clint,” This bit of disgruntlement came from Warren, which got him exasperated looks from each of his brothers, but something altogether unexpected from the only non-family member in the room.
“You lay a bloody hand on her and you’re dead.”
James didn’t even turn around to snarl that warning. He was on his knees beside the sofa, gently patting Georgina’s ashen cheek, trying to bring her around.
Into the pregnant silence that followed, Thomas looked at Clinton and said calmly, “I told you.”
“So you did. All the more reason we don’t drag our feet about this.”
“If you’d just let me turn him over to Governor Wolcott for hanging, there’d be no problem.”
“He’s still compromised her, Warren,” Clinton reminded him. “There will be a wedding to amend that before we discuss anything else.”
Their voices droned on behind him, but James was only vaguely listening. He didn’t like Georgina’s color. Her breathing was too shallow, too. Of course, he’d never dealt with a fainting woman himself before. Someone else was always around to do that and stick smelling salts under her nose. Her brothers must not have any salts, or they’d have used it. Weren’t burnt feathers supposed to do the trick, too? He eyed the sofa, wondering what it was stuffed with.
“You might try tickling her feet,” Drew suggested, coming up to stand behind James. “They’re very sensitive.”
“I know that.” James replied, remembering the time his hand had merely brushed against her bare instep and she’d practically kicked him out of his bed in reflex.
“You know? How the devil do you know?”
James sighed, hearing the belligerence back in Drew’s tone. “By accident, dear boy. You don’t think I’d participate in such childish antics as tickling, do you?”
“I wonder just what antics youhaveparticipated in with my sister?”
“No more than you’ve already assumed.”
Drew inhaled sharply before replying, “I’ll say this for you, Englishman. You know how to dig a hole very deep for yourself.”
James glanced over his shoulder. He would have smiled if it wouldn’t have hurt to do so. “Not at all. Would you have me lie about it?”
“Yes, by God, I wish you had!”
“Sorry, lad, but I haven’t the conscience you seem burdened with. As I told your sister, I’m quite reprehensible when it comes to certain aspects of my life.”
“Meaning women?”
“Well, aren’t you the discerning fellow.”
