“Father!”
Georgina turned to see a young man practically flying down the stairs and then slamming into the brick wall that was her husband, and apparently his father, though it was not a foregone conclusion by any means. The boy didn’t look all of seventeen as she’d been told, but much closer to her own age. Was it just the height? He was as tall as James, though not nearly as broad of frame. He was more on the slim side, yet his shoulders promised to get wider. He was being crushed right now in a bear hug, and laughing, and she realized with a start that he bore no resemblance to James at all, though no one could deny he was just as handsome.
“But what’s happened, then?” Jeremy was asking. “You’re back so soon. Did you decide to keep the plantation?”
“No,” James said. “I just found an agent to dispose of it, is all.”
“So you could hurry back? Missed me, did you?”
“Get that grin off your face, puppy. I thought I’d warned you to stay out of trouble.”
The boy gave Dobson a look of reproach for spilling the news so soon, but he was grinning unrepentently again when he looked back at his father. “Well, she was a prime piece. What was I to do?”
“Whatdidyou do?”
“Just had a bloody good time, is all. But they weren’t very understanding about finding the wench in my room, so I told ’em she followed me back, that she refused to leave without making a fuss.”
“And they believed that clanker?”
“The headmaster didn’t.” Jeremy grinned roguishly. “But Uncle Tony did.”
James laughed here. “Tony doesn’tknowyou well enough yet.” But he tamped down his humor when he noticed Georgina’s look of disgust. “But you’ll attend to your entertainments outside of the school grounds from now on, scamp, that’s if they even allow you back, and you bloody well better hope they do, or I’ll be kicking your arse around the block.”
Jeremy’s grin didn’t waver the least little bit, as if he’d heard such dire warnings a hundred times before and had never once taken them seriously. But he had followed his father’s glance to Georgina, and he was now looking her over himself. Still wrapped up in James’s Garrick coat, and with her hair tucked under her cap, which she’d worn to limit her embarrassment in being dressed as she was, she found it understandable that the boy showed only the mildest interest in her.
But Georgina was still simmering over her latest heated exchange with James, which was aggravated by what she’d just heard. The man was no more than amused that his son was following in his footsteps…another reprehensible rake to be set loose on womankind.
That, coupled with her embarrassment over her shabby appearance, prompted her cutting remark. “He doesn’t look anything like you, James. In fact, he looks more like your brother.” She paused to raise a brow tauntingly. “Are you sure he’s yours?”
“I know you feel justified, love, but don’t take it out on the youngun.”
He said it in a way that guaranteed she’d feel ashamed of herself for behaving pettishly, and she did, extremely so. But instead of cowing her, it only made her angrier. And James, unfortunately, didn’t notice.
“Jeremy,” he continued. “Meet George—”
“Hiswife,” she cut in scathingly, taking a good deal of satisfaction in saying it, since she was sure James wouldn’t have said it. And then she added innocently, “But I forgot. I’m supposed to delete that word from my vocabulary. And that would make me—”
“George!”
She merely gave James an owl-eyed look, not at all impressed by his bellow. But Jeremy’s interest was now piqued and he stepped closer to her, though it was his father he addressed his questions to.
“Wife? She’s a girl, then?”
“Oh, she’s female all right,” James said testily.
Jeremy yanked off Georgina’s cap before she could stop him. “Oh, I say,” came out with a good deal of male appreciation as her long dark hair tumbled down her shoulders. “Do I get to kiss the bride?”
“Not in the way you’d like to, scamp.” James was scowling now.
But all Georgina wanted to know, was, “Why isn’t he surprised?”
“Because he doesn’t believe a word of it,” James retorted.
She’d anticipated a lot of reactions, but flat disbelief wasn’t one of them. The boy thought they were ribbing him. At the moment, she wished they were.
“Well, that’s just swell-dandy-fine,” she said indignantly. “I’m damned if I care what your family thinks, James Malory, but you can certainly be sure that as long as theydon’tthink I’m your wife, I’ll be sleeping alone.” And she turned to glare at the butler. “You may show me to a room that is far removed fromhis.”
“As you wish, my lady,” the butler replied without the slightest crack in his bland expression.
