But Georgina, in high dudgeon, explained haughtily, “I’m notyour lady, my good man. I’m American.”
That didn’t get a reaction out of him, either, not that she was trying for one. But as she followed the man up the stairs, her exasperation did increase when she heard Jeremy’s remark.
“Hell’s bells, you can’t mean to install your mistress here! Aunt Roslynn won’t stand for it.”
“Your aunt will bloody well be delighted, lad. You may depend upon it. Georgeisa Malory, after all.”
“Sure, and I’m legitimate.”
Chapter Forty
“Show a leg, George. Your new in-laws will be returning home soon.”
Georgina cracked an eyelid to find James sitting on the side of the bed. Doing so had made her roll toward him in her sleep, so that her hips were pressed up against his thigh. But that didn’t alarm her nearly as much as his hand resting on her buttocks.
“How’d you get in here?” she demanded, wide awake.
“Walked in, of course. It was wise of Dobson to put you in my room.”
“Yourroom? I told him—”
“Yes, and he took you literally. After all, he didn’t hear me deny your status, and only Jeremy is doubting of it, not the whole family.”
“You mean hestillis? You didn’t bother to try and convince him?”
“Didn’t see much point in it.”
Georgina sat up and turned away from him so he couldn’t see how that answer affected her. So now she knew. She wasn’t going to be here long enough for it to matter whether his son believed he’d married or not. James probably planned to put her on the first ship he could find sailing for America. Well and good, the sooner the better. She didn’t want to live in England anyway. And she certainly didn’t want to live with a man who merely shared a mutual attraction with her. That was fine for temporary, but not for permanent. For permanent she needed much, much more. And she wouldn’t cry, not this time. She’d done enough crying over this man. If he didn’t care, she wouldn’t either, and that’s all he was going to know…if it killed her.
James had no idea what conclusion she’d drawn from his remark, but then he was overlooking the fact that Georgina didn’t know his son. In his doubt, Jeremy was merely being loyal to James, since he was well aware of James’s sentiments towards marriage, and also that he had sworn never to marry. And James wasn’t ready to explain why he’d changed those sentiments, since that was also going to be doubted. So what was the point in letting his hardheaded son frustrate him over the matter, when time would tell?
“You’re absolutely right, James,” Georgina said, coming off the bed.
“I am?” His brow rose sharply. “Dare I ask what you’re agreeing with me about?”
“That there’s no point in convincing anyone about our…connection.”
He frowned as he watched her cross to the chair where he’d dumped a pile of clothes for her. “I was referring only to Jeremy,” he explained. “It won’t be necessary to convince anyone else.”
“But if it is, why bother? And I don’t see much point in my meeting the rest of your family, either.”
“You’ve let the lad give you cold feet, have you?”
“Certainly not,” she retorted, turning to glare at him for drawing that conclusion.
“Then what are you worried about? Unlikeyourfamily, mine will adore you. And you’ll get along famously with Roslynn. She’s only a few years older than you are, I believe.”
“Your sister-in-law Roslynn? The one who’s going to object to my staying here? And which brother does she happen to be married to?”
“Anthony, of course. This is his house.”
“You mean he’s married?”
“He put the shackle on just the day before I met you, as a matter of fact, and that’s about as long as his wedded bliss lasted. He was still at odds with his little Scottish bride when I left here. It’ll be interesting to see how the lad’s getting on with her now, though Jeremy assures me Tony’s no longer in the doghouse.”
“Sounds like a good place for you to be, though,” she said pointedly. “You could have told me all of thisbeforewe got here, James.”
He shrugged carelessly. “Didn’t think you’d be interested in my family. I’m certainly not interested in yours. Now what’s this?” he asked when he saw her chin go up just before she gave him her back again. “It’s no insult to you, love, that I can’t tolerate those barbarians you call brothers.”
