No, she knew suddenly. They wouldn’t. So she sat in on the meeting with the three men, surprising both of their guests, even though she offered nothing more than the occasional nod and a few signatures alongside her husband’s on authorization papers after she read the terms quite closely.
“You really want to read all that legal mumbo-jumbo?” Hartman asked, still smiling.
She smiled right back. “I don’t like to be surprised.”
The terms were there. She and the solicitor had control over the estate until Grey returned from the Continent. She needed to make sure, though.
“If you gentlemen won’t mind,” she all but purred. “I need to check with my husband about a personal matter. I’m sure Chalmers would be happy to serve tea in the parlor.”
The two gentlemen bowed and let Chalmers lead them out.
“There’s a problem?” Grey immediately asked, his voice pitched low.
Georgie kept looking after the estate agent. “Your cousin hired Mr. Hartman?”
Now Grey looked that way, as if he could still see the man through the closed door. “He did. Why?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I just have a…”
“Feeling? Why?” He was smiling. “It couldn’t be because he just tried to patronize you.”
She couldn’t help but grin. “Well, that too. But there is something that just doesn’t fit. I need to see the estate books.”
“Because his clothing is too well-made and he acts like a politician?”
She looked up to see that knowing smile in his eyes. “You noticed, too?”
“I am new to this,” he said, looking back toward the parlor, “but I admit to some suspicion. I just haven’t had the chance to dive into the situation yet.”
“The estate hasn’t been bringing in the income you thought it would, though, has it? What was his reason?”
“A need for maintenance that my cousin fell behind on.”
“Why do I have a feeling the rents have been raised without your knowledge?”
He looked back at her, betraying a surprise that should have annoyed her, but didn’t. He really was new to all of this. “Are you asking me if you can take care of this little problem while I’m gone?”
“I am.”
He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. “You have my full faith, my girl. Just be careful. He won’t be happy if you show him the door.”
“He’ll be more ready to go if I show him the magistrate. Who is he, by the way?”
Now Grey was frowning. “Well, at Coleford Abbey it is Squire Handy. I wish I could be here. I hate dumping all of this on your plate.”
Georgie was proud of herself. She didn’t smile and say she would be happy to handle it. Instead, she kissed her husband back. “I wish you could, too. I wish I could wait for you to come back to handle this. But...”
His smile was rueful. “You have a feeling.”
Grey thoughthe would get out of the house without more problems. His luggage was piled on the carriage, and he was just about to help the girls don their coats when Chalmers showed up at the salon door looking frantic.
“My lord, I….”
Before he could finish, a whirlwind shoved right by him and stomped into the salon, feathers quivering from her puce hat and the floors vibrating beneath her hard heels.
“Thereyou are, you lecher. Do you not stay home to care for these poor defenseless girls anymore? Or are you too busy in your debauches? Or is that luggage out there not yours?”
Grey felt the girls freeze all over again and fought the urge to jump in front of them and battle this fury. It was vital, he knew, to assure the girls that they were safe or they would be right back to where they had been a week ago. When he heard Bark growl out beyond the green baize door, he knew he had to act.
