It took exactly half a minute to realize that he didn’t have to jump to anyone’s defense. His wife kissed the top of Amelia’s head and passed her little hand to Grey before stalking toward the interloper, a Valkyrie on the march.
“Might I have an introduction, Grey?” she asked, never looking away from the bristling hedgehog of a woman with suspiciously yellow hair and a voice like a foghorn.
“I apologize, Georgianna,” he said, still holding onto his girls, who were poised for flight. “Please meet Mrs. Philomena Keyse, the girls’ grandmother. Mrs. Keyse, my wife. Lady Georgianna Packham Greyville, Marchioness of Coleford.”
One of them should have curtsied. They stood as still as mountain goats readying to butt heads.
“Lady my arse,” Mrs. Keyse snorted, looking Georgie up and down as if she were a chorus girl in a sacristy. “She’s one of your trollops. That’s what she is. If not, I would have been invited to the wedding. And I won’t have it!” This with a foot stomp, as if she were six herself. “These girls need a better foundation than your wild escapades! Tell him, Sophie! Tell him, Amelia! Don’t let him force you to stay here!”
Grey felt the girls trembling and squeezed tighter. He moved just in front of them. His instinct was to get them out of the room, but Georgie made a minute signal with her hand that kept him in place.
Georgie tilted her head at their grandmother as if she were trying to solve a puzzle. “If you cannot speak in a civil manner, ma’am, I cannot see even letting them stay here now, much less go with you.”
Mrs. Keynes shot Grey a scowl. “Aren’t you going to do anything?”
If the girls hadn’t been literally trembling, he would have happily laughed at Philomena’s cherry-red face. “I did do something, ma’am. I gave my daughters security.”
“Your daughters?” the woman all but screeched. “Yourdaughters? They are no more your daughters than I am.”
He held even more tightly to the girls. “I beg to differ. According to the terms of Francis’s will, they are indeed now my daughters. And I suspect the Chancery court will agree.”
It actually sounded like she growled. “We’ll see about that. Those girls don’t belong with a thief and his doxy. They belong with their grandmother, and you know it. “
“With you, Mrs. Keyse?” Georgie countered in a terrible, quiet voice. “A woman who spouts such obscenities in front of her own grandchildren? I sincerely doubt that, madame.”
“How dare you?!” the girls’ grandmother sputtered. “You have no right to keep my granddaughters from me!”
“But I am not. I will be happy to work out a schedule so you and the girls can spend time together if they choose. Here, if it is agreeable to the girls. But I will tell you now, ma’am, that I will not allow anyone to act in a crude or threatening manner around them in their home. I am not certain where you came from, Mrs. Keynes, but in my family, we do not frighten children.”
“Your family,” the old woman spit. “Yourfamily? Who are your family, if anybody, who would raise such a termagant?”
Grey took a step forward. Georgie motioned him back and took her own step.
“I would be delighted to introduce you to my own grandmother, the Dowager Countess of Clevedon, and let her deal with you if you prefer.”
It seemed that the Dowager was just as fearsome as Grey had suspected. His cousin’s mother-in-law blanched as if Georgie had threatened her with the guillotine.
Without moving, Georgie seemed to be taking up quite a bit more space. “Now, I am certain the girls would be delighted if you visited, if you only give me some notice. But right now, we are about to accompany their uncle to his ship. If you have anyquestions, you might ask Mr. Deevers, the Marquess’s solicitor. But please let us settle in first.”
“Settle in?!” Mrs. Keyse snarled. “Take over. Usurp my daughter’s precious memory. Shoving her out of her daughters’ life!”
“Which cannot happen if you regularly visit. If you share your most lovely memories of your daughter. I would consider it a great favor if you would send around a note when you are next free. Maybe in a few days? Girls, please give your grandmama your best curtsies.”
Grey gave the girls a gentle push and kept his hands on their shoulders for support as they dropped rigid little curtsies.
And before Grey could say a word, Georgie guided the woman out the parlor door and into Chalmers’ waiting hands. The woman was out the door before she could protest, as if she were a person begging for a donation.
Grey couldn’t help but stand there staring. No one in his memory had ever dealt so efficiently with that woman.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I should have warned you.”
Georgie flashed a brilliant smile at him and the girls. “Oh, you did. It’s the lovely thing about growing up at the foot of my grandmama. You learn such useful lessons. Like how to dispatch with annoyances. I must thank her when I see her again.” Then, without turning, she addressed Chalmers who had reappeared, looking just a bit chuffed. “Chalmers, do you think Cook has some biscuits the girls could take along on the ride?”
Chalmers bowed as if he were addressing the queen. “He does, my lady. I shall be happy to see to the matter personally.”
“Excellent. Thank you. Now,” she said, kneeling before the girls. “I am very sorry you had to see your grandmama upset, but she was not in a very agreeable mood, was she?”
She got a pair of wide-eyed shaken heads. She nodded back. “I would have let you hop off with Chalmers when yourGrandmama came, but your Uncle Grey and I wanted you to see that we are always on your side. We are family, now, aren’t we? And nothing is more important than family. It will be your decision about whether to visit with anyone. And if you decide to visit with your grandmama, it will always be here where you are safe and everyone in the house—” As if on cue, Bark gave a rousing howl out in the kitchen. Georgie grinned. “Especially Bark—is here with you. Maybe even the Packhams. Is that all right?”
