“It is not myhelpthat is in question, Miss Roseton. It is what you did in front of witnessesafterI had helped you,” the Duke replied, smoothly.
To that, Georgia had no answer. She had behaved recklessly, of that there was no doubt, and she did feel guilty at drawing her rescuer into this situation. But what else could she have done?
“Let me be very clear. I am proposing a month in which we will portray a happily married couple, while in private, living separate lives. There will be no love, affection, or consummation. Do you agree?”
“She does,” Aunt Clarissa nodded eagerly.
“Absolutely, of course!” Uncle Benjamin echoed.
All eyes turned to Georgia. She met the Duke's green-tinged, grey eyes. They were soft pools in a hard, stone surround.
“I do,” she whispered.
CHAPTER 7
TWO WEEKS LATER
“Georgia, you simplymustuse this ridiculous affair to your advantage,” Hermione Archer said insistently.
“How am I to do that?” Georgia threw up her hands in hopelessness.
They walked through the lavish gardens of Silverton Hall, awaiting the Vexleys. Soon, there would be a carriage ride to Westvale, where Georgia would be married to the Duke at his family chapel.
She wore a white dress, reluctantly commissioned at short notice from the same modiste who had made Amelia's ballgown. Reluctantly on the part of the Vexleys, because the short notice had increased the price significantly.
Now, for the first time since her debut, Georgia felt quite beautiful. She almost felt like a princess in a fairy tale.Almost.
“Why, your brother, of course!” Hermione, her bosom-friend of nine years, insisted.
She was tall and slender with dark hair and a swan-like neck. Her dark eyes could be fierce when she wanted. They were fixed on Georgia now, determined.
“My brother?” Georgia asked.
“Are your senses addled by the dress?” Hermione demanded bluntly, “You lack the resources to recruit sufficient men to find your brother for you. A Duke has no shortage of resources. He can help you!”
Georgia had considered it. Just because the Duke was handsome didn’t mean that the enforced marriage was something she could simply accept with equanimity. She had been forced by circumstances to enter into a marriage with a man who was practically a complete stranger. And she had to trust that he would not seek to take advantage of their legal status. The idea was thrilling to part of her and horrifying to another.
“He has categorically stated that there will be no interaction between us. This is to be a marriage of convenience only,” she reminded.
“Interaction? Is that what he calls it?” her friend emphasized with a lascivious smile.
Georgia blushed. Her friend was married and the holder of some earthy views on the matter of the relations between man and wife.
“You know what I mean,” Georgia nudged her. “It is to say that I doubt he would be willing to help me.”
“Then make itworthhis while!”
“Hermione!” Georgia gasped, “That is the one thing that is prohibited! Consummation willnottake place.”
“I was not speaking of consummation you silly goose,” her friend replied with a knowing look.
Georgia's blush deepened. She had leaped to the most obvious conclusion in her mind. Which said much about what came into her head when she thought of the Duke.
I should be thinking of how aloof he is. How unemotional and unapproachable. How downright arrogant he is! Not the softness of his eyes or the symmetry of his features. Certainly not the breadth of his chest or his shoulders!
“He requires your equal co-operation in order to sell this illusion of romance to the ton,” Hermione began matter-of-factly. “You will have to go along, or no one will believe the marriage. Hold that over him, use it as leverage.”
They were perambulating around the broad, rectangular lawn beyond the south aspect of Silverton Hall. Georgia looked upon the croquet hoops sadly. She remembered visiting with Elias and teaching Amelia to play. That had been a happy day. There had been others, in the company of mama and papa, visiting with mama's sister. As a child, she had been oblivious to Aunt Clarissa's nature then. She wondered if her older brother had been too.
