There was an edge to Swinthorpe's voice now, a message being sharply delivered.
“I… am change,” she took the words from his lips.
“Yes, you are…”
Again, unspoken words. This time, they were ‘an unwelcome change’. Georgia rounded on him, fighting a sudden anxiety that had her throat tightening. This man wanted her gone. But she could not go until her brother was found. She hid nerves behind a smile.
If this man is so desperate for me to leave, then perhaps I can recruit him. Promise to leave his nephew as soon as I have the help my brother needs.
“Lord Swinthorpe, I find your nephew difficult and quick to take offense. I feel like I'm walking on eggshells. It is not a comfortable way to live.”
The older man shrugged. “I can see how it would not be.”
“But I am here because my previous life, at Silverton, was even more intolerable. Perhaps we can help each other?”
Swinthorpe tilted his head and pursed his lips. He feigned sudden interest in a dusty portrait on the wall.
“I had expected to have to persuade you to depart. If I understand you, no persuasion will be necessary.”
“…Possibly not,” Georgia admitted.
Those words had to be cranked from her, like a loose tooth. It felt wrong to utter them. Unbidden, the memory of Keaton's body beneath hers came back to her. The feel of his rigid muscles, his strong arms, which felt as though they would be inescapable if he chose not to release her. His lips upon hers, the taste of him.
It set a tremor in her knees. She lifted her chin, forced her mind to the matter at hand.
That is nothing but wanton, physical desire. Primal and primitive. It does not rule me.
“What help would you ask of me?” Swinthorpe uttered absently.
Georgia straightened. “My brother has been missing for a number of years and will soon either be found or declared dead. I wish to find him.”
“And what if he is dead?”
“Then I wish to know how he came to be so. He vanished, without a trace and with no warning, one evening, five years ago.”
The man shrugged. “Tragic, but how can I be of help?”
“I have tried to recruit the services of a private investigator. Keaton has said that he will write to his own man on my behalf. If you can facilitate the finding of my brother...”
Georgia trailed off as she saw understanding dawn on Swinthorpe's face. He beamed.
“Then you will leave Keaton and make no further claim on him.”
“Correct.”
“So, youwereusing him all along…” Swinthorpe reasoned, his voice falling in a tone of disapproval.
Georgia hesitated before replying. She shook her head emphatically, then stopped herself.
I suppose I did that. I saw an opportunity and took it for my brother's sake. It was not the prime motivation, but... yes, I did use him.
She did not like admitting it to herself, but she was fundamentally honest and would not lie, even in the privacy ofher own mind. She had kissed Keaton to escape Emsworth., had seized on his offer of a marriage of convenience to experience freedom and to find her brother.
“Your silence is eloquent. Very well. I shall help. In the meantime, I have extended an invitation to both of you to Swinthorpe this evening for dinner. A small soiree and a place that Keaton knows almost as well as this house. A far morefittingplace to be seen for him.”
Georgia smiled around gritted teeth, hearing the criticism of her choices for outings with Keaton.
He is a grown man. He could have objected or simply told me why it was not suitable. He is so damnably close-mouthed when he wants to be, I feel I am beating my head against a wall!
