“Madhouse?” Georgina eruptedfrom the armchair, her hands fisting at her sides. She could not have heard right. “But they can’t. They simply can’t.”
“I did warn you,” the widow murmured, seemingly unmoved by Georgina’s outburst.
With a valiant effort, Georgina reined in hot emotions and resumed her seat. “So you did. I’m all right. Please continue.”
“Very well,” the widow said, then sipped her tea. Georgina gained the distinct impression she did so for her benefit, to give her another moment to settle. After a few moments, she set her cup and saucer down on the table beside her and fixed Georgina with a steady gaze. “Let me be very clear, Lady Belfry. So long as Lord Arlington is not himself, his parents have every right, not to mention the money and the clout, to lock their son away for as long as they deem necessary.”
“Do you know when they mean to…to…?” She could not say the word.
“He will be transported within the next few days.”
“Days,” Georgina echoed. Her dear Teddy, incarcerated in a home for the mentally deranged? The very notion was unthinkable.
“There is one person who could feasibly countermand the earl’s decision.”
“Wh-who? I must reach out to him. Beseech him to intervene.” Her voice was going shrill. She closed her eyes and ordered herself to calm down. Now was not the time to fall apart.
“I refer to his wife.”
Her eyes snapped open as her heart seemed to lodge in her throat. “His wife? But—but… he is not married.”
“No, he isn’t. Am I wrong to assume you wish to marry him, Lady Belfry?”
Did she wish to marry him? Did she wish to be Teddy’s wife? Only with every fiber of her being, for as long as she’d known him.
“I must warn you,” the woman continued as if she considered Georgina’s assent a foregone conclusion. “It will be difficult to arrange, being that he is a future earl—not to mention, extremely costly.”
“I do not wish to marry him, madam,” Georgina blurted, then added in a gratifyingly composed tone, “I thought I made it clear I came here for answers, only.”
“That is what you said, yes,” Mrs. Dove-Lyon replied smoothly.
Georgina frowned. What an odd turn of phrase. It was almost as if the woman did not believe her.
But she’d spoken the truth. She had no wish to be married to a man she loved with every ounce of her strength who saw her as nothing more than his friend’s pesky little sister.
Somehow she doubted the widow would understand.
She could explain that everyone who knew Teddy knew he meant to marry Lady Catherine. And why wouldn’t he? Catherine was the daughter of an earl and stunningly beautiful. She and Teddy, standing side by side, appeared made for one another. And though Catherine had never treated her with cordiality, she had always doted on Teddy in a manner that grated on Georgina’s nerves like the sound of feral cats fighting.
Yes, she could explain, but why bother? None of it All that mattered was Teddy.
“If you’re certain—”
“I am.”
“In that case, I do not think you can hope to help him.”
That made two of them.
“I suppose you could kidnap him, assuming he’d go with you,” the woman mused aloud. “That is something your heroine, Lady Celine, might do.”
Georgina managed a feeble smile, though she was unable to take any real pleasure in Mrs. Dove-Lyon’s obvious familiarity with her work, as she would normally would. “Do you know the name of this establishment, by chance?”
“Brook Haven. It’s a private hospital located in Surrey. Very expensive. Very exclusive. But still, nowhere I would want to find myself.”
“Nor I,” Georgina agreed, her voice stronger now.
She would come up with something, she told herself. When faced with imminent disaster, she always managed to salvage the situation. Why should this instance be different? “You’ve no idea what this so-called damage entails?”
