“Mother doesn’t approve.”It wasn’t a question.“She is ‘no one who is anyone’?”
“That is correct.”
Chadbourn has fallen in love with a commoner, how intriguing.Georgiana was stunned to silence.The thought that her mother might wish her to witness the distastefulness of an uneven match occurred to her.She wondered if it was Richard’s intention also.Georgiana puzzled over the possibilities.Perhaps Richard wished her to lend support to the bride.She once thought she could read her brother but not now, not now that she knew what he did to her eleven years ago.It clouded her view of him.
“Mother—” he began.She didn’t let him finish.
“Why is my presence required?”
“You stay too long in your own company.”
“That isn’t our noble mother speaking.What is really on your mind, Richard?”
“Chadbourn’s wedding and your duty to your station.”His chin rose, and his tone became icy.“A lady doesn’t avoid the marriage of a peer and a friend when invited.”
It was a command, an order to attend, but she still didn’t know who had issued the order.The wedding itself might not be so bad.Distantly she heard her brother fill in details of his plans, assuming she would comply.
She might like to meet this respectable-but-common woman Chadbourn had the poor taste to love.She thought she would like that very much.There were other ties, however.
“I can’t leave Cambridgeshire at this time.”
“What ties you here?”He leaned forward, his look probing.
“Work.I have my work.”She did, but it felt foolish to tell him that.
He dismissed her work with a sardonic grimace and a wave of his hand.“Jamie has told me that you continue to work on your poems.There is paper in Devonshire, and ink.”
There is Andrew.She couldn’t say it.“My books are here.”
“I gather you attempted to find some assistance in the University community.”
“If you know that, you know I was rebuffed.”
Richard raised an elegant brow at her plain speaking.“Yes.Quite.”
Her throat tightened.“One goes forward with the work as one can.”Her eyes defied him to continue, to put into words what was on his mind.
A light scratch on the door interrupted them.“Mr.Andrew Mallet has arrived, my lady.”
“Show him in, Chambers.”Georgiana hoped that she showed no sign of discomfort or concern but knew the heat she felt creeping up her neck probably meant she revealed a pink color.She held her brother’s gaze.It registered no surprise at her visitor.
“I am sorry, my lady, but I have shown him to the workroom as is your customary practice.Shall I ask him to attend you here?”The butler looked uncomfortable.
“No, that will be all.Please tell him I will join him in a moment.”
“Customary practice, Georgiana?”Richard drawled.
“My work, Richard.‘One goes forward as one can.’Your old friend Mr.Mallet is an excellent tutor.”I hope you don’t discover how true that is.“His assistance has improved my work significantly.If you will excuse me, I have a longstanding appointment with him this afternoon.I will see you at dinner.”
She crossed the finely polished parquet floor of the foyer with as much dignity as she could muster before turning down a small corridor.She felt her brother’s eyes on her back every step, but she forced him from her mind.
Other concerns flooded her, chief among them was deciding how one should greet a lover who has parted in anger in the depths of the night after hours of glorious lovemaking.
It will be simplest, I think, to throw myself into his arms.She made sure she shut the door securely behind her.
* * *
He plannedto keep her at arm’s length, but she flowed into his arms and began to kiss him before he could speak.He wanted to speak to her soberly about the changes between them.Need battered common sense down once again; it pummeled emotion and laid waste to rational thought.Reality was her sweet mouth and the lush body pressed against him.Delicate hands explored the skin under his shirt which had inexplicably come loose from his waist.When those hands began to undo his waistband, he became suddenly, painfully alert and took her wrists in an iron grip.
