ChapterTwenty
If you ain’t going to eat, give a man warning so he don’t waste time in the kitchen.”Harley yanked a plate away.
I should hire a real cook, Andrew thought.Work absorbed Andrew for the first six weeks since Georgiana had dumped work in his lap and left.He forgot about cooks until now.
“Take it back, Harley.Bread and cheese will do.”
“Fine then.Them I can buy.No need to muss the pots.”
Or burn the pots.Andrew would fetch lunch at one of the little coffee shops tomorrow, if he felt like eating.
Harley dropped plates in a dry sink.Andrew ignored lunch; he ignored Harley, and he ignored muffled banging in front of his house.
Georgiana’s last letter lay spread out on the worn table.She sent two short cryptic notes during her journey to Mountview after Chadbourn’s wedding, each scribbled out in haste in a moving carriage.They looked it.
Muffled voices floated into the kitchen with the scent of rain.Andrew cursed the date on the last letter, three weeks past.Damned woman gets to Mountview, and she forgets the work.She forgets me.He tipped the paper toward the window light.
Harley’s voice sounded more irritable than usual.Andrew reread the letter, looking for something personal.There was none.
Chadbournand his countess (Will’s beloved!) are four days gone on their wedding journey, and the Hayden caravan makes its way to Mountview in slow stages.
Georgiana consistently referredto the young woman as “Will’s beloved.”The Earl must be besotted.He had hoped Georgiana was as envious as she sounded.Three weeks without word made him less confident.He should have gone to the wedding.Will would have welcomed him.
“Sorry to barge in.Notthe way for a proper call.”Geoff Dunning stood in the doorway.Rain dripped down his neck and onto the shoulders of his professorial gown.
“Not at all.Delighted to see you!”The delight was genuine.Dunning had promised to hint to Wallace Selby that Andrew waited for more work.He had nothing else to do.The poetry and commentary had been assembled into a manuscript.It wanted only his partner’s review and comment.Andrew desperately needed work, something to keep his mind off Georgiana.
“You have work for me?”he asked.
Dunning took the seat Harley offered.“Hot tea wouldn’t go awry,” he said with a twisted smile to Harley.“Beastly out.”
Harley grunted and put the kettle on to boil.
“Sorry, Dunning.It must be urgent to drive you out on an afternoon like this.”Andrew’s eyes continued to scan Georgiana’s letter.She wrote, “I am expected to stay until Lady Day, if not longer.”
Lady Day—the March quarter day—another six weeks!
“Not urgent.Going to Gran’s for early supper.”
Andrew forced his attention to Dunning.“Your Grandmother’s?Good of you to stop by.”
“Thought you should know soonest.”Dunning’s neck shown red in spite of the cold rain.
The misery of his expression made Andrew go as cold as the rain.“Know what?”he asked cautiously.
“There won’t be work.Sorry to be blunt.”Dunning looked away, embarrassed.
“Mallet?Do you hear?Can’t dress it up for you.No more work.”Dunning’s distress increased.
“No work?”Andrew repeated.He looked for misunderstanding.Dunning looked steadily back.There was no misunderstanding, and there would be no work.
“You had better tell me all of it,” Andrew said.
Dunning did.He left nothing out, not even the color of Selby’s face when indignant—puce.“Murchison wasn’t indignant.Fairly gloated.He...”
“Murchison?What did that slimy specimen have to do with it?”
“Didn’t I say?That was the worst of it.”Dunning reached up gratefully and took a mug of tea from Harley.“He’s taken on an assistant.‘An assistant,’ Selby called him!”Now Dunning looked indignant.
