Dunning spoke up.“Those things take a day.Paperwork, you know.”He looked at Georgiana with sympathy.She must have looked like she had been knocked on the head; she certainly felt like it.“Lady Georgiana will want time to prepare, I think, in any case.”
Andrew gave her a long look.“Dress, Georgie?Flowers?”
It came to her then.They were discussing her wedding, the wedding she never expected to have.It would be simple; it would be soon, but it should be meaningful.
“Yes, all right.I think so,” she said.“And a wedding breakfast, too.Geoff, your grandmother will help, won’t she?”
“She’ll dance a jig.She’s been hoping to see you two make a match of it for weeks now—anything but you alone in that dreadful little house.”
Even Dunning’s insensitive remark about her house didn’t dampen her spirits.Mrs.Potter will dance a jig.The idea made her laugh out loud.“We will all dance a jig at the wedding.”
* * *
Six dayslater nothing sounded simple.
Where are they?Andrew estimated a few days.They should have been back three days ago.
She wondered if he was deliberately staying away for the required waiting period so she could use his house without added scandal.She wished she had never agreed to a license.She wished they had dashed off to Scotland or at least that she had insisted on accompanying them to Ely.
Georgiana rearranged the flowers in the center of Andrew’s worn old worktable (as she had a half-dozen times before) and checked the nosegays on his mantel.Afternoon shadows sank lower with each passing moment and still no sound at the door.
She knew she ought to go downstairs and help Edwina Potter and Geoff Dunning entertain Reverend Parke.He had come to finalize details and wouldn’t stay much longer.
She took one more look around.The room would have made a perfect background for their wedding.It was fragrant with memories.They could have wed surrounded by his books and the work they shared.St.Mary’s church would have to do, since law and a common license required it.
She took one more look around and sighed.It had everything except a groom.“A few days,” Andrew had said, with time for the bishop to complete the paperwork.“We will marry promptly on the seventh day,” he had said.
Seven days!We should have dared a special license and His Grace be…She knew better.She feared His Grace her father would have descended with fury.As it was she feared he would get wind of the wedding and interfere.
A knock on the door sent her running.She flew halfway down the stairs before she realized that Andrew wouldn’t have knocked.He would have opened the door and flown to her.Another man stood at the door, a slender figure so tall he had to duck slightly to enter.The last apricot-orange rays of sun illuminated impeccably groomed golden hair.Richard.
“The Major isn’t in.”Harley, not impressed with anyone’s consequence, stood with one hand on the door as if to shut him out.Richard looked quizzically at the tableau in the parlor: Reverend Parke had come to discuss flowers with Edwina.He sipped tea companionably and slowly with Dunning and Edwina.Mr.Peabody, who had come for news, sat engrossed inPoetry by the Female Authors of Ancient Greece.Harley waited but gave no ground.
Richard swept his glance inexorably up the stairs to his sister.“Georgiana, I thought I might see you here.There were no servants at Helsington.It is closed.”
“Richard, this is a surprise.”She forced the words out through clenched teeth.His clear blue eyes, inscrutable as always, scanned her appearance.She descended the final steps and believed he could see her very soul.“Helsington has been sold.The last of the servants left yesterday.”
“Is there somewhere we might speak privately?”
For a moment she wanted to insist on the parlor and an audience.Her heart beat erratically, but she wouldn’t become a coward now.She wouldn’t shrink back.
She gestured up the stairs, gave Harley a reassuring smile, and preceded Richard up.The old batman looked ready for a fight if necessary.She knew he would stay within earshot.
The honey glow of afternoon filled Andrew’s study and enhanced the soft crème lace of Georgiana’s gown.
“You look well.Your health continues to improve, and that dress, I must say, is stunning.”Richard’s voice seemed sincere, but one could never tell.“Is there an occasion?I understand your host isn’t at home.”
“As you see.You wished a word with me?”Don’t be defensive.Stand your ground.
Richard looked at her more sharply.
“Actually, I have brought you something.”He removed a parcel wrapped in paper and unwrapped it on the worktable.She knew what it was, of course.
“I think perhaps you have already seen this.There was a copy downstairs, wasn’t there?”
“Certainly.”
“Did you know he had it published?”
