“You do know I can practically hear the sullen thoughts spinning in that head of yours.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to dampen the mood. I just wish…”
“Wish that my brother wasn’t utterly fat-headed? Bottle-headed? Beetle-headed. A complete cod’s head. Goodness, I never realized how many phrases for saying someone is stupid had head in it.”
“Loggerhead.” Georgiana added.
“Pudding-headed!”
“Totty-headed.” Georgiana waggled her brows.
They dissolved into mirth, their breath fogging the frosty night air. Georgiana passed the cigar back to Felicity and reached for her whisky, the two of them falling into a companionable silence.
“I don’t know why my brother left today,” Felicity finally said. “Often times Fitz does things no one understands, or for reasons no one understands. But…” Felicity rolled her lips in and appeared to weigh her words. “Just try to be patient with him.” She turned and met Georgiana’s gaze. “He is not intentionally cruel. As horrible as I am sure it must feel to have him flee on Christmas, I am sure there was a good reason behind it. And by good, I mean good in Fitz’s convoluted mind.”
Georgiana hummed and sipped her whisky. It was hard to imagine what could possibly be agoodreason to abruptly leave one’s wife and family on Christmas. One’s brand-new wife. Who one had known only for a little more than a week. Abandoned. Blatantly stating said wife’s company was unwanted.
“I think he quite likes you,” Felicity said softly.
Georgiana scoffed.
“It’s not always easy to tell with Fitzy,” Felicity conceded. She handed the cigar back to Georgiana. “I think you might quite like him, too.”
Georgiana let out a heavy sigh before puffing on the cigar. Yes, she most definitely quite liked him. She was fairly certain she startedquite likinghim from the minute she’d rushed to the crimson crustacean’s aide that first night in his study. Her adorable, awkward lobster.
“I’m not sure he believes that’s possible,” Felicity said.
Georgiana frowned. “What do you mean?”
Felicity placed her whisky back on the railing and stuck her hand out for the cigar. “The woman Fitz had intended to offer for—”
“Offer for?” Georgiana froze in her passing of the cigar. Her husband had a love interest? Oh God, is that where he went? She hadn’t given a thought to the fact that there might be another woman.
“Stop spiraling.” Felicity chuckled. “This wasyearsago.”
Georgiana deflated, the fear expelling from her in a white whoosh of breath.
Which only had Felicity chuckling harder. “I knew you liked him. But anyhow. Years ago—goodness, I think it was eight years ago now—a lovely young woman started trailing after Fitzy. Miss Eloise Browning. She was beautiful, from a well-respected family. I think she might have been the first woman to show Fitzy any interest.”
“He was an awkward—even more so than he is now—gangly eighteen-year-old with spots all over his face. Honestly, his age alone should have aroused suspicions, because how many women vie for a lad of eighteen? She was all smiles, fan flutters, subtle flirtations; a complete sham. She sniffed around his boot heels for months. He even asked her father for permission to court her. And then he found her half-naked with Felix in Felix’s study.”
Georgiana’s gasp sliced through the quiet night. “No!” Pain pierced her heart for the young man. Goodness, to not only be deceived by the woman he wanted to marry, but his brother too? “Lord Bentley?” She could do nothing but gape. The two seemed to have such a close relationship.
“It wasn’t how you are thinking. Felix wanted nothing to do with her,” Felicity murmured. “And Fitz knew that without a doubt. But it was revealed then and there that the only reason she was pursuing Fitzy was to get to Felix. He had recently inherited, and everyone thought he’d take a bride and procure an heir with haste. Miss Browning thought to capitalize on that.
“My brother was crushed. I wasn’t there, but Felix told me she made the cruelest, most cutting remarks to Fitz. I’ve never seen Felix more angry. I swear he looked like he was set to burn down London just because she resided there.”
Georgiana thought she could understand. Even now, she wanted to find the woman and, quite frankly, slug her across the face.
“The bawd actually thought Felix would marry her when caught with him in his study. Do thehonorablething.” Felicity sneered, contempt dripping from her tone. “Ironic she would think that when there wasn’t an honorable bone in her deceiving body. Instead, he made it known exactly what she had done, thoroughly ruined her to the point she had to flee England.”
Good. That made Georgiana exceptionally happy. She hoped the waspish wench got the pox. She grimaced. That was unkind. But frankly, Georgiana didn’t care.
“Anyway, the entire point of rehashing that steaming pile of horse-shite from Fitzy’s past was that I’m not sure he ever fully recovered from the insults the treacherous tart threw at him. I don’t believe he thinks someone could ever like him for him. And it’s not as though you chose to wed him of your own accord.”
Georgiana’s heart struggled to beat through the painful clenches it made on her husband’s behalf. “I may not have had a choice, and I may not have dared to hope for anything but a marriage in name, but now…”
Felicity’s eyes glimmered gently in the lantern’s soft light as she studied Georgiana. “But now you do hope.”
