“You’re not going to ruin Leah’s reputation because you let yourself love your wife.” Henry’s eyes glinted knowingly. “And if I were you, I wouldn’t let that woman go. One of us already made that mistake, but for you, I have a feeling it would be a life regret.”
He left the study, leaving Lucien with the strange feeling that his brother might just be right.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Ican’t believe it is your wedding day!” Emery sighed as she sat across from Georgina as her friend stood in front of the full-length mirror, admiring her reflection, a dazed and deliriously happy look on her face. “And just three days ago we were afraid that this would never happen!”
“I know,” Georgina said, laughing as she grabbed the skirts of her dress and swished them back and forth, admiring them. “I can’t quite believe it myself!”
“I am truly delighted,” Emery said, fighting back tears as she gazed up at the radiant smile on Georgina’s face. “There is nothing that could make me happier than seeing my best friend happy like this.”
“Really?” Georgina asked, turning to face her, and her smile slipping slightly. “Truthfully, I feel almost guilty being this happy when things have gone so badly in your own marriage.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Georgina said, waving a hand dismissively, although inside, she had to privately agree that things had gone very badly in her own marriage. “If there is anything positive that came from the disaster that was my marriage, it is the fact that you and Henry have ended up together.”
“I am ludicrously happy that Henry and I are to be married,” Georgina said, and she stepped down from the small pedestal she was on to join Emery on the settee. “It was all so surreal! One second, I was sitting at home, wondering what fate had in store for me, and then the next second, Henry was bursting through the door, shouting that we were to be married and that his brother had procured a special license.”
“So it was a romantic proposal after all?” Emery asked, laughing at the look of delight on her friend’s face.
“It was,” Georgina giggled. “It wasn’t at all the proposal I’d expected or dreamed of, but in its own way, it was even better, because it is now our story: no one’s else’s. And although it may be unusual, it is all the more romantic for it.”
Emery smiled as she thought about this. It reminded her a bit of how she had felt about her and Lucien before everything had fallen apart. It might not be the romantic story that people read about in books, but because it had been their own romance, it had been the most beautiful and romantic of them all.
Still, she probably shouldn’t think about Lucien right now…
Something of her melancholy must have shown on her face, because Georgina’s face clouded slightly, and she took Emery’s hand. Leaning close, a mischievous look came into her eyes.
“What if we had a wee dram of something?” she whispered. “To give us courage for the big day that is to come?”
Emery laughed. “I’m not sure I’m the one that needs courage,” she pointed out. “You are the one who is getting married.”
“Well, I can hardly drink alone, can I?” Georgina laughed and shook her head. “Let me see what I have here under the vanity. I often keep a bottle of something in case I’m having trouble falling asleep at night…”
“I knew there was a reason we were best friends,” Emery said, leaning back in her seat as Georgina rose and went to the vanity. She pulled out a drawer and unearthed a bottle of brandy and two glasses, which she brought back over to the settee.
“Here we go,” Georgina said happily. “Brandy for us on my wedding day.”
“Are you sure you want to be tipsy when you walk down the aisle?” Emery asked.
“I’m sure that I want to have a drink with my best friend before I marry my other best friend,” Georgina said, a glint of mischief in her eyes.
She poured the drink, and then the two of them toasted one another and each took a long sip. The warmth of the drink hit Emery at once, and she relaxed into it, letting it smooth out her nerves and anxiety, deadening the sadness inside of her and loosen her tongue.
“I haven’t drank anything since the night before my own wedding,” she said, suddenly remembering. “It wasn’t such a good idea, but I suppose I might as well now.”
“You were very determined when you were drinking,” Georgina said, laughing as she took a small, dainty sip from her brandy. “And it might not have been a good idea, but, as you said a few days earlier, it’s better you ended up married to the Duke rather than to Henry.”
They were both quiet for a moment, then Georgina asked, a little bit tentatively, “How are you doing with everything? In the excitement of planning my wedding in just a few days, I know I’ve neglected to check in on you properly.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Emery said quickly. “I’m doing well.”
“Are you sure? I can feel the hurt in you, Emery… I’ve known you a very long time, after all.”
“I suppose I am hurt,” Emery said slowly. “Every time I think about Lucien, I get this terrible, silly feeling like he might change his mind about everything and try to win me back. And then I ask myself why I should be waiting around for him to change his mind, when I am the one who knows it wouldn’t work.”
“Because you love him,” Georgina said simply. “That is only natural.”
“But why should I love him?” Emery asked, shaking her head. “Why should I love someone I know is bad for me? Why can’t my heart just cut off these feelings the moment it no longer makes sense?”
