“Another good man has fallen into the parson’s mousetrap,” Hugh mockingly mourned.
“I think Graylocke would disagree with you,” Hawthorne interjected. “He appeared blissfully happy at his wedding.”
“At least this time he didn’t show up to the chapel drunk,” Hugh joked.
“He is a smart enough man to have learned from his mistake,” Haddington said.
William tossed back the rest of his drink, letting his friends continue their banter without him. He didn’t feel much like conversing this evening. Besides, his friends were wrong. There had to be a lady who would be willing to work as a headmistress at his mother’s orphanage. He just had to find her.
Miss Georgie Holbrooke loved nothing more than escaping into a good book. It helped with her humdrum, and she’d discovered that she related quite well to the people she read about.
She had always been a voracious reader, driving her older brother mad. He felt that she read too much and had grown far too opinionated for her own good. Normally she discounted what her brother said, but he was her guardian now that her parents had both passed, and was not one to be dismissed so easily.
Georgie released a quiet sigh. She missed her parents. Her mother passed on nearly five years ago, but her father’s heart had only recently given out. She was most fortunate that they had been kind, loving parents who doted on her. For the past three months, however, she’d been forced to contend with her brother, who only seemed to view her as a useless female.
The door to her bedchamber opened and her petite lady’s maid stepped into the room with a pale pink dress draped over her arm. “Lord Wakefield requested that you wear something more lively this evening,” Alice announced.
Georgie glanced down at her black crepe gown. “But I am still in mourning.”
“I am aware, but he invited Lord Ransdale to dine with you this evening,” Alice revealed.
Georgie let out an unladylike groan. “I cannot abide Lord Ransdale. He always looks at me as though he plans to devour me whole.”
“Surely that cannot be true.”
“I’m afraid it is,” Georgie said as she closed her book and set it on the settee next to her. “It has been that way for many years now.”
Alice walked over to the bed and laid out the dress. “Regardless, you must not do anything to incite Lord Wakefield’s anger.”
“You are right about that.” Georgie unconsciously put a hand up to her cheek. She should have known better than to bother her brother last night when he was drinking with his friends. “Do you think he would take issue with me wearing a lavender gown?”
Alice looked unsure. “Lavender isn’t very lively, and you risk his ire for disobeying him.”
“You are right, of course,” Georgie said dejectedly. “I wouldn’t want to give him another reason to hit me.” At least the gown was pale in color rather than vibrant.
“I should say not,” Alice said. “Shall we style your hair? After all, you wouldn’t want to keep him waiting.”
“No, I most assuredly do not,” Georgie agreed as she left the settee and took a seat in front of the dressing table.
Alice removed the pins from her hair, setting them on the dressing table and taking up a brush. “Did you spend the entire day in your bedchamber?” she asked as she worked.
“I did,” Georgie replied. “I was trying to avoid my brother.”
“I assumed as much.”
Georgie met her lady’s maid’s gaze in the mirror. “Charles and I have never been particularly close, but he is starting to strike me for the slightest infraction now. Frankly, it scares me,” she admitted.
“You do not deserve such ill treatment.”
“I agree, but there is nothing that can be done about it,” Georgie said. “He is my guardian until I turn twenty-one and receive my inheritance. Then I can go far away from this place.”
“Fortunately, that is only a few months away.”
“I am counting down the days.”
“Where will you go?”
“Frankly, any place is better than remaining under Charles’s rule,” Georgie replied. “But I do intend to take up residence at the estate my grandmother left me. I know it is small, but it does turn a slight profit. Perhaps I could even take up gardening while I live there.”
