Page 123 of Miss Wylde and the Wynd

“We now only need to decide where we will make our home.”

If Damian had to be at the Trade Wynd office, then she would be by his side.

“Southampton will be my home.”

“Are you certain?” he asked. She knew what he feared because of his mother, but Georgie also knew that it would be different for them.

“Very!”

“I promise to bring you back to Carrera at least once a year for a holiday. Sterling can manage Trade Wynd. In fact, he will be doing so for at least the next ten months.

Georgie blinked at him. “You intend to remain in Italy so long?”

“As long as you need, but then I would like to sail to Cape Colony to visit my mother, then to Madeira to visit Elliot, and then home.” He grinned. “More adventures for us. More sailing, so we will need to bring along plenty of books.”

Georgie would have laughed but the idea of reading while sailing caused her stomach to roll. She tried to swallow the bile but it did no good and she had to rush outside to toss up her accounts behind the bakery.

Damian was close behind.

“Are you certain that you suffer from seasickness? It should have subsided by now.”

“What else can it be?” she asked as he escorted her back inside. “Nobody was ill on the ship so I do not believe that I contracted an illness.”

“Were you sick when you traveled to England? I know you were not when we sailed from Liverpool to Greenock and then to Dublin.”

Damian led her back to her chair as her mother refreshed her tea.

“It began when we started through the Strait of Gibraltar. The sea was rough. We thought Georgie would be better once we were through, but she did not get better,” Grace explained. “There were times that she was sick through the day and other times not as much, depending how much the ship rose and fell in the water.”

Once again Georgie fought against her stomach revolting as her sister described the last fortnight of their journey.

She picked up the bread her mother had provided and took a small bite and hoped that it remained in her stomach.

“It always started with the morning no matter how calm the sea,” Grace clarified.

“Every morning?” her mother asked with concern.

“Yes,” Grace answered. “Since Gibraltar.”

“Georgie, I would like a private word.”

She cast a worried glance at Damian, but he did not appear concerned at all. In fact, the corner of his mouth quirked. He really should not make light of her illness. She then caught sight of her father, who had been jovial but now stared at Damian as if he was suddenly displeased.

“Come along, Georgie.”

She followed her mother to a private room and tried not to worry, but it was impossible.

“Have you been intimate with Damian?”

Georgie blinked. That was not a question she had anticipated and her face heated as if she were sunburned all over again and she had to look away because she could not lie to her mother.

“When were your last courses?”

Georgie frowned. She truly could not remember. With all her travel, it was not something she had concerned herself with.

She sank down onto a chair. This was something that she should remember, shouldn’t she? But the only time she could recall it happening was having to deal with the situation while also being a stowaway.

“I know that you were only with Damian for a short time, but it was long enough to fall in love, and long enough to get with child.”