Page 38 of Miss Wylde and the Wynd

“I commend you on what is likely the best soup I have ever tasted,” Damian announced. “I do hope it is served again. I promise that nothing was lacking in this meal and I appreciate that you were able to provide us with something delicious without warning and I will inform my brother.”

Georgie suspected that the cook was about to collapse from relief when her body nearly went slack.

“I would like you to know that my guest…Miss Georgie Wylde, and I will be leaving shortly after sunrise to travel to the Port of London, but I anticipate that we will return later in the day and stay at least another night.”

“I will make certain there is something for you to break your fast before you depart,” Cook assured him.

“It is also possible that when we return tomorrow that we may have a second guest.”

“You will have a second guest,” Georgie corrected. They must find Grace tomorrow, or she was not certain what she might do.

“It is a possibility,” he emphasized.

“I will make certain there is enough prepared for you and two guests,” Cook said before she quickly left them, likely because she did not want to witness an argument.

Damian may not believe that they would locate Grace tomorrow but Georgie would not allow him to leave the port until they had.

Damian pushed back from the table and stood. “I intend to enjoy another glass of wine before I retire. Would you care to join me?”

She looked up and into his blue eyes, uncertain. If she were to be honest, the first had relaxed her far more than she had been in weeks, and should one share another glass of wine with a bachelor, in his home, without a chaperone?

He was only here under duress, and his own obligation to see her protected, therefore, she had no fear that he may be bent on seduction.

Except her thoughts had already wandered to the most improper…

Oh, dear, she was very tired and if she remained to drink another glass of wine, she might very well…

Chapter Thirteen

“No thank you,” Georgie answered before she rushed out of the dining room and turned for the stairs as if she could not get away from him quickly enough.

Georgie was more of a curiosity than before. So many emotions had flitted through her brown eyes and Damian had no idea what she had been thinking before she declined his offer.

He paused at the foot of the stairs as he watched her climb them, her delightful bum swayed in the most feminine manner. He did not have to see her in trousers to know the exact roundness.

And it was a delightful bottom.

Damian shook his head and wandered into the library. What the blazes had he been thinking? Yes, he had wanted to share a glass of wine with Georgie but the request had not been made from politeness. He wanted to ask all the questions that had come to him as they journeyed from Southampton to London but could not because others were with them.

Questions that he hadn’t asked while they dined but should have.

Why hadn’t he?

He pinched the bridge of his nose then refilled his wine glass. He had no answer.

Then again, she hadn’t spoken either.

He also wanted to return to the subject of baking. She was quite confident in her skills, and he had believed her. After all, she had practically been raised in a bakery.

He wanted Georgie to bake something for him. He didn’t care if it was a loaf of bread or a meat pie because he suspected that it would probably be one of the best things that he had ever tasted.

Maybe that came from knowing that she had been the one to create it.

Damian sank into a chair. Now he was getting maudlin.

Georgie was only a temporary person in his life. He should not be thinking about her bum, or any other part of her anatomy, or how pretty she was, or how he would like her to bake for him.

He shook his head again.