Page 84 of The Duke’s Hidden Duchess

Selina smiled faintly.

Georgiana did not.

“I am frightened,” she said.

The admission seemed to surprise her.

Selina’s expression softened. “I know.”

“You always seem to know what to do with it.”

“I have had considerably more practice.”

Georgiana finally sat, though upon the very edge of the chair.

Selina crouched before her.

“You are not required to be unafraid tonight. You are required only to know your part when the moment comes. Keep the letters with you. If they are needed, produce them. If they are not, they remain in your reticule and no one sees them. You owe that room no performance.”

Georgiana nodded.

“I would still rather make the speech.”

“I know.”

“But I would rather we won.”

“That is useful.”

Georgiana considered this with evident dissatisfaction.

“Is that what growing up is? Discovering that the sensible thing is usually less gratifying?”

Selina rose. “I sincerely hope not. It sounds very dull.”

That earned the beginning of a smile.

“Go and dress,” Selina said. “Simply. Nothing chosen to draw attention. Tonight the letters matter more than the gown carrying them.”

Georgiana went. At the door she stopped and put her hand flat against the frame.

“When you first came here,” Georgiana said, still facing the passage, “I thought you were a spy my brother had bought to manage me.”

“That was not an entirely unreasonable conclusion.”

“I disliked you.”

“That was obvious.”

“I disliked you particularly because you would not dislike me back.”

Selina said nothing.

Georgiana turned.

“And now I keep trying to remember exactly when that changed.”

Her voice had become less certain.