Page 37 of Counting on Love

It was impossible not to laugh along. Lieutenant Taverston could not maintain his frown of indignation and his infectious hooting started them all up again.

When the laughter subsided, Lady Iversley turned to Georgiana. “Have you guessed it?”

“Shamrock,” Georgiana said, feeling relieved to have contributed something.

“Yes,” Lord Taverston said. “Now let us close and call it a draw before Crispin humiliates us further.”

Lieutenant Taverston merely grinned, but Georgiana noted that Lady Iversley seemed well-pleased with him, which was good to see after the tension at lunchtime.

Yes, Georgiana liked the Taverstons very much. They were comfortable.

But then, Lord Taverston had not yet begun to court her in earnest.

*

Georgiana wore her sage green gown to dinner. It was very simple, other than that the sleeves were puffed, and the neckline showed more than just a hint of bosom. It was closely fitted, which lent it an elegance and made her feel more mature. Jeanette fussed with her hair for over an hour, braiding it and twisting it, then teasing out a few small wisps to curl.

Alice murmured, “You are so beautiful. They will all fall in love with you.”

Startled, Georgiana turned to look at her cousin, who had sounded wistful.

“That is not my goal,” she tried to joke.

Alice laughed, and the impression of her unhappiness was dispelled.

“No, of course not. What a mess that would be. But I can certainly see you as a countess.”

When they gathered again in the drawing room, they didn’t have much time to sit before dinner was announced.

This time Lady Iversley placed Georgiana between Lieutenant and Mr. Taverston and across the table from Lord Taverston. He was polite to Alice on his right, and teased Lady Olivia on his left, but mostly, he kept his eyes upon Georgiana, even while she was attempting conversation with his brothers. His expression was one of approval rather than admiration. It was silly of her to be so persnickety, but it did seem he had skipped a step.

In fact, the whole evening was a half-step off. Mr. Taverston’s conversation, benign on its surface—asking about her childhood, her governess, what languages she spoke—was standard fare. (He spoke German, French, and Greek, and read Ancient Greek and Latin besides. He wasn’t boasting; she’d asked the reciprocal question of him.) Yet she could not help thinking that he was trying to discover if she knew what she had been reading in the library or had merely grabbed from the meager offerings at random.

She should have alternated her attention more between Mr. Taverston and Lieutenant Taverston. But that usual polite convention, too, was one step off. Perhaps Mr. Taverston was monopolizing her as a kindness because one could not easily converse with the other man, not at the table. He was too odd.

He did not partake of the common meal but rather was served a single plate of food from which he ate at a glacial pace, the whole evening, and touched nothing else. Not even wine. His dinner comprised a tiny piece of hake and a large pile of asparagus, both without sauce, and a mix of lettuce and cobnuts. He spoke across the table when he had something to say and addressed himself occasionally to her when she did attempt to draw him in, without ever alluding to his eccentricity. Of course, she kept her eyes off his plate, but it was an effort.

She was quite exhausted by the close of the meal. The ladies then removed to the drawing room and the men to smoke and drink brandy, or so she assumed. For all she knew the strange creatures were doing headstands on the terrace.

*

Jasper beckoned his brothers to follow him to the study after dinner, saying they would rejoin the ladies shortly. This bit of manly performance seemed rather unnecessary in Reginald’s opinion. But in truth, his sulk stemmed from the fact that he was out of sorts with himself.

He was not given to gawping at women. He supposed he appreciated a fine figure as well as any man, but staring had always seemed rather pointless. He had gawped at Annie, of course, when she was lying naked beneath him. But there was rather more to that than feasting his eyes.

Yet he had had a hard time keeping his eyes off Lady Georgiana. A wisp of hair seemed to be tickling her neck and he’d wanted all evening to brush it, gently, to the side. And, well, yes, her cleavage. He had as much trouble keeping his eyes off that as she had had ignoring Crispin’s heaped pile of asparagus. What a farce! And when he did focus on her face, he kept seeing in his mind’s eye how she had looked rising from sleep that morning.

So he’d grilled her on her education as if focusing on her brain. And when she responded in kind he sounded like an egg-headed braggart. She must think him the worst sort of bore.

He followed Crispin into the study, Jasper’s study. Jasper the soon-to-be earl with his soon-to-be countess.

Jasper poured himself a brandy and didn’t even bother to offer one to Reginald.

“Sit down,” he said, gesturing almost grandly as he sank into the leather chair. The creak it made did not startle him anymore.

“I’ll stand,” Crispin said.

“Suit yourself. Reg?”