Page 99 of Waiting for Love

Georgiana dropped her plate, and it shattered. There was no other sound in the room. Until Olivia squeaked in a tiny, tentative voice, “Congratulations.”

“No.” Jasper’s jaw set, and he rose from his chair. “Hazard, this is despicable. I cannot condone it. You are using her!”

Hazard’s face collapsed. “I—”

“She deserves a man who can love her. Children.”

“I—”

“You—you hush, Jasper Taverston!” Alice exploded. “You have no right—”

“And you have no idea!” Jasper cried.

The whole Taverston clan jumped to their feet. Benjamin thought there might be a brawl. He’d never seen the group of them so riled. Except in joy and this was not that.

“Oh, for God’s sake. I have every idea. And Hazard is not using me. If anything, I am using him.”

“Alice, please.” Georgiana was barely audible and sounded teary. “That isn’t true. You’ve always said you didn’t care about a title.”

Alice tossed her a sour look. “I don’t. Yet if I were to snare some arse of a baron, you would all say I had done well for myself.”

Olivia piped up, “Maybe she loves him.”

“Then the more fool she,” Jasper said. “Hazard, disabuse her of this ridiculous notion.”

“I have to agree with Alice,” Hazard said, injecting his more typical droll tone. “You really should hush.”

Georgiana said, “Alice, Jasper is right. You want—”

“What I want is something only Hazard is willing to give me! I want my words, mine, read out loud on the floor of Parliament. I want to see them published in the newspapers. Hear them argued about in the streets and coffee houses. That’s what I want!” Her voice broke. “Until women can speak for themselves.” She grimaced and cast a look at them all. “Listen to yourselves. You all know what’s best for me? Do you? Well, Hazard listened to me.”

Benjamin had an urge to applaud her. And Olivia regarded her as though she had found a new hero. But everyone else looked poised to argue more.

“What about children?” Georgiana said. “You’ve always wanted children.”

“And now I feel compelled to remind everyone that I am not a eunuch,” Hazard said hotly. “I am perfectly capable of fathering children, one can only assume, and I will find it no hardship to father them on Alice.”

“Oh, my God,” Jasper said, throwing up his hands. “This is…my God! Olivia is in the room. Olivia, go.”

“A little too late, Jasper,” Olivia said with a smirk. “My ears are burning.”

“It is…” Reg hesitated, then when he had everyone’s attention, he finished. “Well, it is a solution.”

Vanessa agreed. “They have obviously given this a good deal of consideration.”

“Not enough.” Jasper huffed.

Benjamin was a little surprised by Jasper’s recalcitrance, but the more so by Georgiana’s. He would have expected her to be more supportive. She looked despairing. And it was Georgiana who protested again.

“Alice, we all love Hazard, but you aren’t in love. Don’t mistake fondness for love. And he…he can’t love you. Not the way you deserve.”

Alice’s face softened. “Hazard and I are not under any illusions. Believe me. He made sure that I am not. But love like you have with Reg, and that Vanessa and Jasper have, that is exceptionally rare. I am not going to find it and I’m not going to waste my life waiting for it. Haz and I like each other. Even that is rare in aristocratic marriages. I expect to be very happy, and I hope to make Hazard happy too.”

“But you can’t,” Jasper said. He turned his focus back to Hazard. He was still glowering, but under that, Benjamin read true concern. “What about Chesterfield?”

Hazard drew in a long, slow breath, then let it out. “I think that is none of your business.”

Georgiana looked as though she might cry.