Page 55 of Scandal’s Daughter

“Do you want anything to eat? There is so much food!” she complained with a grimace. “I am so full it’s disgusting and nobody else has eaten a morsel!”

Georgiana shook her head, too consumed by the sight of the tall, dark figure making his way towards her.

To her everlasting gratitude Céleste took Beau’s arm, insisting that he must help her do justice to the extravagant feast that had been provided. If Beau realised he was being manipulated, he was too polite to protest. He went as bid, to sit beside Céleste and her lady friends who welcomed him with beaming smiles and fluttering eyelashes.

Georgiana turned her back on the advancing figure and went to stand by the edge of the river where the air was a little cooler. There were several little jetties where the pleasure boats were tied up and after lunch they would be busy with people buying tickets and going out onto the water. But for the moment it was quiet as she stepped onto one boarded walkway, and the only sounds were the gentle hum of conversation at her back and the quack of a hopeful duck paddling around in search of a generous benefactress.

“Good afternoon, Miss Bomford.”

She turned without surprise, having had time to prepare herself on this occasion. She met those dark eyes with a placid expression, curtsying to the large presence who had provided some much-needed shade by blocking out the sun.

“Your grace.” She looked at him, silent, refusing to help him navigate the tension between them as he stared at her.

“Georgiana,” he whispered, the longing behind her name quite taking her breath away. “Please don’t keep punishing me, love. I’ll run mad if you won’t talk to me ... give me a chance to explain.”

She stared at him, wondering if she could put any value on those words, on the desperation in his eyes.

“Please, my own dear love. Nothing has changed, can’t you see that?”

Her heart felt as though it was falling from a great height, a rush of exhilaration and fear so profound she could hardly breathe. She had so longed to hear those words, but how could she place any trust in anything he said?

“You still have my heart,” he pressed, taking a step closer. “Don’t you ever wear the little gold one I gave you?”

She was torn between giving him a sharp no which he thoroughly deserved, and telling him the truth, that she slept in it and returned it to her jewellery box every morning.

“How can I?” she replied, after a pause that seemed measured out in her own heartbeats. “When I don’t know who gave it to me.”

“And I never knew you were Lady Dalton’s daughter!” he threw back at her, dark eyes blazing. “I thought you were sweet Georgiana Bomford, the lovely, innocent girl I lost my heart to!”

She took a breath, startled by the fury in his voice and unsettled by the realisation that he was right.

“That’s because I didn’t know myself!” she said, flushing with anger. “I was Miss Bomford, the doctor’s daughter. I have been all my life, until my uncle arrived on my doorstep after you had left me alone and told me the truth. He told me I was an heiress and he called my mother a whore and said I was just like her.”

He stared at her, appalled shock in his eyes at her revelation.

“I never lied,” she said, biting out the words and holding his gaze so he was forced to see the truth in her words. “You did, your grace.”

He was silent for a moment, clearly at a loss. “Let me explain then,” he replied, his voice low and urgent and obviously frustrated.

“Very well, explain,” she replied, daring him to tell her everything.

He looked around the crowded park, and she became aware of the eyes watching them conversing, whispering about how the Duke of Sindalton of all people, had searched her out alone. “Not here,” he replied. “I’ll meet you somewhere, anywhere you choose. I could come to the house?”

Georgiana knew he did have a point about them being watched and moved carefully around him, back to where the jetty met the land.

She had to laugh at the idea of him coming to the earl’s home to visit her though. “Good God, Falmouth would kill you if you set foot on the doorstep after what you did to destroy his relationship with Céleste.”

His face darkened and she knew she’d hit home. Yes, Sebastian, I know more of your dark little secrets, she thought and then wondered how many others there were that she didn’t know.

“So, I’m guilty of all charges I see,” he replied, and she could see the cost to his pride to keep pursuing her when he met nothing but rejection after rejection.

“Perhaps not,” she replied, relenting a little. “But I have no reason to trust you and meeting you is something I cannot contemplate after the way your father has already ruined my name.”

He stiffened at that, fury in his eyes.

“My father was the best of men,” he said, his voice harsh and implacable, his bearing suddenly showing every single generation of pride and power that came with his many titles. “He was led into vice and until very recently I’ve never been able to understand how a woman could ruin such a good and honourable man. But now I do see.”

She gasped, appalled by his words and more hurt than she would have believed possible. That he of all people should use that against her. She took a step back, her eyes filling with tears.