Page 61 of One Night with a Rake

This new Georgette knew things that the old Georgette had not. She’d felt things.

Her heart had been broken.

Now all she could do was try to salvage her spirit. After taking extra care with her toilette, she made her way downstairs, determined to face the day with her head held high. As soon as she entered the dining room, she wished she’d taken the tray instead.

“Oh,” she said when she saw Nathaniel at the sideboard heaping buttered eggs, deviled kidneys, and a rack of toast onto his plate.

“‘A’,” he replied. “I assume from your greeting that we are listing vowels this morning. A silly game and an unavoidably short one, but you do seem to have a talent for that sort of thing. Your turn.”

She narrowed her eyes and frowned with what she hoped was a forbidding glare.

“Don’t squinch your face so. It’ll stay that way if you aren’t careful. Let us begin afresh. Good morning, Georgette.” He swept a deep bow that only she would have recognized as mocking. “You’re looking particularly well…rested this fine day.”

Swine. She refused to rise to the bait. “Where are my parents?”

“You and I are the latecomers this morning. Imagine that. Lord and Lady Yorkingham have already broken their fast.” Nathaniel strode to the table with his heaping plate and sat, tucking a linen napkin at his neck. “I believe your illustrious parents have gone to the Piccadilly market to procure flowers for the upcoming ball.”

“My father has gone out to buy flowers?” Georgette made her way to the chair opposite him and sat cautiously. Having the width of the table between them seemed safe enough. “That doesn’t sound like him.”

“Does it not?” Nate took a sip of his tea, pulled a face, and added another lump of brown sugar. “One can only assume he is doing so in order to please Lady Yorkingham, then. I should think that would be a great comfort to you.”

“To me? Why?”

“Because if your father is doing something out of character solely in order to please your mother, it goes to prove that arranged marriages can be felicitous for the brides, after all.” His lips drew into a flat line across his face. “Isn’t that what you’re counting on?”

She’d been counting on Nathaniel being less of an ass, but she refrained from saying so because Mr. Rigsby arrived just then with her pot of chocolate.

“I’m terribly sorry for the delay, my lady. We seem to be shorthanded this morning,” the butler said. “Mr. Darling has gone missing. Shall I make up your plate for you?”

“No, I’ll do it,” she said, rising to pick over the selection of stewed fruit and scones, though nothing truly tempted her palate. Seeing Nate again had driven other appetites from her completely. “Mr. Darling isn’t missing. He’s doing a favor for me. I trust he’ll be returning to his duties later today.” Her tone trended up, turning the statement into a question directed to Nathaniel.

He nodded.

Since the man was still stuffing his face with overlarge bites of toast he’d sopped in his eggs, it was best that his answer remained mute.

“That’ll be all, Mr. Rigsby. Thank you.” Georgette settled back into her chair and waited until she and Nathaniel were alone before she dared speak again.

Whatever else she did, she had to act as though last night had been nothing more than a vivid dream in which they both happened to have participated.

With enthusiasm.

Repeatedly.

The inquiry into Vesta’s death seemed a topic sure to drive libidinous thoughts from her mind.

“I assume you’ll do what you can to replace Mr. Bagley as quickly as possible. What are you intentions regarding Vesta’s death?” she asked, holding her cup of chocolate before her as if it were a shield. “Will you be hiring an inquiry agent?”

“I would if I knew of one who could be trusted to be diligent about the death of a prostitute.” Nate wiped his mouth with his napkin and deposited the linen on his empty plate. “No, I plan to investigate this matter for myself.”

Against her will, her opinion of him ticked up by the smallest of measures. “Very well. I shall assist you in this endeavor.”

“No, my lady. You will not.”

“Of course I will,” she said. “After all, I’m the one who convinced Vesta to leave her former life and come to the House of Sirens.”

“We both had a hand in that.”

“And we should both have a hand in this as well.”