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“I am very quaint, my lady,” Georgina said, exaggerating her speech. “My grandmother used to shoot squirrels out of trees. Oddly enough, their fur was about the same color as your hair.”
Lady Dunley gasped. “You rude little cretin. No wonder Lady Talbot—”
“I care less for Lady Talbot’s opinion than I do for yours.” Georgina turned back to Leo. “My grandmother was an interesting woman. Full of all sorts of wisdom. And able to see a person’s true nature.” Georgina stood and smoothed her skirts, her eyes never leaving Leo’s face. “She would have taken one look at you, Mr. Murphy, and said you can’t dress up a pig.”
Leo’s face darkened, his wide mouth scowling at her. “Don’t, Georgina.”
“Because even in thefinestclothes,” she continued, waving her fingers at his expensively tailored coat, “underneath, there isstilla pig.” She smiled broadly and turned to the scandalized woman before her who looked about to have a fit of apoplexy. Perhaps Lady Dunley would be so distressed she would fall into the fountain and hit her head on one of those stupid cherubs. Or be pierced through the heart by an elongated stone nipple. “I bid you both good evening.”
Georgina turned, careful to keep her back ramrod straight and her hands still by her sides as Lady Dunley sputtered in shock behind her. The taste of Leo and the cheroot still lingered on Georgina’s lips.
She had her answer, only it wasn’t the one she’d wanted.
She should have listened to Welles after all.
* * *
He had,in no way, thought it would feel like this.
Leo had been shot. Stabbed in the ribs. Fallen off a horse. Nearly drowned, no thanks to Tony. But this? Far worse.
After their night together, Leo had thought of nothingbuther. The feel of her supple form curved to his and the scent of spring in his nostrils. All that...longingfor Georgina had made him furious. His usual control had slipped. Even Tony had commented on his ill humor.
Why couldn’t he have merely fucked Georgina and been done with it?
He pulled out the bottle of scotch from underneath the bench, swallowing down several mouthfuls, listening to the muted sounds of Elysium behind him. The courtyard and gardens themselves were silent except for the water spilling from the fountain. Lady Dunley had thankfully returned inside, still hissing at being compared to a squirrel, led away by the ever-efficient Peckham. Poor Peckham, blustering out apologies for having allowed Lady Dunley to escape Leo’s office. Leo still didn’t know what she wanted with him. Nor did he care. The note she’d sent earlier asking to speak to him had been intentionally vague.
But Georgina had assumed the worst, and Leo had allowed her to.
“Don’t you dare judge me,” Leo hissed to one of the stone cherubs staring in his direction from the fountain. “A few months from now, Georgina will thank me that at least one of us had the sense to put a stop to this.”
Regrets were useless. It was done. In time, he’d forget her. London was full of luscious young ladies with a taste for adventure who would welcome Leo into their beds. Possibly even an American or two.
Underneath there is still a pig.
A choked sound erupted from him, and Leo quickly took a mouthful of scotch to swallow it away. The amber liquid burned into his belly but provided little relief from the cold setting in across his chest and seeping into his bones. Leo tipped the bottle to his lips once more, knowing it would do no good. There was not enough scotch in all of London to ease the hollow feeling inside him.
