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And still, every time she had dared to meet his gaze, a bolt of pure heat, pure need shot straight to her core.
She recalled her conversation with Dolly shortly before the captain had arrived:
It’s time you found another husband. But ayoungone this time.
I don’t want another husband. Even a young one, Georgiana had said with a detachment she did not feel.
Dolly had then raised an eyebrow.Well, if you don’t want a husband, you should at least find someone who can satisfy your bedroom needs.
Georgiana had nearly spit out her tea. Dolly was one of her more conservative friends. She married a pleasant, boring man a year after Georgiana had married, and they had gone on to have five healthy boys. Their conversations had always revolved around charity work, her children, or petty gossip. They never talked about anything remotely salacious, yet there she was, telling Georgiana to find herself a lover right in the middle of afternoon tea.
Dolly had then shot her a conspiratorial little smile.Though in my experience it’s best to have both. And better still if they don’t know about each other.
Georgiana threw her head back and let out a terribly unbecoming laugh at the wicked joke.
Captain Harris had arrived mere moments later, looking both extremely put out and undeniably handsome in a tan tweed suit that showcased his tall, lean figure. It was as if his appearance had been conjured by both Dolly’s suggestion and her own untoward thoughts. His annoyed expression did nothing to quell the heat rising through her.
She had never argued with him during their courtship. But then, there had been no undercurrent of antagonism coloring every conversation. No long-buried feelings of devastation that surfaced every time his eyes met her own. She had genuinely liked the young lieutenant, while he had been busy trying to charm her into looking past his unsuitability with kind words, thoughtful gestures, and seemingly endless patience, until desperation had won over for one heady, careless moment in a dark garden. Still, the ruse had very nearly worked.
Now she felt an overwhelming need to push him, to make him as uncomfortable as he made her until he lashed out. But though the captain made no attempt to hide his irritation with her, it never went beyond that. How she wished he would rage at her. It would be so much easier to manage her feelings if he was simply a brutish bully trying to force her under his thumb, or dismissing her every word with barely veiled contempt. She hadmanyyears of experience dealing with her husband’s moods, not this confounding mixture of judgment coupled with occasional moments of understanding.
Georgiana sighed and did her best to push the confounding man from her mind. She would have no answers today. And in the meantime, she had work to do.
***
For the next two days Georgiana buried herself in a haze of activity. She arrived at her office each morning between seven thirty and eight, then worked until luncheon. Her afternoons were then filled with either additional duties or the social visits she hadn’t quite brought herself to ignore entirely.
She had spent the first evening at home alone devouring the latest Inspector DuMonde mystery, but tonight she was supposed to attend the opera with her family, her first such outing since she had reentered society after the viscount’s death. For weeks Louisa had been acting as if it was a second coming out, and her constant fussing was starting to grate on Georgiana’s nerves.
When they met at Lady Gray’s that afternoon, the very first thing Louisa said was “Is your gown ready?”
“Hello, dearest,” Georgiana responded with all the poise she could muster. “And how are you?”
Louisa rolled her eyes before giving her a wide smile and a deep curtsy. “Good afternoon, my illustrious elder sister. I trust you are in excellent health?”
Georgiana had to roll her lips between her teeth to keep from laughing. Heaven deliver her the strength to deal with younger sisters. “You are an imp, Louisa,” she said after regaining her composure.
Louisa shrugged one shoulder in blasé acknowledgment. “And you wouldn’t have me any other way.”
Now Georgiana couldn’t hold back her chuckle. “I suppose not. Though I think your husband deserves the most blame for encouraging your behavior.”
Louisa glanced down with a shy smile. “He is far too indulgent, I know.” She had married her childhood sweetheart, David Pendrake, over the summer and was both deliriously happy and abominably spoiled. It had been a comfort to Georgiana to see her sister married to a man who truly loved her, but now, in the face of Louisa’s obvious contentment, a sudden, vicious longing filled her chest.
Louisa, entirely unaware of the juvenile envy coursing through her, continued talking of the plans for that evening. For once, Georgiana was grateful for her sister’s obliviousness. She spent the rest of the visit dutifully talking with every lady in the room, being introduced to fresh-faced debutantes eager for the season to commence and graciously accepting belated condolences from those she hadn’t seen since the viscount’s death.
Georgiana had been performing this social circuit since her own coming out eight years ago, and she enjoyed a particularly elevated status after her marriage. The late viscount had come from a very old family, but his reputation as a rather reclusive bachelor had barred him from moving in the more exclusive circles of his class. Georgiana may not have had much money, but she was popular, and marrying her had opened a number of doors that had long been closed to him. And yet, he expected her to be forever grateful tohimfor making her a viscountess.
No one else would have married you, my dear. Not even that face of yours could make up for your father’s debts.
He never missed the chance to remind her of this great personal sacrifice on his part, though they both knew he had fully expected to get an heir and had not handled his disappointment well.
After Georgiana had made the rounds, she kissed Louisa goodbye. “I’ll see you at Reggie’s for dinner.”
“Do try to look a little happier when you arrive. It’s only a bit of music, Georgie. Not an execution.”
Georgiana shot her a chiding look before she left the drawing room. As she was descending the front steps of Lady Gray’s Grosvenor Square mansion to her waiting carriage, she noticed a man standing across the street reading a newspaper in an apparent attempt to appear discreet.
Jack held open her carriage door, but Georgiana waved a hand. “Just a moment. I have something I need to take care of.” She then marched across the road toward Captain Henry Harris.
