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Tobias stared at him for a long moment, then he broke into a grin. “That makes two of us. Say, I don’t suppose you’d be interested in leaving here for a card game, like old times? It’s very exclusive and the buy-in is highway robbery, but I can give you a loan. I know you’ll be worth the investment.”
Still up to his old tricks then. Henry wondered how much money he would lose tonight. Tobias was one of the worst gamblers he had ever seen. And the man never knew when to quit. “No, sorry. I don’t gamble much these days.”
Tobias pouted. “That’s a shame. If I had your mind for cards, I’d be richer than the queen by now.” Then he held out this hand. “Well, good luck with the search. If I hear anything, I’ll let you know.”
As Henry took it, he raised an eyebrow. “I can’t imagine you would. Whoever’s behind this is likely someone in business.”
Which was a far cry from the libertines Tobias usually surrounded himself with. Henry had been tolerated merely for his adeptness at cards.
As if Tobias could read his thoughts, he leaned in a little closer. “Ah, but you’ve no idea what circles I run in these days,” he replied before releasing Henry’s hand and striding back into the ballroom with the assurance of a man who had never felt out of place anywhere. Ever.
***
As Georgiana waited for the carriage outside the Pettigrew mansion with Reggie, she couldn’t shake the uncertainty that had been hovering over her like a cloud for the last hour. It began when she caught Captain Harris staring at her from the doorway of the terrace, before Tobias went over to say hello. On first glance she thought he was simply frowning at her. Hardly unusual. But then she noticed a look in his eyes that she was tempted to describe aslonging. Then he seemed to catch himself and assumed his usual stern expression, but the memory still lingered, even now. Daring her to consider the possibility that beneath the captain’s stony exterior lay a heart as raw and ragged as her own.
Reggie kept looking back to the front door as more and more guests left. “Have you seen Captain Harris? I wanted to offer him a lift home.”
Georgiana shook her head. “He was on the terrace with Tobias much earlier.” But she hadn’t seen either man since. “I think he was headed for the garden. Possibly an assignation under the cover of night.”
Why onearthhad she said that?
“I doubt it,” Reggie said absently, still scanning the growing crowd. “Not really his sort of thing, I gather.”
She tamped down the sudden urge to point out that her personal experience proved otherwise. Wildly inappropriate. And if she displayed any kind of interest in the captain, her brother wouldn’t stop haranguing her about it.
“I thought all men were interested in that sort of thing,” she said instead, then winced. Even she could hear the bitterness in her voice. Perhaps Reggie hadn’t noticed…
But then he shot her an odd look. “I assure you, they aren’t,” he said stiffly.
Goodness. She hadoffendedhim. “I’m sorry, Reg. I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m tired, is all. Not used to keeping these late hours, you see.”
His eyes softened. “No. Don’t mind me. I was only being silly.”
Georgiana began to ask what, exactly, had bothered him, but Reggie then spotted the captain and waved his arm. “Ho, Captain Harris!”
As he came closer, Georgiana discreetly swept her gaze over him. Well, he certainly didn’tlooklike he had been busy ravishing anyone in a hedge. If anything, he appeared to be just as tired as she felt.
Because you are both working people.
Georgiana’s lips quirked. She rather liked that idea, even though the captain would likely strenuously object to her lumping herself together with him. It was true that she didn’t need to work for a living. But she did need to work for a purpose.
Captain Harris forced his way through the crowd and reached them just as her brother’s carriage was pulling up. “Hello there,” he said rather breathlessly to Reggie as he cut a glance in her general direction.
“You’re coming with us, and I won’t take no for an answer.”
Captain Harris still seemed on the verge of refusing, until something gave.
He really must be so tired.
Georgiana’s eyes then drifted toward his cane. She had long since ceased to notice it, as he moved with that innate confidence. But he leaned more heavily on it now, and she found herself wondering what the nature of his injury was. None of the newspaper articles about him had ever mentioned the scars such an ordeal would leave behind, both visible and hidden.
When she was first married, she had volunteered at a home for military veterans. There she had seen that the true price of war went far beyond pounds sterling. It was found in the vacant expressions of the men she wheeled around the garden, in the sudden bursts of anger some displayed that seemed to erupt from nowhere, and in the lost limbs or powder burns that marked so many. She was still a patron of the home, but after a few months the viscount had demanded she stop, claiming it took too much time away from him. By then they had been married nearly a year and she was still without child. For a time she had wondered if he would seek an annulment, given his desire for an heir. But he must have concluded she was still a valuable asset even if she was possibly barren, and he chose another way to express his displeasure. It was to be the first in a long line of actions he took to punish her for this failure.
From now on I will choose your charitable endeavors, my dear. Your talents would be put to much better use elsewhere.
She quickly discovered that anything or anyone who brought her obvious enjoyment was banned, so she learned to barely show any emotion beyond serene contentment. It was simply easier—safer—that way.
When she gave her regrets to the home’s matron, the older woman was surprisingly understanding. “To be honest, my lady, you lasted far longer than I expected. Most don’t return after the first day. If you don’t mind me saying so, I believe you’ve nerves of steel.”
