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Georgiana ground her teeth. “Well, haven’t you been busy.” Putting distance between them indeed. “And amIto have a say in this?”
“You’re well overdue for a break anyway,” Reggie pointed out. “You’ve been promising to take one for months now.”
“And I will,” she insisted. “Once this deal is finished.”
“You may not have the option,” Captain Harris muttered.
Georgiana shot him a scowl as Reggie inhaled sharply. “You arenothelping.” Then she turned back to her brother. “Don’t listen to him.”
Reggie gave her a pained look. “It’s hard not to, my dear. You must see that.”
Georgiana sighed and closed her eyes against the frustration raging inside her. “It feels too much like admitting defeat. And after everything I’ve been working for…”
She couldn’t muster the energy to finish the thought.
Reggie patted her hand. “I know,” he said, his eyes filled with remorse. But he didn’t. Not really. Neither of them could understand what they were asking of her. “Haven’t you been meaning to visit Sylvia?” Her friend had moved to Berlin last winter after her husband accepted a position with the British ambassador.
“She’s talked of us meeting in Monte Carlo, where her mother-in-law lives,” Georgiana answered, resigned. Then she raised an eyebrow. “Is that acceptable, Captain?”
She had the distinct impression he would veto a location if he didn’t approve of it.
“That depends on where you will stay.”
“Well, considering Sylvia’s mother-in-law lives at the Hotel Luna, I imagine we would stay there,” she said dryly.
The dowager countess of Fairfield was the long-standing partner of the hotel’s owner, Mr. Mahmood Previn.
Captain Harris gave a stiff nod. “We can arrange for several protection officers to guard you during your stay.”
“No,” Georgiana ground out. That was a bridge too far. “I will leave London, but I refuse to be surrounded by strange men. I won’t be able to relax.”
Captain Harris narrowed his eyes. “I suggest you reconsider, my lady.”
Georgiana was just about to tell him where he could shove his suggestion when Reggie cut in.
“Why don’t you go too, Captain?”
They both directed their ire at Reggie.
“What?”
“Are youmad?”
Reggie shrank back a little at their combined raised voices but then lifted his chin. “Well, doesn’t that make the most sense? Georgiana doesn’t want strangers protecting her, which I can certainly understand given the circumstances. And you’re already familiar with the situation, Captain.”
“But I need to behere.”
Georgiana suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. The man was acting as if Reggie had suggested he travel across the Sahara with her on his back. Not take a trip to the Riviera and stay in a world-class hotel.
Reggie gave him a gentle smile. “I think we’ve moved beyond the services of a private investigator. If the danger is as great as you say, it’s time to contact Scotland Yard again. Don’t you agree?”
Captain Harris inhaled deeply, then gave a reluctant nod.
“But it will cause talk if we’re seen together,” Georgiana argued. If he insisted on acting supremely put out by all this, then by God, so would she.
“Things are different on the Continent,” Reggie said. “You won’t draw the same notice as you do in London, and you’ll hardly be the most scandalous woman there, Georgie. Not when there are actresses and American millionaires flooding the gaming halls. And you can be discreet. Can’t you, Captain?”
“Of course,” he said curtly.
