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Henry’s fist tightened over the bed linen. Whatever this was between them, it would not go beyond the physical. Lady Arlington clearly had no interest, and Henry would not allow his heart to become entangled again. And yet, if he turned his head to the side, her scent would still be on the sheets: a summer meadow baking in sunlight. The same as it had been eight years ago. Imprinted on him just as every word, every look, every touch that had ever passed between them. Surely that had to mean something. Surely it was not possible to feel this drawn to another person without some reciprocity on their part. At least something that went beyond mere attraction.
No. It is mindless lust. Do not mistake it for more. Do not delude yourself again.
Henry sat up with a sigh and stretched his aching neck. In a way it was a relief to admit what he had been fruitlessly trying to deny this last week and a half. He still wanted her just as he had the first time they met, if not more. And if she came to him again, Henry would not turn her away. He simply lacked the strength. He knew exactly what to expect from this woman, and yet he had still made a series of errors ever since he found her standing in his office. If he were a bit younger, or a bit stronger, then perhaps he could have found the will to expel her from his life once again, and without remorse. But the years had not been kind to Henry, and though he was a fool in many ways, he was wise enough to recognize that pleasure and happiness were fleeting gifts. Best to take them while on offer. And not think of what the future might hold.
Henry rose from the bed and walked toward the balcony. The sky had just begun to lighten. Soon enough the sun would rise, and he would have to face her: the beautiful mistake he seemed destined to make over and over again. He placed his hands on the balcony’s elaborate wrought iron railing and watched the sun rise across the Mediterranean. Then he turned to meet his fate.
***
“I’ve tried my best,” Bea sighed. “But I think we’ve done all we can, my lady.”
Georgiana met her maid’s distressed eyes in the dressing table’s mirror. “Goodness, Bea. It’s only some dark circles.” She added a little laugh, hoping to reassure the poor girl, but Bea only frowned deeper and moved toward her, once again wielding the powder brush.
“No.” Georgiana held up a hand and jerked back. “Really. Any more and I’ll look like the undead.”
Lord knew she certainly felt that way. She had slept terribly, and it showed in her wan complexion. But one poor night’s sleep shouldn’t have made such an impact.
The truth was that Captain Harris’s presence in her life had been steadily weighing on her. A veritable lodestone around her neck, affecting her to a degree she had been reluctant to acknowledge. Last night should have definitively snuffed out the flame that had begun to grow between them. He had kissed her, had touched her, hadpleasuredher, and she had finally scratched the itch that had been nagging her for eight long years. That should have been the end of it. And yet, to her great regret, Georgiana was not the least bit satisfied. Somehow her desire had only grown. Until it was all she could think about. This…thisneedfor him. And, based on her ghostly pallor, it seemed to be sucking the very life from her. A pity that she had effectively ruined any chance of sating it by fleeing his room.
This was a mistake.
Georgiana bit back a sigh and rose from her chair. “I’ll wear the yellow silk. That should help, I think.”
Bea shot her a skeptical look but went to fetch it. As Georgiana submitted to the lacing, tightening, and flouncing required to become Lady Arlington, she decided that the only thing worse than this pathetic wanting coursing through her would be if the captain learned of it.
“Please breathe, my lady,” Bea said gently. “If I make this corset any tighter, you’ll faint.”
“Of course,” Georgiana huffed and her chest noticeably loosened. Damn that man.
She would have to act as though she was perfectly fine. It shouldn’t be hard. She had been doing so for years now. What was another week?
But as she entered the suite’s sitting room, her heart lurched at the sight of his shut door.
Get a hold of yourself.
He wasn’t eveninthere. Bea had told her the captain had been up and dressed when she went to fetch her breakfast, grumbling something about taking a morning constitutional.
Georgiana frowned at his closed door. Clearly she had been the only one who spent the night tossing and turning. Then she turned to her maid. “Thank you, Bea. Take the afternoon off and enjoy yourself. I won’t need you until dinner.”
Bea looked worried. “But shouldn’t you wait for Captain Harris, my lady?”
Georgiana was due to have luncheon in the countess’s suite with Sylvia and her husband. She assumed the captain had been invited too. Not just because he was a good friend of Rafe’s but because the wholepointof him coming on this trip was to watch over her. But he clearly wasn’t here.
“I’m quite certain I can walk down the hallway without his assistance,” she said more sharply than she meant to, and the girl’s face fell. “I’m sorry, Bea. My quarrel isn’t with you. But please don’t worry yourself. I’ll be fine.”
“Yes, my lady,” Bea said quietly, but she didn’t look up before disappearing back into her room.
Georgiana felt a pang of guilt as she left the suite. Bea was a sensitive girl. And by far the best maid she had ever employed. She would need to make amends later. Georgiana paused before a large accent mirror in the hallway to collect herself. An elegant woman perfectly coiffed, if a bit pale, in a gown of sunflower yellow stared back. But that glum expression would never do. Lady Arlington was serene, not sad. The very picture of aristocratic refinement. Untouched by the trivial annoyances of daily life. She forced her mouth into a smile, but it looked more like a grimace.
“Ridiculous,” she muttered to herself before walking over to the door. She had barely begun to knock when it was swiftly opened by the countess’s butler.
“Oh, hello,” she said awkwardly. The man must have been watching from the peephole. And had likely witnessed her little display in the hall. Luckily, he was too well trained to give any indication and had merely bowed and swept his arm aside to welcome her. Georgiana attempted to regain her fragile confidence as she entered the suite, but it was quickly smashed to pieces when the very first person she saw was Captain Harris properly glowering down at her like a gentleman in an Austen novel.
Someone should tell him the act was far less appealing off the page.
“I thought you had gone for a walk,” she accused.
He raised one imperious eyebrow. “That was hours ago.”
