Chapter 35

Georgie found that the amount of correspondence she received had greatly increased, now she was a married woman and a duchess. Her family were in constant contact, of course – she had even received an atrociously scrawled but apparently heartfelt joint message of congratulation from her three younger brothers, which had made Gabriel smile when she had passed it to him. Mrs Winterton had written, and her son Leo, as had Alice Templeton and other of her friends who had seen the announcement in the paper or otherwise heard of it. Lady Georgiana Morpeth wrote in congratulation, as did her sister Lady Granville. Noble ladies with whom she was not so well acquainted had also written to her, including Lady Jersey and Lady Sefton, two of the august patronesses of Almack's and acknowledged leaders of society; it seemed she was in some sense one of them now, an alarming thought. People both known and unknown to her sent her ingenious or pitiful letters soliciting money, in great quantities. And also, she discovered that afternoon, she received letters of blackmail.

Her heart had lurched when she opened Mrs Aubrey's note, but once the initial shock had passed she was inclined to smile a little wryly, which was surely not the effect her correspondent had anticipated. She was sitting with Gabriel over nuncheon, breakfast once again having been set aside for far more interesting ways of passing the time, and she passed the missive across the table to him, with a significant look at the footmen who stood in attendance. He scanned it impassively, and then with a brief word and a smile ordered their departure, and once they had gone turned to regard his wife with one of his more enigmatic expressions.

‘Well,' he said, ‘it was always a possibility, I suppose, and we should not be surprised. The news of our marriage must have been manna from heaven to her. What an unpleasant creature.'

‘And I thought her a friend. It says little for my ability to judge character.'

‘How could you know? You have never done her the least harm in the world, I am sure.'

‘I do not think I have. But she set out to ruin me when she tricked me into that house. So much has happened since that I had almost forgot her existence. And yet she had not forgotten me. She hates me, I think – there is an anger behind her words, or am I mistaken?'

‘You are not mistaken, my dear. She seeks a meeting with you, by the Abbey ruins this afternoon. Shall I go instead? I think perhaps I should.'

Georgie smiled and shook her head. ‘No, Gabriel. I have said before that I must begin taking responsibility for my own mistakes, and it is true. She would never have been able to dupe me into visiting that place if I had shown better judgement and not given her so much as the time of day. I believe too that I will enjoy seeing her face change when I tell her that she cannot hope to hurt me in your eyes by telling you of my scandalous past…'

‘Because the man you went apart with in that house was me,' he finished for her, with a smile that showed he understood perfectly. ‘I can appreciate how the irony of it appeals to you, and she will be well served by such a setback. But what if she recovers herself quickly – her wits appear to be sufficiently sharp – and still threatens to expose you? She may even refuse to believe you, have you thought of that? I am still of the mind that I should be there. We could confront her together; you would still have the pleasure of seeing the realisation cross her face. I own I will not be completely easy in my mind until I know why she bears you such malice. At present I see no reason for it, and it troubles me. The majority of people are usually so much more obvious in their motives, I find.'

She brushed his doubts aside. ‘Do such creatures need a reason? What is it that you fear, Gabriel? Your concern for my safety is touching, but I cannot think it necessary in this instance.'

‘I don't know what I fear,' he said, taking her hand and raising it to his lips before he released it. ‘I suppose eight centuries – more – of possessive masculinity cannot be set aside in an instant just because we live in supposedly more civilised times. My Norman ancestors solved their problems at the point of a sword or lance, you must be aware. The idea of allowing their women to put themselves in danger while they stood by and did nothing would have been anathema to them.'

Georgie rose, and came to sit on his lap, twining her arms about his neck. ‘"Their women"?' she teased. ‘Will you put me over your saddlebow and carry me off to your castle, my lord Duke, where you can lock me up in a tower and keep me safe?'

‘With the greatest of pleasure, madam,' he responded with alacrity, his hands about her waist, spanning her ribcage and making her feel agreeably small and delicate in his grasp. ‘I have towers aplenty, after all. You will be safe from everyone save me, and I know you do not wish to be safe from me. I fear the plate armour, not to mention the helm, will be an impediment, but I am perfectly willing to throw you down upon the refectory table, or any other table that comes to hand, and ravish you, if that is your desire.'

‘I think we can dispense with the armour,' she said. ‘It sounds excessively uncomfortable for both of us. But here is a sturdy table, look.'

‘I do perceive it,' he said, sweeping a ruthless arm across the board to clear a space.

It was much later, and regrettably a great deal of fine crockery had fallen to the floor and broken, unregarded, when she murmured into Gabriel's ear, ‘After all, what harm could she do me in a public place? She is just one woman.'