Chapter 44 - GEORGINA—MY FUTURE

Chapter 44

GEORGINA—MY FUTURE

Tall Meg of a girl, kissing a man of similar height, objective forever—that should be what the gossips wrote if they saw me in the garden being swept away in Mark’s embrace.

His passion, the way he held me to him was a little loose. I forgave his wandering hands, they were medicated.

But I felt his touch. I wanted it. I needed it everywhere.

I heard a noise and broke away from him.

“I love you, Georgie. Don’t go. Don’t run anywhere without me.”

“Mark, what is our new plan? The Harlbert’s Prize could be something you win next year. What do we do this year?”

He twiddled his fingers along my elbow like I were the keys of the pianoforte. “Our plan? Well, I accepted a commission for tonight’s sonata. As a professional, I’m no longer eligible. The prize committee is committed to starving artists. Hungry is something my wife and I shall never be.”

“How can you say that? You’ve no income. I don’t have a dowry since neither the duke nor my sister will win the bet if I marry you. I come to you with nothing.”

“I want you with nothing. You can wear nothing and love me.”

I shook my head. “How do we live?”

He took a step toward me. “I’ll work for your family.”

“No. No one outside the Wilcoxes will ever run Wilcox Coal again.”

He frowned. “I don’t want to be outside. I want to be where love is. And Georgie, I don’t want any part of operating your family’s company. I meant work for the company. I can drive a coal dray just like Mr. Thom. I’m good with the reins. Just need to feel my hands.”

“Being a mere driver won’t hurt your ego?’

“Hey, I will work hard to be as good as Mr. Thom. And I can still gain commissions designing music rooms. I’ll provide for you. I’ll earn your trust every day.”

He kissed my tears. His mouth grazed over my wet lids. “We’re not false anymore. Georgie, the only responsibility I will demand is to be your husband. I’ll drive coal wagons or sweep for you. You’ll have to show me how to operate a broom better.”

“Stop making me laugh.”

“Georgie, it’s music to me. I’ll do anything to provide for my wife until I can earn enough from my music to lavish you in the manner I was formerly accustomed to. I’m pampered. I just left my mother’s knee. I need a strong woman’s influence to keep me on the straight and narrow. Order me about, woman.”

He was saying all the right words. But didn’t everyone until they got what they wanted? Yet, when I stared at Mark, I knew he spoke the truth.

“I’m scared. Marriage changes so much for a woman. And will you come to hate me when your family never visits or your father cuts us direct in public? Your brothers and their wives too?”

“My father’s prostitute mistress just cut us all. I think I can handle anything. Anything as long as we do it together.”

When he raised his arm, I took it.

“I felt that, Georgie. The feeling’s back.” He clasped my fingers and drew my wrist to his warm, hungry mouth. “Besides, half the commission is yours, and I’m terrible at division.”

Scarlett would show him how to do calculations. “Then, yes, Mark. Yes, I’ll marry you.”

He lifted me about the waist and swung me around and around before enfolding me in a congratulatory kiss.

Then he tore himself away. “Go get a bag. Tell your sisters. I’ll tell Torrance that we are eloping. No one will ever separate us, Georgie. No one.”

“I will, but I need another kiss. That will seal our deal. And confirm that we’ve won the duke’s bet by choosing us.”

“Yes, ma’am. That’s an order I can humbly follow.”

Mark swept me into his arms again.

Warm, deep, searching, his kiss made me hear music.

Dizzy, I held on to him, and those talented, awakening hands began playing with my laces.

Then a cough and an “Oh my” made him stop.

Katherine and the duke had found us again, but not as innocently as before. With Mark’s hands on my thighs, my arms wrapped tightly about him underneath his coat. I could say we were very far from innocent.

“Don’t kill me, Torrance,” he said. His palms came to the top of my skirt, anchored to my waist. “We are in love and eloping tonight. We’ll be married in days.”

The duke drew a hand to his chin, which I now thought of as his scheming pose. “Lady Hampton, are you familiar with a Cossack marriage?”

“No, Your Grace, I don’t recall.”

He cast my sister an odd, hurt look. “Well, two people in love say publicly that they are in love and want to be married. A prayer is then offered. The union is complete, save consummation. I believe these young people are starting their future in the wrong order, Lady Hampton.”

“Yes, wrong order, Your Grace.”

“And if we hadn’t been taking a walk to settle our wager, I’m sure they’d have the order completely wrong. And start all that bad gossip up again.”

“Don’t care about blasted newspapers, Torrance. Nothing is ever wrong in loving Georgina Wilcox. Wait, there’s a ball, with hundreds of guests, just beyond the maze. That’s public enough.”

He reached in his pocket and produced a tiny silver band. “Marry me now, Georgie.”

My head nodded. My voice sang yes and my eyes teared as Mark slid the ring on my finger. “Now someone offer a prayer. Katherine, please.”

She looked at the duke, then me and Mark. “May this union be blessed. May God keep you focused on how you feel right now. May you be unified in all things. Amen.”

Katherine kissed my cheek, then Mark’s.

The duke hugged me, then bowed to my . . . husband. “There’s a suite upstairs at the end of the west hall. Go take care of your wife. You are married as Cossacks. But tomorrow, I’ll have a special license here so the British will recognize this union too. You never know when such a thing might be challenged.”

“Torrance,” my husband said, “I don’t know how to thank you.”

“Easy thing, my friend. Never let her go.”

Mark agreed and picked me up, his bluestocking bride, and carried me through the maze and back inside Anya House.

We passed Lord Livingston, who conversed with Scarlett as an annoyed-looking Mr. Carew looked on. The physician seemed to do a lot more examining of my sister since the phlebotomy and the duke’s parade of candidates.

When the earl saw us, Mark spun my hand. I’m sure the gleam from the silver blinded him in the eyes. He wandered off looking sad and asking for more spirits.

Poor Scarlett looked scared, then delighted. I didn’t have time to tell her I hadn’t lost my mind but had found my heart.

Mr. Carew saluted, then whisked my sister back into the drawing room.

But Mark didn’t go up the stairs, he went to the duke’s kitchen. “Georgie, how long does it take to make your biscuits?”

“An hour?”

“I need everyone to leave, His Grace’s orders. I need this room.” He set me down, kicked the door closed when all fled. “An hour.”

Laughing and happy, I stared at him as he wrapped an apron about my gown. “What are you doing?”

He put his arms about me. He kissed my neck, and then whispered into my ear, “I want your biscuits just for me.”

My husband helped me make the dough between kisses.

By the time the room smelled of ginger, Mark’s numbness had left and he finally sunk his teeth into my decadent treat.

* * *

With a basket full of Cornish Fairings, my husband and I ran up the stairs of Anya House to the grand suite at the end of the hall.

We entered a royal-looking room painted in brilliant white with gilded moldings. The bed Mark sat me on was decked with white linens and scented in honey.

The room had been prepared for someone . . . not us.

It was made for Katherine.

Mark’s coat and shirt fell to the floor. He came to my side and took up my hand, placing it against his fast-beating chest.

The man was smooth and muscular. I could not stop touching him and letting him touch me.

“This room is beyond my imagination,” he said. “It’s magic.”

He kissed me. “Now that I’ve tasted your biscuits, I think all my dreams can come true.”

“The duke truly loves my sister. He’s waiting for her to love him again. I could see him wanting to do this for her.”

“Well, tonight, it is for us.”

Music vibrated through the floor. The rhythm was soft, perfect.

Mark lifted his chin. “Torrance is a brilliant and dangerous man. My father deserved everything he got tonight, but the duke put everything in motion for Prahmn’s downfall. I would hate to be on Torrance’s bad side.”

My husband began to kiss me and strip off my layers—the apron, the outer bronze-green gown, the inner of soft gold, down to my ivory corset and chemise. His fingers tugged at the satin ribbons holding me tightly. “Georgie, have I lost your interest, so soon? We haven’t begun, and I feel you drifting.”

I put my arms about him and held on to him to anchor me from my worrisome thoughts.

“You’re shivering. Darling, you are cold.” After stuffing a biscuit in his mouth and probably swallowing it whole, he pulled back the bedclothes and swaddled me in the sheets. “How is that, my Lady Mark Sebastian?”

“Perfect.” For the first time in a long time, I wouldn’t fret about the problems of the Wilcoxes. I had a husband who loved me, and we had the rest of our lives to help everyone out of their troubles.

“I love you, Mark. Please hold on to me.”

“I love you, Georgie. I won’t let you go.”

In his arms, growing as close as our hearts would allow, I found a place to shelter, a place of safety and kindness. And I was sure my new husband would help me remember where to run when I was in want of love.