Chapter Twenty-Three

G eorgiana heard laughter. Looking ahead, she saw Olivia and Alice had broken into a run.

“Not here. Not now,” she said, shaking off Reginald’s hand. “Come. We shouldn’t be dawdling.”

He looked relieved rather than disappointed. They hurried after the others, but walking, not running. It made Georgiana feel old. She hadn’t run since she’d left Marbury, and even then, the last time she remembered doing so was chasing after a puppy that had been digging in the garden. She couldn’t recall the last time she’d run sheerly out of exuberance.

The folly had been built in two main parts, separated by forty or fifty yards, with a low, broken wall of bricks connecting them.

“This is supposed to be the ruin of the cloister,” Olivia said, standing beside the larger structure with Alice as Reginald and Georgiana drew near.

Georgiana could imagine that it had once been an abbey’s cloister, a small one; there was a squarish outline, a few standing pillars and several more broken ones, and a single, rather substantial brick wall.

“We’d hide back there,” Reginald said, gesturing to the wall. “Behind it, there are a few niches that we claimed were the nuns’ cells. Olivia believed it for the longest time.”

“And that over there,” Olivia pointed to the other structure. “That was the kitchen and refectory. There’s a hearth there. It’s safe to build a fire in it, though we haven’t done that in ages. We used to have picnics here. Come see. Come see.”

Alice followed readily, but Reginald said, “Go on. Georgiana and I will look around here first.”

The girls scampered away. Reginald waited until they reached the other structure and disappeared beyond its archway. He led her into the “cloister,” to sit on a brick bench cut into the wall. She sat very still. He did also.

Reginald cleared his throat. “Did you reach any conclusions?”

“The last three or three-and-a-half years are fine. Whatever the expense was, it seems to have been resolved.” She knew her speech was stilted, but she was having trouble speaking at all. She didn’t want to do this. She wanted to be back in the library. With him. Suspended in time. “I don’t think you need have any qualms giving a new steward the ledgers.”

“But you have no idea what those expenses were?”

She hesitated a little too long before shaking her head.

“Huh.” He looked toward the ground. “It worries me more that you won’t tell me what you found.”

She didn’t want to lie to him. “Please don’t be worried. I think that what matters is not what I might have found buried in the past, but what you all have now. You and your family.”

His brow furrowed. “And what you discovered will hurt my family?”

“No!” She wished she had never stuck her nose where it didn’t belong. “No, it shouldn’t. But why take the chance?”

He gave her a long look as if debating whether to press her. She shook her head. “It’s done with, Reginald.”

He drew back, startled, or wounded. Then asked haltingly, “Done with?” He put his head in his hands, rubbed his temples, then looked at her again. “We should not risk the chance.”

She felt it again. That jolt. That love. That desire.

He must have seen it in her face because he reached for her. With both hands. He grasped her by the shoulders and pulled her close. Then he kissed her.

Georgiana dissolved into his arms.

They kissed and they kissed and they kissed. She didn’t think she would know what to do, but it was the most natural thing in the world. She kissed not only his lips but his chin, his cheeks, his eyelids, the way he kissed hers. He parted her lips with his and they kissed as if trying to meld themselves into one. He pulled her closer, until her leg draped halfway across his lap. And then she was on his lap. And his hand slid from the back of her neck to her shoulder to her breast.

She made a noise. An involuntary noise. It was surprise, not protest, but Reginald stiffened and pulled back. He shifted her from his lap onto the bench and stood up.

“We should not— I should not—I won’t, don’t worry, I would never say anything to Jasper.”

“Jasper?” For a moment, the name meant nothing to her. Then it meant everything. Of course, Reginald would not tell his brother about this. But to think that that was what worried her? He’d say nothing for her sake?

“He means to ask for you. To have you for his countess.” His voice shook. “Of course, you know that.”

Yes, she did know that. But she did not appreciate having Jasper’s intentions thrown into her face. She stood up as well.

He went on, sounding wild. “We can’t chance his finding out. We won’t meet again. The books don’t matter. I can’t be near you, Georgiana. You must think, God, you must think the worst things of me. I’m not that kind of man. He’s my brother !”

He couldn’t be near her? Was she a temptress then? Turning him into the type of man he was not?

She didn’t trust her voice. Which didn’t matter since she had nothing to say. She gestured for him to step aside. Then walked past him. To join Alice and Olivia and put this miserable scene, this whole horrendous week behind her.

Did Reginald honestly imagine she would ever marry Jasper?

That hurt. More than she ever thought she could be hurt.

*

Reginald watched Georgiana walk away. He was wretched. Wretched.

He’d intended to apologize for caressing her little finger. Instead, he assaulted her. Good God! What had he done?

Jasper must never find out. He wouldn’t bother shooting Reginald, he’d have him committed, straightaway, to an asylum. Because Reginald was evidently mad. And if not yet, he would be. If Jasper married her.

But Jasper surely wouldn’t marry her if he ever found out. He’d be horrified. He thought she was such an innocent. Georgiana’s kisses had not been innocent. Moreover, there was what Crispin mockingly called their unwritten, unspoken rule—they would never pursue the same woman. That had never been an issue. Not for him. Perhaps it had been some time in the past for Jasper and Crispin. They were closer in age. But Reginald doubted they’d ever given his interests any thought. Certainly not as any threat to Jasper’s.

Jasper must never find out.

As Georgiana reached the archway, Reginald turned abruptly, unable to watch her disappear beyond it. He turned and saw Crispin regarding him coldly from the far edge of the wall. His stomach plummeted even as bile rose in his throat.

“And here I thought you were the intelligent one,” Crispin jeered.

“God!” Reginald exploded. “Where did you come from? Were you spying on me?”

“Spying?” Crispin laughed, sauntering forward through the soggy patches of grass. “That’s a lark. Believe me, I had no desire to hear any of that. I stopped here on my way back from the Squire’s. I sent Adam ahead on the road to take back the carriage and I came here. For a respite, I thought. Mercury is grazing out back.” He gestured toward the wall and halted beside Reginald. “I had no idea my sanctuary was going to be invaded.”

“You might have shown yourself.” How much had he heard?

“If there had been any moment during any of that where showing myself would have been appropriate, believe me, I would have leaped out. Bloody hell. First—you had Lady Georgiana looking for your stray missing bits in the ledgers? What the devil? That alone set my head spinning. And she found them? That nearly brought me shouting from behind the wall. But I was brought up short. Christ! Reginald. You were kissing her!”

“You could not see that.” He was sweating. Panicked.

Crispin laughed, a disbelieving, mocking, appalled laugh. “I did not have to see. I have ears. I was afraid to poke my head around and see you two rolling about on the ground.”

Reginald hit him squarely on the jaw.

Crispin’s head was flung back, and one foot moved for balance, but he didn’t fall. He rubbed his chin and shook himself, scowling. Then he regarded his brother with an appreciative gleam in his eye.

“Not bad. Now tell me what the hell is going on.”

There was no point denying it. Crispin would not say anything to Jasper, though he was likely to insist that Reginald confess. “I’m an idiot is what. I’m in love with her.”

“I know that .” Crispin regarded him as if he’d said something amusing. “And she feels the same. And Jasper bores her to tears. And he will always and forever be in love with Vanessa. I am a simple, casual observer, yet this has all been evident to me now for days.”

Evident for days ? Reginald felt almost faint. Evident to everyone? Surely not. “Jasper still intends to ask for her.”

“Then he is the idiot, not you. Jasper attempted some sort of chaste kiss, and she clocked him. I didn’t see what you were doing to her, but it didn’t sound as if she minded.”

“Shut up.” Heat rose up his neck to his ears. Damn it. His obvious mortification would be more ammunition for his brother’s pistol-quick sarcasm.

“What I don’t understand is why you insulted that delightful young lady—”

“I lost control. Crispin, I don’t go around grabbing women—”

“That wasn’t what I meant. I meant why did you accuse her of leading you on while she’s dangling after Jasper?”

“I did not accuse her of any such thing!”

“Reg, I heard you. And if that is what I heard, you can believe that’s what she heard too.”

“She came to Chaumbers to be courted by Jasper!”

“Which makes Jasper one of at least sixteen fellows to throw his hat into the ring. She won’t accept him.”

“He is going to be an earl. And he’s Jasper .”

“That is incredibly offensive. If I was not now leery of your right paw, I would throw a punch on her behalf. She won’t marry Jasper. She may end up marrying someone else, someday, but it will never be Jasper. Now you can go tell him to shove aside because you are going to woo her, or you can let her go. But whichever you decide, you owe her an apology. Not for kissing her, but for thinking she would let you kiss her like that if she had any intention of encouraging Jasper.”

Reginald stood still, breathing unsteadily. There was some sense in what Crispin said. It made him feel worse, but at the same time, left open the door to a glimmer of hope. Just the faintest glimmer. He was bound to do something that would slam that door shut.

“Think it over,” Crispin said more gently.

“I don’t have to think it over. I won’t simply let her go. But I’m not like you. I can’t just barrel into fraught conversations.” He studied his brother. “How do you do it?”

Crispin’s face changed. Rather than sardonic, he simply looked tired.

“Reg, I will say this, but you are not permitted to reply. All right?” He paused, and when Reginald said nothing, he went on, “I have lived most of my life with one foot in the grave. I don’t procrastinate. Which includes not putting off necessary conversations.” He smiled wryly. “I rather enjoy them. The discomfort reminds me that I’m still alive.”

“You do avoid some conversations.”

“ Upt !” Crispin held up his hand. “No response, remember? I avoid one topic. Now we move on to the next. Why was Georgiana going through Bradwell’s books? And what did she find that she refuses to tell?”

Reginald balked. He could not reveal Georgiana’s secret, her gift, because that would be a betrayal, even though Crispin would find it as remarkable as he had himself.

“There is nothing worthwhile in our library. She was bored.”

“She has that novel from home.”

“ The Italian? That’s Mother’s. Or Olivia’s.”

“No, something else. About a courtesan.”

“What?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Crispin said. “She was bored. So you gave her a ledger to read? Were you drunk again?”

God. He could not lie to save his life.

“Not to read. I just asked her to skim a few of the ledgers and note a few things.”

“What things? What did you have her looking for?”

His neck felt hot. “I can’t say—”

“You can’t say because this is a fudge. I’ll ask her.”

“Crispin, drop it. I don’t know what Georgiana found, but she says it doesn’t matter and I trust her.”

“It may not matter to you. Or to her. But I have a nagging suspicion of my own and if it’s the same one, what she found does matter to someone. Very much so.”

“You can’t ask her, or she’ll know you were listening behind the wall.”

Crispin laughed. “Didn’t we just establish that I live for embarrassing conversations?”

“Crispin—”

“Don’t look so terrified. I’m not going to interrogate her now, in front of Olivia. We’ll tell them all I just arrived. I came this way from the Squire’s. You’d better let me do the talking. Now, come on, gudgeon. We have to get back to the house. And you’ll have to face her sometime. Let’s get it over with.”