Chapter Four

Georgie stepped outside, ready to see off part of her family as they returned to Shadowcrest. They had been in town now for just over three weeks, and Madame Dumas' seamstresses had worked day and night, completing gowns for Aunt Matty, Allegra, Lyric, and Effie.

Now, the four women were returning to the country. Georgie was still disappointed that the twins would not make their come-outs alongside her and Mirella, but she could understand the dilemma they faced. She hated the fact that women were at such a disadvantage in their society, dependent upon the men in their families, who had absolute control over finances.

She walked out, linking her arm through Allegra's, as they went to the carriage. Footmen were loading the women's trunks into a second vehicle, and Kitty was going to return to Shadowcrest to serve as maid to them. The servant had admitted to Georgie as she helped dress her this morning that she was happy to be returning to the country, saying she preferred the quiet of it to the noise of the city.

They reached the carriage, and Georgie embraced Allegra. "Please write," she said earnestly.

"You must do the same, Georgie," her cousin replied. "We want to know everything that is happening during the Season and if you are leaning toward favoring one suitor over another."

It still took her by surprise at times, thinking that in a few months, she might actually be engaged to be married, planning her wedding to someone she had yet to even meet.

Moving toward Lyric, she hugged her cousin, again asking that Lyric write about news from the country.

"I know you will be searching for answers within yourself," Georgie told Lyric. "I hope you find them."

Her cousin smiled at her fondly. "And I hope that you find a gentleman worthy of your love. It was wonderful seeing Pippa and Seth come together. James and Sophie, too. I am certain you will find the man meant for you, Georgie, and that we will adore him as much as we do Sophie and Seth."

She then hugged Effie and Aunt Matty and said goodbye to Miss Feathers, who had served as their governess for several years and would still be giving Effie lessons until her own come-out in a couple of years.

As the two carriages pulled from their square, Mama took her and Mirella's hands and squeezed them.

"I know it is dreadfully hard to see them go, girls. They have been a part of your lives ever since all of you were born. The twins are doing what they believe is best. It will give us time to see the two of you find good matches, though. By then, I hope they will have worked through their struggles, so that we can see they also find decent gentlemen as their husbands next Season."

As they turned to reenter the townhouse, Mirella said, "Effie will be the happiest of them, Mama. She is definitely not one for town. She will be glad to traipse about the estate with Caleb."

"Yes, Effie and Pippa have that in common," Mama agreed. "Oh, I wonder where my darling girl is now on her honeymoon. I suppose I will go in now and write a letter to her and send it ahead so that she will know her cousins have postponed their come-out Season."

"I wish to practice my pianoforte," Georgie said, knowing she would draw comfort from the music, always eager to sit at the instrument each day.

"So do I," her sister said.

Of all the Strongs, she and Mirella were the most serious about their music. Sometimes, they would listen to one another practice and critique each other's performance of a particular piece. They had not needed a music teacher in many years, simply using their skills and experience to help one another become more accomplished pianists.

"Where do you prefer to practice today, Georgie?" Mirella asked.

"I know you enjoy the drawing room for practice. I will be in the music room."

She parted from her mother and sister, retreating to the music room, where she had spent numerous hours, especially during the three years Uncle Adolphus had kept them exiled in town. Thinking of her uncle, and what he and Cousin Theo had tried to do to Sophie, still angered her. She was glad James had put the two men on a ship and sent them far away, yet Georgie knew it still had to hurt Lyric and Allegra, learning what their father and brother had been capable of and how they had tried to hurt James by abducting his wife.

Georgie seated herself at the pianoforte, realizing how fortunate she was to be a Strong. A daughter of one duke and sister to another one. The fact they even possessed two pianofortes within this household told of the Seaton wealth and the ease of their lives.

She practiced for a good two hours, which was not out of the ordinary, and then went to find Mirella, who was finishing up her own practice session.

"Are you going to paint today?" she asked her sister, who was the most talented artist in the family and painted even better than she played her instrument.

"I am in desperate need of new paints," Mirella said. "I could also use a few new canvases. I don't think I will have much time to paint during the Season, but it does not start for another six weeks. Would you like to accompany me to buy new paints?"

"I will go with you, but I think I will visit the bookshop next door while you are collecting your painting supplies. We should see if Mama also might wish to go on the outing with us."

They found Mama in her sitting room and asked if she wished to accompany them.

"No, I have a few other things I need to get done. If Millie is not free to go with you, then Libby can do so," Mama said, referring to her own lady's maid.

Georgie rang for Millie, and the maid said she would be happy to chaperone them on their errands. No coach was available since the largest ducal coach had left to take the others to Kent, and the smaller one had conveyed James and Sophie to the wharf afterward.

"It really is not that far," Mirella said. "It isn't terribly cold today. Would you care to walk?"

Georgie had always enjoyed walking and readily agreed. They went upstairs to put on their spencers for warmth and fetch their reticules.

They set out for the apothecary's shop which mixed oil paints and sold Mirella her other painting supplies. When they arrived, Georgie said to Millie, "Go with my sister. She usually takes a long time in selecting new paintbrushes and shades of paint. If it will be too much to carry home, request for the supplies to be delivered. I will be browsing next door at the bookshop. If I finish early, I will rejoin you here."

She went next door, liking this bookshop because it was so large and offered such a wide variety of books on numerous topics. Moving among the shelves, she decided to head to the section Pippa had always enjoyed most. It carried books that described the histories and cultures of lands across the world. Pippa had a fascination with the Sandwich Islands, sometimes called the Cook Islands, and Georgie thought she might purchase a book about them and read it so she would know something of the sights her twin would see when the newlyweds called there.

Turning the corner to the isolated portion of the bookshop, she reached the U-shaped section, finding a single patron present, flipping through an open book. He stopped, his attention apparently drawn to something on the page.

She halted, studying the tall, imposing stranger. He gazed intently at his book, seemingly unaware of her presence. In profile, he was the most handsome man Georgie had ever seen. His hair was black as a raven's. His coat stretched tightly over broad shoulders, and he looked both athletic and graceful at the same time. She suspected from his ramrod posture that he either was presently in the military or was a former member of it.

Despite knowing it was rude, she continued to gaze upon him, entranced by him, her heart beating wildly. A physical rush ran through her, unlike anything she had ever known. For a moment, Georgie wished Pippa were here, so that she could ask her twin about these odd, unexpected feelings.

Then a sneeze came on suddenly, out of nowhere. Georgie rarely sneezed but when the sensation hit, she always sneezed in groups of four, tiny, delicate sneezes, but four all the same.

One. Two. Three. Four. They all came in rapid succession.

When she glanced up, the handsome stranger had turned to face her. She had been right in assuming he was a military man. Looking at him now, she understood why he wore civilian clothes. Why he had been sent home.

He wore a black eyepatch over his left eye. He also had a fierce scar which started above his left eyebrow and then ran the length of his left cheek. She could not imagine how painful the injury must have been when it occurred because it still looked so dreadful. But it did not mar his beauty. In fact, she only thought the scar enhanced his good looks.

He stared at her now, one green eye piercing her.

"Bless you," he said, his head turning back to his book.

She felt compelled to engage in conversation with him and took a few steps toward him. He turned to face her again, one brow arching.

"Yes?" he asked with disdain.

"This is very forward of me, my lord—actually, quite unlike me—but I wish to introduce myself to you," she said boldly. "I am Lady Georgina Strong."

His gaze burned into her, as if he saw to the very depths of her soul.

Then he turned away, replacing the book he held onto the shelf again.

She knew he was about to leave—and needed to stop him from doing so.

"What were you looking at?" she blurted out, the first thing that came to mind. "I am here to find a book about the Sandwich Islands," hoping her words might start a conversation between them and not chase him away.

The man glanced at her again, confusion clouding his one good eye.

Georgie held her breath, hoping he would say something. Anything.

"Why the Sandwich Islands?" he asked, his voice a deep rumble, which caused her insides to wobble like marmalade.

Smiling, she said, "Because my sister has gone there on her honeymoon with Lord Hopewell. Pippa has always wished to travel the world, and she wed a sea captain. Well, he was a sea captain, but he recently became Viscount Hopewell. He loves my twin more than anything and wanted to take her to all the places she has read about over the years. Why, they are going to North America first. Then they will sail down and around Cape Horn. They will visit the Sandwich Islands and Australia. I know Pippa also mentioned India. She has showed me all these places in the atlas in our library, but I thought I would read up some about the places she and Seth will visit. That way, when she returns, I will have a better understanding of where she has been and what she has seen."

She finally paused, coming up for breath, praying he would speak again. She wanted to hear his voice.

He was quiet a long moment, and Georgie was about to turn away, discouraged she had not been able to get him to engage more with her.

"Your twin?" he asked.

Relief flooded her. They were going to have a conversation, after all.

"Yes. Twins run in the Strong family. My father and uncle were twins. And on the very day Pippa and I were born to our parents, my aunt gave birth to twin girls. Unfortunately, she did not survive their births. Allegra and Lyric came to live with us."

He seemed interested. "Two sets of twins growing up in a household?"

"Oh, it was wonderful. And then Mama had Mirella, and later Effie, so there were six of us growing up together."

For the first time, the stranger smiled. "Six girls in one household? It must have been quite lively."

"It was ever so much fun."

She proceeded to tell him a few stories about their antics, thrilled that it brought another smile to his sensual lips. She had never noticed any man's lips before, but she could not stop staring at his as she continued babbling about her family. Usually, Georgie was a bit reserved, but it was as if the floodgates had been opened and she simply could not stop talking.

She wondered now what it would be like to kiss those lips.

Her thoughts caused heat to rise in her cheeks, and she glanced away, self-conscious of the blush. She focused on the shelf of books in front of her, not really seeing any of them, thinking how foolish she had been to approach a stranger and talk his ear off.

"The books about the Sandwich Islands are somewhere," she said, trailing her finger along the spines of the books near her.

"They are over here," the man said, taking a few steps away. He indicated a shelf and then removed a book from it, returning to her side and handing it to her.

"You might enjoy this one."

She accepted the book from him and flipped through it. "I will purchase this on your recommendation," she said brightly, trying to cover her embarrassment. "I will learn all I can about this group of islands, and Pippa will be impressed when she finally returns home."

"She will be gone a long time if she is to visit all the places you mentioned."

Georgie nodded. "Seth—that is, Lord Hopewell—said they would be gone anywhere from a year and a half to two years. The weather will play a large factor in the amount of time they are gone. Seth sailed for Strong Shipping Lines. He was a captain. The same as my brother."

"Six girls and a brother?"

"James was lost to us for many years," she said quietly, surprised that she was sharing such intimate details with a man whose name she had yet to learn. "He had gone to the Strong Shipping offices with his father. Our family owns the line. James was abducted on the docks and made a cabin boy on a sailing vessel. He was so young and treated so miserably, beaten every time he tried to tell them who he really was."

She shrugged, swallowing painfully. "He finally stopped trying. His memories faded, and he did not really recall who he was after a few years."

"But he came back?" the stranger pressed.

Georgie nodded. "After seventeen years. We all thought him dead. Pippa and I were only a year old when he vanished without a trace, so we have gotten to know him since he has returned to England. He has also wed recently, and we simply adore his wife."

Worried that she had overstepped her bounds by babbling to a complete stranger, she hoped to make amends for her forwardness and still show this man a kindness.

"Perhaps you might like to come to tea, my lord, and meet them." She paused, staring at him. "Then again, I would be hard pressed to tell them who you were or where to send your invitation since you have neglected to share your name with me. I know Polite Society demands that a third party introduce strangers to one another, but there was no one around to do so for us. I have told you that I am Lady Georgina Strong, but you have yet to reveal your name to me. Unless you are some criminal and on the run from the authorities for the crimes you have committed, it would only be polite if you did share your name with me, sir."

He gaped at her and then burst out laughing. His laugh sounded rusty, as if he had not used it in a very long while. Then again, if he had been at war, as she suspected, war was no laughing matter.

"My name is August Holt," he told her. "Until last summer, I was a captain in His Majesty's army, fighting in the Peninsular Wars."

A shadow crossed his face. "My reasons for coming home were twofold." He raised a hand, pointing to his face. "You can see the injuries I suffered. I was deemed unfit to maintain my command, and so I sold out."

She clucked her tongue. "Simply because you lost an eye in battle does not mean you would be unfit to continue as an officer."

He cocked his head, studying her. "You believe that to be true, my lady?"

"Of course, I do, or I would not have said so. If you were capable before with two eyes, why would missing one matter? I assume a captain is a good rank, one which you had to earn. You are no less the leader—nor less a person—simply because you no longer possess that eye."

His gaze pinned hers. "And what of my scars, Lady Georgina?"

"What of them? I do not see how having something mar your cheek changes your intellect. It would not affect your skills, nor the experience you brought to the battlefield. If your commanding officers forced you out simply for those reasons, then they are fools," she declared.

He smiled, and Georgie felt herself drawn in by it.

"I also came home because my father had just passed," the former army captain revealed.

"Did you inherit his title? Usually, it is a second son who goes to war."

"No, my brother Peter did. But he was in poor health for many years. He passed the day I returned home. Fortunately, I was able to speak to him before he was gone."

Moved by what he had revealed, Georgie placed her hand on his forearm, a gesture she thought would bring him comfort. Instead, an electricity passed between them, and he yanked his arm from her.

"Good day, my lady," he said curtly, striding away before she could say anything more to him.

She leaned against the bookshelves. The encounter had intrigued her. The way it ended had stunned her. And though she had learned his name, she had yet to learn the title he held.

Georgie was determined to discover his title—and invite August Holt to tea.