Page 27 of Lessons for Marquesses
Befriending the man would be difficult enough without Caroline to muddle it. “I suppose.”
“And he’s so very handsome.”
“If you say so.”
“Do you not find him handsome?”
Georgiana shifted in her seat. “Not particularly.”Liar.
“You seemed intrigued by him.”
Her palms suddenly hot, Georgiana wiped them on her breeches.
Her cousin’s fair brows knitted. “Poppy, I apologize. I did not mean to cause you discomfort.”
“I’ve no discomfort. I met Mr. Wolf earlier in the evening at the Hazard Room.”
All present suddenly clambered to know how Georgiana had arrived in the Hazard Room. Had there not been a disturbance last evening? Georgiana relayed a domesticated version, but seeing that a man had been whipped and a riot followed, it was a tiger dressed up in a cravat. However put, however it hadn’t been her plan to be witness to a riot, there was no possible way Georgiana would be allowed to set foot out this let home without Charlotte shadowing her. A lead line might be utilized.
“Did Mr. Wolf save you?” Caroline asked with glowing interest.
“No. Actually, he…” Caroline’s green eyes glittered. Why did Georgiana want to lie? Why was she going to? “He complimented me for having escaped the riot and then we shared a laugh over a jest. That I had made and he found amusing.”
Caroline’s voice was a notch above a whisper. “He laughed? Withyou?”
“Oh, a tumult of laughter. Our bellies ached from it. And then, after introductions, he asked to see Minion. Which I obliged. He proclaimed her utter perfection. And proceeded to engage me on my breeding and training regimens.”
Tea sloshed over the cup as Caroline plunked it to the table.
Was it possible Caroline was jealous? Ridiculous. No woman in pursuit of a man, and it was now clear that a pursuit wasunderway, could be jealous of Georgiana. Or was Mr. Wolf already her lover, as Julian had alluded to?
Inspiration struck. “I plan to ask him to Farendon,” Georgiana said.
Caroline blinked, struck dumb. “He agreed?”
“I haven’t asked yet. But soon I will. With your approval, of course, Aunt Charlotte. And Oliver’s.”
Charlotte dipped her chin, regarding Georgiana over nonexistent spectacles. “Lord Acomb would have to accompany him for it to be acceptable to me.”
“Then I shall ask. Commons is out on recess soon.” Oliver hated the country. Fresh air, he said, was injurious to his health. “I’m sure he’ll agree.”
First, Mr. Wolf had to cease ignoring her. What did she have that could possibly sway him to regard her, if not as an equal, as someone worthy of his attention?
Nicholas listened to his solicitor, Mr. Tate, in the cottage’s main room, his arms wide on the settle back where he had this very morning taken Caroline before she had returned to her lodgings.
“My sincerest apologies, my lord,” Tate said, “for the delay in my arrival.”
Nicholas’s teeth grated at the honorary,my lord, as Tate set a pile of documents on the low-set table. Unlike other men of his station, Nicholas cared to review the work of his retainers. There was no shame in dirtying one’s hands in documents and ledgers. Shame was losing what the ledgers accounted for. Wealth.
William St. Clair had lost his. And while Oliver in his correspondence had called it a shocking revelation and had vowed to root out the cause, Nicholas thought it could not havehappened to a better man. Sixty-some-odd thousand in debt he’d left Georgiana St. Clair. She had reduced it to under thirty.
Tate gestured to the pile. “You will note that I was able to purchase ten thousand of Miss St. Clair’s debt from various sources with you as the new owner of the debt.”
Nicholas sifted through the notes, calculating the amounts, ensuring their accuracy. “What of the bank lien?”
“They are reviewing your request to assume Miss St. Clair’s mortgage and have promised a decision within the month. She is at present three months in arrears, previously five, pays faithfully and has pledged to bring the account current within the month.”
Georgiana St. Clair had counted on the prize money from the Stakes to be her savior. “I suspect if she does not bring it current, they will approve my offer.”
