Page 10 of Ladies in Hating
That was what she had meant to say to Lady Darling. She’d had an itemized list in her mind of parallels toprovethat the woman was up to no good.
Except then Lady Darling had appeared, and Georgiana’s brain had been promptly and comprehensively ravished. She scarcely knew what she had said. She’d barely been able to get the words out past numb lips.
It wasunsporting,that was what it was. The woman hadno rightto appear after a decade, lit from behind and glowing in the dawn like some incandescent and deliciously corporeal fantasy.
No.No.Cat Lacey was not a fantasy. Georgiana did notfantasizeabout her. She did notthinkof her, not anymore, not since she’d been fifteen and hopelessly infatuated, practically obsessed with—
Iris waved a hand directly in front of Georgiana’s nose.
Georgiana blinked. DearLord.She was still staring at the place where the woman’s feet had trod.
“Ah,” she managed, “yes?”
“I said, ‘Selina is here and wants to know if you’d like to come in for tea.’ Thrice.”
Tea sounded nice. Hot. Bracing. Perhaps it might restore some portion of her wits. “All right,” she said faintly.
“All right,” Iris echoed.
There was a brief pause.
“The, ah”—Iris’s voice was slightly smothered—“the door is this way. You shall probably have to turn around.”
Georgiana drew a single, moderated breath and ordered herself very firmly to calm down.
Selina stood just inside the threshold at the back entrance of Belvoir’s. It was still early, but the library was the duchess’s darling, as precious to her as a child, and so it was not surprising that she was here shortly after dawn.
Her expression was distinctly censorious as she took in Iris and Georgiana lurking in her back alley.
Georgiana hoped pathetically that the tea service might come with brandy.
Selina ushered them upstairs to her office, where a tray appeared—Georgiana was not sure how, Selina’s powers of command always seemed faintly supernatural—and the story of their morning affair was unraveled.
Mostly by Iris. Georgiana did not yet seem to have recovered the ability to speak.
“Wait,” Selina said. “I don’t understand. YouknewLady Darling—but you did not know that you knew her?”
“That’s more or less the way of it.”
Honestly, she had scarcelyknownCat back at Woodcote Hall. They had not been friends. Georgiana could count on two hands the number of times they had spoken together—in fact, adolescent Georgiana had kept a private record of exactly that, occasionally decorated with very, very small hearts.
She felt her soul shrivel at the ten-year-old memory.
“And she was the daughter of the butler at your family’s estate?”
“Yes.” She had been. Before Georgiana’s father had thrown them out and Georgiana had done nothing to stop it.
Selina’s brows made a very skeptical line, and she waved a hand in Georgiana’s general direction. “So why is your face… like that?”
“Like what?” Georgiana managed.
“Carmine.”
“Is it because there is a perfectly rational explanation for your conspiracy?” Iris inquired. She patted Georgiana’s hand sympathetically. “Do not be embarrassed. I thought it suspicious as well.”
Georgiana removed her hand and allowed it to briefly cool the fire in her right cheek. “No. No, dash it. Thisdoesn’texplain things. There are still too many coincidences.” Her brain seemed to be very slowly grinding back to life after its catastrophic failure in the alley. “Too many pieces do not fit.”
Selina leaned back in her chair. “What do you mean?”
