Page 48 of Georgiana
“A letter for you, my Lady.”
Georgiana took the letter from Anna and felt her whole body grow cold when she recognized the seal. The formal address on the letter mocked her.
Her Grace, the Duchess of Adborough
Pemberley, Derbyshire
Maxwell!
As though burned, she dropped the letter on top of the pianoforte where she’d been playing a difficult piece in an attempt to empty her mind of thoughts of her husband and a life that might have been.
How did he know she was at Pemberley? Her insides began to shake. He’d been explicit that she was not to leave Adborough Hall without his consent. Did this missive contain words of anger and a demand for annulment? She pushed away from the pianoforte and moved toward the Paladion window overlooking the back garden. A light snow covered the ground, creating an illusion of peace and tranquility. She touched her brow against the cool pane of the window. If only her thoughts mirrored the pastoral scene before her.
She glanced over her shoulder at the letter, laying on the pianoforte, mocking her with its fake title. Had he sneered and toyed with more thoughts of her doing evil when he was forced to write down her legal name? It would not have given him joy, that was for sure.
“Have you finished playing, Georgiana?” Lizzy entered the room at a slow pace. She was only a few weeks from delivering and Fitzwilliam had given strict orders she was to limit her time on her feet.
“Yes, I cannot concentrate on Handel today.”
Lizzy noticed the letter on the pianoforte. She glanced at the address and her eyebrows rose a fraction higher.
“From his Grace?”
She nodded, not daring to speak lest she blurt out something in anger, and she was trying very hard not to be angry any more. The emotion drained her and he wasn’t worth the effort anymore.
“Well, at least he didn’t address it to the whore of Babylon.”
“Lizzy!” Her sister’s black humor made her smile, but only a little. “I don’t think he thinks of me as the whore of Babylon, only of Derbyshire.”
Lizzy laughed out loud. “Well done, Georgiana. I knew you had a stiff Darcy spine. It’s high time you came out of your doldrums and start a new chapter.”
“I suppose I should read what he has to say.” She picked up the letter and sat down beside Lizzy.
“You do not need to do anything.” Lizzy laid a hand on hers. “You can consign it to the fire without opening it, much like Fitz does with any correspondence from Lady Catherine.”
Georgiana turned the letter over in her hand and toyed with the edge of the sealed fold. Warring thoughts chased through her mind. Read it. Burn it. Read it. Burn it.
“I need to see what he has written.” Decision made; she broke the seal. His first words clawed at her heart and she forgot to breathe.
My darling wife, Georgiana,
May I call you Georgiana, for that is how I think of you.
Almost verbatim, he’d copied her form of addressing him in her private letters. How could that be? She finally took in air and looked up at Lizzy, who demanded. “What? What has he said?”
“He called me his darling wife.”
“He what?”
“I need to speak with Anna.”
“Your maid? For whatever reason?”
“I have no time to explain, I shall return in but a moment.”
She hurried from the room and asked one of the footmen to direct Anna to her suite of rooms. Within a few minutes, Anna appeared and after a quick curtsy, asked, “What can I do for you, my Lady?”
Georgiana stopped her pacing.
