Page 9 of The Season for Loving
Georgie frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s my mother. She’s up to something.”
Lady Reese was no longer sitting with Eliza. She’d joined the men and was in the process of pulling Mr. Haddon aside. From the looks of it, he wasn’t happy about it.
“Your mother seems to be a very, er, decisive woman,” Georgie said.
“That’s one way of putting it,” Evie said dryly. “Best prepare yourself. You’re about to be managed, as is poor Fergus.”
Georgie shot her a puzzled glance, but then smiled as Lady Reese came marching over, towing a clearly reluctant Mr. Haddon.
“Evelyn, my love,” Lady Reese said in a brisk voice, “Mrs. Gage wishes to consult with us on our plans for the next few weeks. Why don’t you let Fergus sit with Miss Gage while we attend to that?”
“But I’ve only just starting chatting with Miss Gage,” Evie said.
“You can speak to her later,” Lady Reese said. “Besides, it’s more pleasant for the young people to spend time talking to each other than having to entertain old married people like us.”
“Good Lord,” Evie said. “Fergus is older than I am.”
Mr. Haddon finally broke his grim silence. “You’d better go with her, Evelyn. She won’t give any of us a moment’s peace until you do.” His brogue carried more than a hint of sarcasm.
“Fergus, there’s no call to be rude,” Lady Reese said. “You’re not in Scotland where everyone’s used to that sort of behavior. You’ll quite shock Miss Gage.”
“I imagine we’re shocking Miss Gage right now,” Evie said, clearly suppressing laughter.
“Nonsense,mymanners are impeccable, as are yours,” Lady Reese replied.
As if to prove her wrong, Mr. Haddon gave Georgie an extravagant bow. Quite remarkably, he managed to convey sarcasm with that, too. “Please forgive my rough manner, Miss Gage,” he said. “Apparently, we Scots are an untutored lot.”
“That is unfortunately true,” Lady Reese said in a sympathetic tone. “They simply cannot help themselves. I’ve learned to make allowances, however.”
Georgie stifled a giggle. She couldn’t tell if Lady Reese was joking or not, and Mr. Haddon’s ironic expression certainly wasn’t providing any clues.
“All right, Mamma, you win,” Evie said, rising. “Fergus, I promise Miss Gage won’t bite.”
Georgie flashed Evie an appreciative grin. Their visitors were shaping up to be more entertaining than she’d expected. But when she caught sight of Mr. Haddon’s expression as he settled beside her, her amusement faded. He’d gone back to looking grim, which wasn’t much fun at all, or very flattering. However, since he’d been that way since he entered the room, she decided not to take it personally.
“It’s all right, sir,” she said in a quiet voice as the ladies walked off. “You don’t have to sit with me if you’d rather rejoin the men.”
He went stiff beside her—well, even stiffer—and for a few awkward moments his face was entirely shuttered. Then he let out a sigh. “Lady Reese has the right of it, I’m afraid. Forgive me, Miss Gage. For my, er…”
“Dour mood?” she prompted.
His rueful grin was surprisingly engaging. “That’ll do. But it has nothing to do with you, please be assured.”
“Then what has you in the dumps? Are you wishing you were somewhere else?”
When his eyebrows shot up, Georgie shrugged. “You seem like the sort of person who’d prefer not to mince words,” she said. “Like me.”
“You’re right, I don’t mince words, which means we should get along very well. And to answer your question, it’s not precisely that I don’t wish to be here. The Friar’s House looks interesting, and your brother and his wife have been very welcoming. It’s that…”
“Yes?”
“It’s not home.”
That she understood. “And where is home?”
“Blairgal Castle, north of Glasgow.”
