Page 2 of Ironvine

Charles groaned inwardly. He recognised the young lady she was with—Alice, Alice Dunsmore, who he knew all too well. She was the stepdaughter of his Aunt Vivian. His aunt had wanted Hugh to marry Alice, but Hugh had refused and rudely so.“Are you joking? I cannot marry that!”

Alice was not pretty, yet she was not too plain a creature. A somewhat giddy and very innocent girl, she had a chirping laugh that both Hugh and Charles found irksome. She smiled shyly, blushed often, and could barely hold a conversation worth having. Alice and her friendwere greeted by a male. He knew that male, another childhood friend from Gloucestershire, Thomas Hackelton. Thomas took Alice’s arm in his and entreated the perfect girl to do the same. He knew her? She turned at last.

A red hot poker pierced Charles’s chest. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

The perfect girl, the exquisite young lady, the splendid woman was none other than Thomas’s sister, Georgina, who he knew. “Damn me,” he muttered to himself.

He hadn’t laid eyes on Georgie—as she was fondly called by their mutual friends, Brandon and Justine—in months and months. She hadn’t been here in town this season, that was certain, although her brother had been at almost every party he and Hugh had attended.

Where had she been? He knew she’d never missed a season since she’d come out, and she dazzled at every dinner and dance she attended. His back straightened as he took her in from head to toe. How she’d grown.

She was only two and twenty at most, but since he’d seen her last, she’d altered. Perhaps it was the more revealing gown she wore so well tonight, or the stylish turban wrapped around her gleaming dark hair instead of the more delicate hairstyle favoured by most of the girls? She’d always been graceful and elegant, even as a girl, but tonight her demeanor seemed even more sophisticated if that were possible.

They had sparred much in the past. She was close with Justine, his best friend’s wife. And he and Georgina had run into each other many times over the past two years. Her cleverness, her sharpness of tongue, her directness he’d found refreshing. He always knew she’d become a fine lady, and she had indeed.

He smiled to himself. Had she reined in that tongue, he wondered?

Matthew approached, and Thomas greeted him, bowing his head. Was Matthew done with the prostitute already?

Matthew bowed at Georgina in an exaggerated fashion, and she dipped her head and smiled gently, which he was sure masked her great delight. His jaw tightened. If he remembered correctly, she’d always been sweet on that fool.

Matthew said something to her, she laughed, and he immediately gestured for her to accompany him on a walk. Charles’s jaw tightened as Georgina joined him, the two of them strolling together behind her brother and Alice.

Matthew had dark good looks that he used to his advantage. On one occasion he’d told Charles he’d perfected a particular glance that was “full of mystery” in order to lure ladies into his sphere, and that Charles should practice one as well.

For fuck’s sake.

Matthew worked hard to lure Georgie. He talked incessantly, pausing frequently to shoot her this odd smirk, and she only continued to smile at him and attempt to reply. Charles followed them in the crowd. They rounded a corner where they stopped to admire a group of jugglers. Thomas and Alice hadn’t noticed they’d stopped and kept walking, and Matthew now had Georgina to himself.

Charles rubbed at his eyes. He’d had a lot to drink this evening and had welcomed the warmth and looseness to his limbs, but now he desired full clarity. Charles moved in their direction, his every instinct demanding they be followed.

“Ah, there you are–” A familiar voice stopped him in his tracks.

“Aunt? Good evening.” He bowed at his mother’s sister, a tall, slender woman elegantly dressed in black and silver. She’d recently lost her husband.

“I was hoping I’d see you here tonight.”

His eyes darted to where Matthew and Georgina walked. “We’re here every night.”

“I was most insulted by Hugh’s reaction to my proposal that he marry Alice.”

“He has a rather indelicate temper, as you know.”

“Indelicate temper? He’s a spoilt, selfish brat. Much like your father was.”

“May he rest in peace.”

“May he not.” She sniffed in air, fluttering her fan. Aunt Vivian detested his father, always had done. “Alice would make you a fine wife, Charles.”

“She is indeed a lovely girl, Aunt, but I have no intention of marrying. In truth, I have never considered it.”

“Of course, you haven’t.” She narrowed her eyes at him, letting out a bitter sigh. “Mark me, soon enough, all your usual entertainments shall become tiresome to you.”

On a grin, Charles took her arm in his, and they walked in the direction Matthew and Georgina had taken. “You were most fortunate, Aunt, to have married someone you had fallen in love with.”

Her face beamed at him. “Very true, very true. Quite a shame ’tis so rare a phenomenon.”

“Indeed.” His thoughts went to his close friends, Brandon and Justine. Although their marriage had been arranged, they had fallen deeply in love and shared a very close, trusting bond.

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