Page 58 of Ironvine

Charles

As he was dressing,a servant informed him that his Aunt Vivian had arrived to pay her respects to her deceased nephew and the new Earl of Ryvves.

Charles went into his bedchamber where Georgina stood before the wash basin in his chemise, dabbing her wet face with a cloth. His breath cut at the sight of her. Her hair was loose, falling below her shoulders, the full curves of her breasts visible beneath his thin cotton shirt.

“Good morning, Charles.” Her pale cheeks reddened under his gaze. She was beautiful in this raw state. More beautiful than he’d ever seen her at balls or parties, gilded and bedecked with fine clothes and jewels. This Georgina was…oh, she was his now, wasn’t she?

Yes, she bloody well is.

When was the last time he’d seen her like this? When she was a young girl practicing archery or riding her horse much too quickly along a wooded path in their neighborhood.

How would she look in the morning after a night of rough lovemaking in his bed? His veins surged with heat, and something twisted deep in his gut at the thought.

“Charles?”

“Good morning.” He took in a breath to steady himself. “My aunt has arrived to pay her respects, and I would not wish her to know you are here or that we are to go to Gloucestershire together and marry. I would ask you to stay here in this room and do not come out until she is gone and I send for you. Although it pains me to lie to her and not have her at our wedding, I will not take any chances of our plans being thwarted before we are even able to leave London.”

“Yes, I agree.”

He left her and, once downstairs, found Aunt Vivian standing before Hugh. “How tragic, this waste of a young life over…”

“A woman, most likely.”

“Yes, I thought as much. I wonder what your father is saying to him now?”

“Do you think they’ve ended up in the same place, Aunt?"

She let out a laugh and shot him a derisive look. “Most likely. What do you say?”

“Most likely. I shall see you in Gloucestershire soon, I hope?”

“Yes, you shall. Alice and I should be at Penrose Park by the end of the week.” She put a hand on his arm. “There, you see? Now Penrose Park will be all yours as it should be. Who could have possibly foreseen all this when we’d had that conversation?”

He walked her to the front door. “Aunt, my wish is that you live on at Penrose for as long as you like and whenever you like.”

“Thank you, Charles.” She planted a kiss on his cheek. “Farewell, my boy.” She cast a final glance at Hugh. “Get him home.”

* * *

At last,Charles and Georgina left London. Their carriage pulled a cart with Hugh’s body in a wood box.

They’d spent the night at a coaching inn, and Charles had insisted she stay in his room with him. “I’m not taking any chances some evil will befall you. As it is, we have a dead body with us, and we are as yet unmarried. What if your brother’s hired some louts to take you away? Although that may be rather a dramatic action for Thomas, I do not know what your brother-in-law is capable of, and so I will not tempt fate.”

“Quite right. We’ve come this far.” She tended to his wound with the powders and tinctures Malcolm had left with them. His body released its tension at the initial stinging. She was focused on her work, her teeth biting on her lower lip. The sight still made her uncomfortable, and yet, there she was tending to it. To him. Not complaining, not upset, not anxious about all the choices she had made. None of that. Only helping him.

“You’ve become quite good at this.”

She glanced up at him, a smile on those gorgeous lips of hers. “You’re a good patient.”

They’d eaten in their room so as to not attract attention. After, she pulled down the covers on the lone bed in the chamber.

“I’ll take the armchair,” he murmured.

“You will not. Charles, we are well past chivalry and the virtues. We are to be married, and we’ve already shared congress. Now we shall take sleep side by side in the same bed. We’ve done it all backward, but there you have it. It would be preposterous to not share a bed in these circumstances as we are both extremely tired and have another long day of traveling ahead of us.”

“Merciless and sensible.”

She pulled her hair from its pins. “What did you expect of me?”

---