Page 63 of Ironvine

“Once you are settled, I shall help you with anything you wish.”

“Thank you.” Georgina let out a breath. “Charles deserves a good wife after all that he has done for me. He did not expect to marry nor to be Earl. I would not want him to be riddled with regrets or disappointments on any score.”

Justine opened the door to her chamber. “I firmly believe you have nothing to fear.”

ChapterTwenty-Seven

Georgina

Charles had senta message to Georgina assuring her that all the arrangements at the church had been made, which she already knew as Brandon had told her of his conversation with her fiancé earlier.

But it pleased her to see that he had taken the time to tell her himself. She wrote back, thanking him for the note and letting him know that she looked forward to seeing him at the church.

She did. She did miss him, in fact.

They had spent three heady, intense days together, and had depended on each other for truth, for trust. And so to be without him felt odd. An ache spiraled inside her at that admission to herself.

His kiss, his touch, had also been heady and intense. She was now no longer a virgin maid, and she had been the one to instigate it. Charles could have refused her bold request, and if he had done, she’d be in Devonshire. Or he could have laughed at her, and she would have felt utterly humiliated. Or he could have taken full advantage and abused her, but he had done none of these things. He had been understanding and kind, and attentive.

A grin swept her lips. Most attentive.

That feeling he had invoked in her body had been unlike any other she had ever experienced. His hands on her, his mouth, his tongue. Her legs pressed together.

How would it be once they were married and they would have all the time they wanted to themselves? All the privacy?

Another thought seized her. Did Charles have a mistress? She hadn’t considered that. Perhaps he did, and now she’d ruined it for them. She hadn’t even thought to ask him. Perhaps he had a prostitute he favoured regularly? Would he continue to indulge?

She would have to navigate all that just as she had planned on doing with Hugh. But why was her heart thudding in her chest at the thought of finding out the truth of Charles’s private life?

Justine’s lady’s maid brushed out her hair, and Georgina stared at her reflection in the glass. It was her wedding day. To prepare for her wedding without her mother and sister had seemed unthinkable. And yet here she was, but she was glad of it for instead, she could be at her sister’s house being doted on by her mother and Philippa whilst Sir Reginald, the eager groom waited for her at the church.

Justine blasted into the room. “Darling, a letter and gifts have arrived for you from your fiancé.” She placed a jeweler’s box on the vanity and a bouquet of white roses and a letter with a large R wax seal on it.

Georgina’s face heated as she lowered her face to the roses, taking in their perfume. Her pulse was suddenly giddy as if the rich fragrance had blasted away all her uneasiness and replaced it with delight. “They’re beautiful.”

“They are indeed, Miss,” said the maid.

She broke the seal on the letter and quickly unfolded it.

My dearest Georgina,

Please accept these gifts as a token of my esteem for my wife-to-be. Both are from my great, great grandmother’s collection and are now yours, my dazzling Countess of Ryvves. There is also a ring, and I shall place it on your finger myself.

I hope you will come to the church bearing these roses, as they are from our gardens that I have picked for you this morning, our wedding day.

Yours,

Charles

Her eyes filled with water as she brushed her fingertips over his elegant signature. Georgina opened the large box where inside were two very old jewelry boxes. Her pulse beat wildly as she opened the larger one. A tiara with tiny diamonds in a leaf motif glittered from within the velvet. “Lord.”

“It’s magnificent.” Justine took the tiara from her as Georgina opened the next box.

Matching diamond drop earrings lay in the smaller box. “Beautiful,” breathed Georgina.

The maid placed the tiara on Georgina’s head, nestling it perfectly in her hair, and securing it. Next came the earrings. Georgina trembled at her reflection in the looking glass.

In the rush to prepare, she hadn’t allowed herself to think or linger on the hows and wherefores. Now this moment was here. It was real. And this incredible tiara marked her as his chosen bride in a spectacular and intimate fashion.

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