as well as my company.’
Georgianna frowned across at him darkly. ‘You are being unfair by inferring that I have ever wished you dead, Hawksmere.’
‘Just consigned to Hades.’
‘Well, yes, there is that.’ A beguiling dimple appeared in her cheek as she smiled genuinely for what seemed to be the first time this evening. ‘A little singeing by those hellish fires, at the very least, might succeed in stripping you of some of your irritating arrogance.’
Zachary found himself chuckling. ‘I do believe I have missed both you and your insults, Georgianna.’
She raised dark brows. ‘Somehow I doubt that very much!’
Then she would be wrong, Zachary acknowledged. Georgianna was a woman with whom he now spoke almost as freely, and on similar subjects, as he did his closest male friends. Something he had not believed possible with any woman in society.
It had long been his experience that the women of society preferred not to know of the more unpleasant facts of life, their main topics of conversation seeming to be fashions, gossip, and the managing of their household and family. Georgianna’s experiences this past year had taken her far beyond being interested in such trivialities.
Reminding Zachary only too forcibly that there was something he needed, rather than wished, to discuss with her in private.
‘You will not allow Jeffrey to fight?’ Georgianna looked at him anxiously now.
Zachary frowned. ‘He is a man grown, Georgianna.’
‘And you are his guardian.’ Her eyes glittered a deep, emotional violet.
‘And, no doubt, you will never forgive me if something should happen to him.’ It was a statement rather than a question.
‘And I doubt my forgiveness is of the least interest, or importance, to you.’
‘You might be surprised,’ Zachary murmured softly before sighing as Georgianna continued to look at him expectantly. ‘I make no promises, but I will see what can be done to prevent Jeffrey from rushing headlong into the coming war,’ he added grimly.
She sighed. ‘He admires you tremendously, you know.’
‘Unlike his sister,’ Zachary drawled drily.
She gave him a brief glance. ‘It is not a question of not admiring you, Hawksmere. Indeed, I admire your endeavours on behalf of the Crown enormously.’
‘That is something, I suppose,’ he drawled.
‘The rest of your personality leaves a lot to be desired, of course,’ she added caustically, ‘but one cannot have everything.’
‘As usual, the sword thrust in the velvet glove.’
Georgianna eyed him mockingly. ‘At least I am consistent.’
‘Oh, you are most certainly that, Georgianna,’ Zachary allowed before sobering. ‘Is it convenient for you to come here tomorrow afternoon?’
‘Why?’ She eyed him warily now.
He grimaced. ‘I would prefer to discuss that with you tomorrow.’
And Georgianna would prefer to know now what that discussion was to be about.
Unfortunately, Jeffrey chose that moment to return to the dining room, so putting an end to their own conversation as they all began to talk instead of the invitations they had accepted for the coming season.
* * *
‘Thank you, Hinds.’ Georgianna smiled politely at the butler as he showed her into the blue salon of Hawksmere House the following afternoon.
After she had spent the night, and all of this morning, fretting and worrying as to what it was Hawksmere could possibly wish to discuss with her today in private.
Hawksmere himself had his back turned towards her as he stood in front of one of the large bay windows, looking out of into the garden beyond. He turned the moment the door closed as evidence of his butler’s departure.
‘I did not think, when I asked you to come here.’ He frowned darkly. ‘You do at least have a maid with you, I hope?’
Georgianna nodded. ‘She is waiting out in the hallway.’
‘Would you care for refreshment?’ the duke offered politely. ‘Tea, perhaps?’
She eyed him scathingly. ‘The only time I have been in this house, apart from that surreal dinner with Jeffrey yesterday evening, was as your prisoner, so, no, I do not require the nicety of tea, thank you, Hawksmere.’
‘The time for social politeness between the two of us really is over then, hmm?’ he guessed drily.
‘I am not sure it ever began.’
Once again Zachary found himself chuckling at Georgianna’s honesty. ‘Let us at least sit down,’ he invited ruefully.
‘You consider I might feel a need to do so, once you have spoken with me?’ she murmured concernedly as she moved to perch demurely on the edge of one of the armchairs.
Zachary had debated with himself long and hard as to what he should tell Georgianna about Rousseau. And still he had no real answer, only knew that she needed to know that the other man no longer posed a threat, to her liberty or her life.
She looked so lovely today, dressed in a gown of pale silver, the darkness of her curls peeping out from beneath the matching bonnet, her face youthfully flushed by the freshness of the breeze outside, that Zachary baulked at even introducing the subject of her previous lover.
Her previous lover?
Well, yes, because the intimacies the two of them had shared two weeks ago meant that Zachary had certainly been Georgianna’s most recent lover.
And now that he was alone with her once again, he found that the last thing he wished to do was talk of Rousseau.
‘Have you thought of me at all this past two weeks, Georgianna?’ he found himself prompting huskily.
She blinked at the unexpectedness of his question. ‘Politely or impolitely?’
‘Oh, impolitely, I am sure,’ he allowed with another laugh.
‘Then, yes, I do believe I have thought about you. Often,’ she added pointedly.
Zachary smiled ruefully. ‘And were all these impolite thoughts unpleasant ones?’
Georgianna was uncertain where Zachary was going with this line of questioning. They were two people who had once been betrothed to each other and now found themselves thrust into a situation not of their choosing. She very much doubted that Zachary had wished to become her guardian, any more than she now wished him to be. And that was without the awkwardness of the intimacies which had taken place between the two of them two weeks ago. That certainly made for a very strained relationship between the two of them.
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