Chapter 1 #2
He eyed her curiously. “Does that mean that if you accept this position, you do not intend to tell your family the real reason for your absence?”
“Heavens, no!” She chuckled. “My mother would not allow it if she knew what I was about to do.”
“A sentiment, as a father, I can fully relate to. If Chloe had ever thought of carrying out such a hare-brained scheme, she would not be able to sit down for a—”
“I do believe Chloe has made her own mark, within society and out of it,” she reminded pointedly.
“You are correct, of course. I apologize.” The duke gave a formal bow of his head even as he drew in a deep and controlling breath. “I stand by my offer to assist you in carrying out these arrangements, while at the same time, I urge you to reconsider your actions.”
“And I appreciate your concern but politely decline. I shall go to Norfolk to become secretary to your friend. As to what I shall tell my family, we are all currently in mourning for my father,” Georgiana reminded.
“Julia and Amanda are also in mourning for their beloved grandmother. They have sent word they will not be returning to London and intend to remain in the country for the rest of the Season.” Her expression brightened. “I believe I might join them there.”
St. Albans looked perplexed. “You now intend to visit with the them in the country?”
“I intend to tell my mother and sisters that is where I am going, when in truth, I shall be traveling to and then residing in Norfolk,” she corrected. “I am sure, once I have written to Julia and Amanda, they will happily assist me in that deception.”
“Being another two members of the Spinsters Alliance,” he acknowledged.
Georgiana felt the heat in her cheeks. “Exactly.” She knew that St. Albans had overheard, quite by accident, the very first meeting of that alliance.
He had done so because it had taken place within his own library, and Chloe had not realized her father was sitting at the opposite end of the room while the six young ladies formed the alliance.
“How soon do you imagine you might be able to secure these arrangements with your family and friends and travel into Norfolk?” the duke prompted briskly.
“I believe you might write and tell your friend that I will arrive by the end of the month.”
He nodded. “I will, of course, provide a carriage and the necessary grooms to take you there—”
“But—”
“Lily and Chloe would have my head if I were to allow you to travel all that way by public coach,” he insisted. “When do you intend telling them of your real plans?”
“Not yet,” she dismissed vaguely. “And I would ask that you not do so either.”
He winced. “I will not lie to my Lily or my daughter.”
“This would be by omission rather than telling them a lie.”
“Still…”
“Please.” She gave him her most pleading look.
“Neither of them will be happy with me when or if the truth comes out.”
“And I will be very unhappy with you if you tell them of my plans before I am ready to do so,” Georgiana shot back. “Not that it would bother you if I were,” she accepted dryly. “But I would prefer it if you left it to me to decide if there is any necessity to tell Lily and Chloe of my real plans.”
St. Albans continued to frown. “Do you at least have a maid to accompany you?”
She wrinkled her nose. “I doubt any in my mother’s household would wish to leave London.
Or, even if they did, they would be willing to be a part of my deception.
Besides, if I am traveling under the protection of the Duke of St. Albans, I will not need a maid.
” No one would dare to challenge anyone traveling in the carriage of such an important and powerful gentleman.
She had no doubt that her sisters, under the aegis of a friendship with the Duke and Duchess of St. Albans, would both eventually make suitable matches.
Even her mother might eventually find happiness, either by making female friends or perhaps by marrying again.
But Georgiana really did not wish that for herself.
A move to Norfolk, a place she had never been but had been told was starkly beautiful, sounded a far better arrangement for her.
Georgiana eyed the duke warily. “Is there a reason that you have so far referred to this gentleman who resides in Norfolk only as ‘my friend’?”
The duke smiled slightly. “Lily and Chloe have both commented on your astuteness and intelligence.”
“And?” Georgiana was not susceptible to flattery.
He watched her closely. “The name of my friend is Julian Sotherby, the Duke of Moreland,” he announced without preamble.
Georgiana recoiled.
Understandably.
Because everyone in Society knew the name of the Duke of Moreland, even if they had not met him.
As Georgiana, now aged nineteen, had only been eligible to attend the past two Seasons, and the Duke of Moreland had been absent for both of them, she had never so much as seen him, let alone met him.
But she had heard the gossip from other young ladies of Moreland’s roguish good looks and his height of being well above six feet, along with the muscular fitness of his body.
All of which would seem to imply he was not the rotund and elderly gentleman Georgiana had envisaged spending time with as they discussed politics by a fire. He was more likely to be of a similar age to St. Albans’s eight and thirty.
All still spoke of the scandal which had driven Moreland from Society almost two years ago, when his duchess of only one year had mysteriously disappeared, and was now presumed to have died, while they were visiting the Moreland estate in Norfolk.
Despite the handsomeness of the groom and the beauty of the bride, the marriage was rumored not to have been a happy one. Gossip had it that the duke and duchess had been heard arguing several times. Most significantly on the morning of her disappearance.
Extensive searches had taken place for several weeks, locally and farther afield, but no trace of the duchess had ever been found. Indeed, it was as if she had been magically swept away into the ether.
It hadn’t taken long for the gossip to circulate, and reach London too, that as the duchess’s body had never been found, the duke must have killed his wife and buried her somewhere out on the Norfolk fenlands. Where it was unlikely her body would ever be found.
So far, it had not.
And this was the man the Duke of St. Albans wished for Georgiana to travel to Norfolk and take up employment with?
“Moreland is not responsible for his wife’s disappearance,” St. Albans stated unequivocally. “I believe, as do all of Moreland’s true friends, that the duchess is still alive.”
“You suspect someone of having taken her?”
“No.”
“Then how and why do you think she disappeared so completely that no one has set eyes on her these past two years?”
He shrugged. “She has not been seen again in London. But she could have traveled to the Highlands of Scotland, perhaps even the Continent or the Americas.”
“But for what purpose?”
“To punish Julian by ostracizing him from Society,” St. Albans growled. “Which she has succeeded in doing.”
“Why would she want to do that?” From all that Georgiana had heard of the Duke of Moreland, he was regarded as being not only handsome but extremely wealthy. A woman could put up with many things in order to have the latter at her disposal.
Not Georgiana, of course, but for many other women, Moreland would have been the catch of the Season.
St. Albans gave a disgusted snort. “Because she knew Julian was very unhappy in their marriage. That he might even take steps to end it.”
“Do you think he would have done that?”
“I think he would have been well within his rights to do so,” St. Albans stated.
“Impossible to live with a woman who was all simpering and loving sweetness before the wedding, but once she had secured her position as the Duchess of Moreland, she showed her true colors of being a coldhearted bitch.” He made no apology for the blunt description of the missing duchess.
“You did not like her.”
“None of Moreland’s friends did. Oh, we tried, for his sake, but we all saw her true nature when Moreland did not.”
“That is unfortunate, but surely it would still have been more beneficial, financially and socially, for her to remain in the marriage, even though they were both unhappy?”
The duke leveled his pale blue gaze on her. “For her, but not for Moreland. As for the marriage being beneficial… I do know that several pieces of jewelry, given to the duchess by Moreland soon after their marriage, also went missing on the day she disappeared.”
“Perhaps she was wearing them?” Georgiana suggested practically.
His mouth twisted. “Which is exactly what Moreland knew others would say if he told them of the missing jewelry.”
“But you do not think that to be the case?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because it was the sort of jewelry women wear to go to a ball or to be presented to the Prince Regent, not to be worn during the day. A large diamond necklace, with a matching bracelet and earbobs, all worth many thousands of pounds. Even so, the missing jewelry was not enough for Moreland to have claimed her disappearance had been calculated. But still enough, if they were sold, for a woman to live very comfortably for the rest of her life, if necessary.”
The jewels did sound rather ostentatious for a woman to wear during the day.
Not that Georgiana had personal experience of such things, her only jewelry being a gold cross given to her by her godmother at her christening.
She could not even imagine owning, let alone wearing, jewelry worth many thousands of pounds.
“I am telling you all this in confidence, of course,” St. Albans warned. “As a way of reassuring you that Moreland is innocent of any wrongdoing in regard to his missing wife.”
Georgiana raised indignant brows. “I trust you are not implying that I would ever repeat any of what you have just told me? Because I am not in the habit of indulging in gossip, Your Grace, nor of breaking a promise of silence on a subject if asked to do so. A promise I now duly give.”
His stern expression softened somewhat. “My Lily tells me that you are always the soul of discretion and that she would happily trust you with her life as well as her secrets.”
Georgiana’s cheeks felt warm at the compliment. “I feel exactly the same affection toward her and our other close friends.”
“Good,” St. Albans accepted briskly. “In that case, I hope you will take my word for it that Julian did not kill his wife.”
And who, Georgiana mused, would dare to challenge the word of the powerful Duke of St. Albans.
Georgiana had no intention of doing so. Not because she felt in the least fearful of St. Albans’s wrath if she did, but because she preferred to form her own opinions of people and not be told by others what to think of them.
As such, she would decide for herself, once she had met the Duke of Moreland, whether he was innocent or guilty of any wrongdoing in his wife’s disappearance.