Chapter 10 #2
It was heartwarming to watch Julian as he resumed his role as the Duke of Moreland while at the same time remaining open to anything his tenants might wish to say to or ask of him.
All of them, as the morning progressed, expressed how much they were enjoying seeing him about the estate again.
Georgiana, for her part, was still reveling in the euphoria of being allowed to continue as Julian’s secretary and to remain indefinitely in Norfolk.
She had fallen in love with the county’s barrenness and the sea’s wild crashing onto the golden sand. Also, with the good humor and friendliness of the people she had met while out on her rides.
But most of all, she knew herself to be falling more in love with Julian every day. Even if he continued to be the most infuriatingly stubborn gentleman she had ever met!
He was also startlingly handsome in that toplofty way that dukes often were. Certainly, St. Albans and Hellsmere both possessed that same inherent arrogance.
Georgiana was also witnessing firsthand this morning how much the tenants of the Moreland Park estate respected and loved him, many of them having known him since he was a child.
The latter emotion seemed to have surprised Julian. “It would seem I have misjudged the feelings of my tenants,” he remarked ruefully as the three of them enjoyed luncheon at the local inn.
They had left their horses with the ostlers outside and were now sitting together in a private room enjoying a cold luncheon of fresh bread, sliced meats, and cheeses. All washed down with the home-brewed ale the innkeeper was locally famous for.
Julian’s gaze lowered. “I had thought—erroneously made the assumption—they would view me differently after my wi—the duchess’s disappearance.”
Robert Eames grimaced. “You have always been well-liked, as was your father and grandfather before you. But I am afraid the feelings of the tenants and the people living in the village toward the duchess are very similar to those of your household staff.” He hesitated.
“Do I have your permission to continue?” he prompted when Julian stiffened.
“Of course.” Julian nodded.
Eames released a sigh. “Then I am sorry to say the duchess was not liked at all— Are you quite well, Lady Stapleton?” the estate manager inquired after Georgiana gave a derisive snort.
“I am very well,” she assured him. “But it would seem that the only person who did like the duchess was you,” she turned to tell Julian. “Initially, at least,” she dismissed. “I can only assume that was because you were not thinking with your brain but another part of your anatomy.”
“Georgiana!” Julian gasped at the same time as Robert Eames almost choked on a swallow of ale.
“Can you claim otherwise?” she challenged.
Julian’s nostrils flared. “What I can state categorically is that your father should have spanked your bottom more when you were a child!”
She huffed. “My father had absolutely no interest in anything to do with his three daughters, let alone the desire to correct anything as insignificant as their behavior.”
Although, Georgiana inwardly admitted, the mere thought of having Julian spank her bottom now seemed to have created a pleasurable warmth between her thighs.
How odd that she should find the suggestion of physical chastisement so erotic. But she could not deny the dampness soaking in the gusset of her drawers that accompanied that warmth.
She turned toward Eames rather than continuing to look at Julian, feeling a little awkward after imagining herself draped over his muscular thighs before he threw up her skirts and spanked her bare bottom.
“I trust Meggie is well?” she prompted the other man. “She has not joined me on the beach to collect shells these past two days.” It was the first time she’d had the opportunity to mention this to him, not having previously wished to interrupt the purpose of the day.
A cloud seemed to pass over Eames’s features. “She sometimes has bad nightmares this time of year, followed by two or three days when she feels melancholy and prefers to stay at home with her mother.”
“I am so sorry to hear that.” Georgiana frowned. “I would have called on her if I had known that was the reason for her not joining me.”
Meggie’s father shrugged. “I am sure she will be feeling better soon. She talks of you often. At least, I have assumed the ‘kind, dark-haired lady’ to be you?”
“I hope it is too.” Georgiana smiled before that humor disappeared. “The nightmares only happen this time of year, you said…?”
His gaze no longer quite met hers. “Yes.”
“How strange.” The end of spring and the start of summer had always been one of Georgiana’s favorite times of year.
It was a time when she felt that the warmth of continuous days of sunshine couldn’t be far away. Although, last summer had not met those expectations. There had been very little sunshine. Many of the farmers had been unable to plant or harvest their crops due to the bad weather.
“Meggie fell and broke her arm two years ago, and the nightmares and melancholy have happened since, and always at the same time of year,” Eames confided. “Try as we might, my wife and I do not seem to be able to convince her that the pain will not happen again.”
“But you are sure she will recover?” Meggie was usually such a sunny child, Georgiana could not bear the thought of her being so unhappy.
“Usually within a few days, yes,” Eames confirmed.
“With your permission, may I visit her tomorrow?”
“Certainly,” he assured. “I know she will appreciate—” Eames broke off to stare curiously out the open window as the sound of carriages arriving could be heard.
Two carriages had pulled in and were now stopped in the inn’s courtyard. Distinctive coats of arms were visible on the doors.
Ones that Georgiana had no difficulty recognizing as belonging to the Duke of St. Albans and the Duke of Hellsmere.