Chapter 4 #3
If Georgie were following protocol, she should have called her mother’s twin Aunt Packham. But with all the female Packhams in the family, it had been decided the risk of confusion was just too great.
Her mother favored her with a quiet smile that looked just a bit smug.
Aunt Berenice glared. “You have a visitor,” she announced, as Greyville got to his feet.
Once one heard Aunt Berenice, they never mistook her for Georgie’s mama again. Georgie’s mama was all refinement, subtlety, and calm authority. Charlie’s mama could easily be mistaken for an artillery colonel. The problem was that one wouldn’t recognize the difference until it was too late.
“Yes,” Georgie said, hand out. “I see that.” She allowed Greyville to perform the obeisances. “Lord Coleford.”
He bowed. “Lady Georgianna.”
“He was just about to tell us how you met,” Aunt Berenice stated, her nose wrinkling a bit, as if she could smell Georgie’s brain working overtime on a reasonable lie.
“In the park,” Georgie blurted out, sure her brain was frying. “I was walking with the cousins and came across Lord Coleford and his own little cousins out for an airing.”
“An airing?’ Aunt Berenice barked. “They are not winter blankets, young lady.”
“Yes,” Greyville gently agreed, “but you cannot say that all children don’t need fresh air.”
Aunt glared at him. “It was a lovely day.”
His smile was much calmer than Georgie felt. “It was.”
“But how were you introduced?” her mother asked in her velvety company voice.
“Well, you see,” Greyville said with a duck of his head. “Lady Georgianna not only saved the ball my girls were kicking about, keeping it from the Serpentine by no more than a kick of her foot—”
Georgie thought she might kill him. She would hear about unsightly behavior later.
“—but also, possibly my youngest little cousin Amelia, who went charging after the ball. It was a gift from her papa, you see. She has been known to sleep with it.”
Good lord, Georgie thought, seeing the softening of his audience’s expressions. It’s working. How dare he be so smooth?
“Your cousin Peter’s girls?” Georgie’s mama asked, her expression completely unruffled.
“Yes, Lady Clevedon. I admit I am not proficient at childcare yet, having only returned home from the battlefield.” Blast if he didn’t look perfectly sincere.
All the while he was igniting fresh chills just from the timbre of his voice.
“The closest I’ve ever come to this kind of business has been keeping subalterns in line.
I fear I wasn’t watching closely enough.
I am more than grateful that Lady Georgianna was.
When I realized I had a few minutes today, I thought I would attempt a formal introduction so I might properly thank her. I hope you don’t mind.”
And then he unleashed a smile on the older women that would have melted brick.
Georgie found herself wanting to stare again.
Good heavens. How could anyone have teeth so straight and white?
Especially someone who had been making do from one battle to the next for the last ten years.
It simply was not fair. It didn’t help that as she assessed his teeth, she was running her tongue over her own left canine where it encroached on its neighbor.
“Consider yourself introduced,” Aunt Berenice said with an imperious wave of her hand.
“Thank you, Aunt Berenice,” Georgie said.
She was just about to sit down when she caught sight of two waving females through the garden windows. “Er, would it be acceptable for us to take a short walk?”
Georgie almost put her hand over her own mouth. Her mother had suddenly lit up like sunrise. Oh lord, how did she eventually tell her mama what they were really doing for this man? Not that kind of walk, she wanted to say. Not that it would make a difference.
“Of course,” her mother readily agreed. “The garden is not big, but it is at its prettiest right now.”
Rising, Greyville gave another brief bow. “Thank you. I have several messages to deliver from Sophie and Amelia.”
Georgie was feeling ambivalent about going off with Greyville, and not just because her mother was certain to get the wrong idea.
Because Greyville might. Even so, she acquiesced with the grace her mama and her aunt—to be fair, mostly her aunt, since her mama was so involved in her projects—had relentlessly impressed on her and took Greyville’s proffered arm.
“Are those the famous cousins I saw out the window?” he asked as they left the salon for the garden door. “The Kings?”
“They are,” was all she was willing to say until they reached them.
“Reinforcements?” Greyville asked, his voice dry as Georgie’s throat.
She refused to feel bad. “Believe me when I tell you that you would rather meet Charlie and Eddie than suffer the interrogation from my aunt for being alone with me for more than five minutes,” she said as she guided Greyville out the garden door to reveal Charlie and Eddie waiting by the rosebushes.
She didn’t even get a chance to perform formal introductions before Charlie set the tone, hands on hips. “Well, no wonder Priscilla doesn’t want to marry you,” she said, giving Greyville a thorough examination, the only thing missing a lorgnette. “You’d frighten the daylights out of her.”
Greyville’s answer was no more than a raised eyebrow.
Georgie sighed. “My lord,” she said. “May I present Miss Charlotte Packham and Miss Edwina Packham? Charlie, Eddie, I suspect you already know who the Marquess of Coleford is.”
Both dipped perfect curtsies.
“Grey,” he immediately intervened. “Or Greyville.”
“Not used to being a marquess yet?” Charlie asked. “I imagine all the sudden bowing and scraping can be a bit off-putting.”
Georgie wasn’t certain Grey’s eyebrow would ever resume its normal position. “Indeed.”
“How did you fare with the Twin Terrors?” Charlie asked.
“If we are here to help him,” Eddie interjected, “We might wish to start. The mothers will not give us much time. In fact, one of them is watching out the window even as we speak.”
Georgie motioned to a well-placed arbor with facing benches surrounded by her mother’s favorite iris in gold and purple and white, their blossoms nodding in a breeze.
Georgie took in a calming breath, the iris scent settling her a bit.
She always connected that scent with her mother, who spread calm like a balm.
Greyville settled Georgie on the bench and then sat beside her. “I had heard they were twins. The rumors don’t do them justice.”
Charlie chuckled as she took up her seat across from them. “What a lovely way you have with a euphemism, my lord.”
“They do it on purpose,” Georgie informed him, wishing there was more room on the bench. He was distracting her. “If they can keep people just a bit off-balance, they can more easily control a situation.”
“Like an unmarried marquess appearing suddenly in their salon.”
Charlie beamed. “Exactly.”
But Greyville didn’t seem to be paying attention.
He was organizing himself, his focus on settling a jacket that looked just that much too big.
Excellent material and tailoring, but hanging just a bit limply, which seemed to disconcert him.
Old togs, Georgie suspected, from before the war.
She imagined he would have felt far more comfortable in his scarlets.
Still, Georgie found that she had trouble looking away from the elegant line of his hands as he shot his cuffs.
He might only have been a marquess for a matter of weeks, but he had the dignity of it down quite well.
“How can we help you, Greyville?” she asked.
He looked up, surprised into another smile. “It is that obvious?”
“It is the only reason I can think you’d appear at a veritable stranger’s door this late in the day.”
“To be fair,” he said. “That stranger showed up at my door first.”
She nodded. “Point taken. I assume that this means you have visited with Priscilla?”
He scowled, taking a moment to choose his next words. “I have no taste for torturing innocents,” he said. “Especially if they are to be my wife.”
If her Aunt Berenice had not drilled posture into her head, Georgie would have slumped in relief.
“In that case,” she said, “we might have some ideas. Can you be at the Halverson ball tomorrow?”
He looked up. “I have already secured a dance with Miss Mayhew.”
Georgie nodded and pointed to Eddie who held up her list. “We have some other young ladies you might want an introduction to.”
He was looking even more uncomfortable. “I cannot break off an engagement I agreed to.”
Georgie grinned. “That’s all right. If we are very lucky, we will have Mr. Mayhew do it for you. Can you make sure you are overheard bemoaning the fact that you’ll have to spend an inordinate amount of time this next year putting the Welsh property to rights?”
He blinked. “Wales?”
“Is that not where the ducal property is?”
He looked between the three of them. “Well, yes. One of them. In the Black Mountains. I have never been there, though. I have no idea….”
“It matters not,” Eddie said, leaning forward in her enthusiasm. “Priscilla was horrified at the mere mention of Wales. She is a homebody and would wither so far away from her family. And thankfully, so would her parents. Her mother relies on her attendance on her.”
“It’s Wales,” Greyville retorted. “Not the Antipodes.”
Georgie smiled. “Maybe to someone who has traveled farther from London than Oxfordshire. We have it on good authority that even her father would be horrified to find that his daughter would be taken so far away. I believe they assumed you would spend the majority of your time in London. Parliament and all.”
Again, Greyville looked from one cousin to the other. “You seem to be taking an unusual amount of enjoyment in my predicament.”
Charlie shrugged. “We enjoy solving conundrums.”
“Why?”
Georgie sighed. “A habit we got into at school.”
“We were called the Fairy Godmothers,” Eddie added.
“Still are,” Charlie admitted.
For a moment Greyville sat very still. “Lady Georgina bearded the lion in his den,” he said. “Miss Edwina seems to be the listmaker.” He turned to Charlie. “What do you provide?”
Charlie’s grin was delighted. “Just the right touch of chaos and mayhem.”
His frown just grew. “Why do I not feel encouraged?”
Georgie started to put her hand on his arm, but stopped when he looked her way.
Did he have to smell of cedar and something citrusy?
She wanted to lean into him and just breathe.
“What Charlie meant was that if you play your part tomorrow, she will make certain Mr. Mayhew knows exactly what he will be forfeiting if he lets his Priscilla be dragged to Wales.”
Greyville stiffened all over again. “I will not be dragging anybody...”
“But you will imply it. If not, the plan fails.”
He gave a considered look at all three of them. “You really think you can help me.”
All three nodded.
Georgie handed him the list. “Study the names on that list. We will find a way to introduce you. After we have seen to Mr. Mayhew. Once he realizes how isolated his daughter will be married to you, we shall have a clearer way forward.”
He commenced rubbing at his forehead. “I feel as if I’ve been tackled by a squad of skirmishers.”
Charlie beamed. “And so you have. Just be happy it is friendly forces.”
He gave a distracted nod and rose to his feet. “Halverson’s.”
Georgie rose with him. “It is important,” she said. “We can only hold off the notices from the papers for so long.”
That earned her a shocked stare. “They haven’t gone in yet?”
Georgie grinned. “A small mishap.”
He gave his head a slow shake. “Wellington could have used you lot on the Peninsula.”
Georgie thought she was in the clear a few minutes later when she handed the marquess off to their butler to see him out. She hadn’t noticed her mother standing in the shadows just inside the Chinese parlor.
“Whatever the three of you are up to,” the Countess said, stepping into the light. “I would advise you to use care.”
Georgie startled. “Of course we will.”
Her mother’s frown was at once gentle and unsettling. “This isn’t a lost bracelet, Georgianna.”
Georgie fought a sense of panic. “Why would you say that?”
Now her mother smiled, and that was even worse. “Oh, my dear. You aren’t the only one who excels at gathering information. Just be careful.”
“I will.”
“Are you planning to take him from Miss Mayhew?”
Georgie laughed, finally relieved. “Oh heavens, no. We’d be at each other’s throats in a minute.”
Then her mother did the most confounding thing of all. Her smile grew until it looked conspiratorial. “Oh,” she said very softly. “But sometimes that’s the most fun of all.”
And before Georgie could demand to know what she meant, her mother gave her a pat on the cheek and walked out.