Chapter 31
Once Georgina confirmed that Colt was no longer in danger of losing his life, she rushed home, hoping this near-miss would help him realise how dangerous his games could be. For now, her time was running out.
When she arrived home, she delivered her mare, Artemis, into the hands of the trusty Buckby, and strode into her house, clutching her gloves and whip in one hand. She had made it through the entryway when she heard an imperative “Psst!” coming from the hall cupboard.
After their recent escapade landed her in prison, Georgina did not wish to provide Joshua with further opportunities to embroil her in any more scrapes. An immediate sense of foreboding overcame her at his unexpected summons from the wardrobe.
“Yes, Joshua?”
“The bleedin’ crooks came back. Saw the guv’nor. Gave him a right fright, they did. Him having no clue about what happened this last week!”
She was too late. They were wasting no time following through on their promise. “Where is my father? Is he hurt?”
He gestured to the parlour with his thumb.
“Joshua, run and fetch a doctor at once. Ask the footman where best to find her,” she instructed him.
Without removing her coat, Georgina dashed across the hall, her legs starting to feel numb beneath her. Her stomach churned. She should not have heeded her father’s trivial complaints about leaving town. Had she only bundled him into the carriage yesterday, they could have avoided this.
Georgina entered the parlour and saw her father hunched over on the couch. Jarvis hovered nearby with a grim frown, and a maid was stoking the fire.
Georgina rushed to him and as she got nearer, memories of Henry flooded her mind. Her heart pounded with each step.
Silas’s normally rosy face was pale, and he jumped when the door behind her hit the wall with a loud thud. He had a glass of brandy in his hand, which was trembling.
Georgina crouched at his feet. “Are you all right? What happened?”
When he did not speak, she looked up at Jarvis, who shrugged. “We attempted to keep them out, Miss, but they pushed their way in.”
She swallowed hard. “Are you injured? I’ve sent for a doctor.”
“I am not harmed, just a little shaken up.” His voice quivered.
“Who came here, Papa?” she asked, deliberately controlling her tone and keeping it as level as possible. She did not want him to see her wrath.
He scratched his head. “There were four of them. Two gentlemen—-Montgomery and Ellis, I believe they were. And then another two distasteful types.”
Georgina clutched the armrest of the sofa, her knuckles turning milky white. “And what did they want?”
“I can’t say any of it made sense. Something about a faro box. I told them we have nothing like that here.”
The knot in her belly tightened. In her stubborn efforts to hold them to account, she had put her father in harm’s way.
“Is that all they said?” Her voice did not sound like it belonged to her.
“They hoped to see you soon.”
“I bet they did,” Georgina murmured under her breath. She looked up into her father’s eyes and read disappointment and fear within them. She had failed him. “Are you sure they did not harm you?”
He cleared his throat. “Well, I’m not as young as I used to be, George, or I might have taken my chances against them.” He looked down at his shaking hands. “Fact is, they knocked me off balance, and I fell and hit my head. Not a fair fight, mind you.”
Watching him try to preserve his dignity pulled at her heart like an anchor. “I want the doctor to examine you, nevertheless.” She fought back tears of rage. “This was never meant to happen.” She took his free hand and pressed it.
“What trouble have you brought upon yourself? I fear for you, George. Your ways. The running about town. And now it appears you are in difficulties beyond anything I thought possible.” He shuddered. “One of them had Henry’s watch, George.”
She kissed his knuckles, squeezing his hand tightly.
“The situation is complicated. It should never, ever have involved you. I am deeply sorry that I allowed this to happen.” She released his hand, stood up, and went to pour herself some whiskey.
One hand balled into a fist at her side as her thoughts rushed to vengeance.
Silas’s eyes widened as he watched her guzzle the glass of liquid in one go.
“I shall make amends and ensure this nonsense stops.” Georgina turned to Jarvis.
“Stay with him until the doctor comes. I will be home in a while.” She set down the glass and, without another look, marched out of the room, riding crop still in hand.
She made a quick detour via her library before heading for the front door.
“Oi, Missus, do you need me? I’m small, but I’m as good in a mill as the next man!” Joshua piped up behind her.
“Not this time, Joshua,” Georgina yelled over her shoulder as she rushed out. His solidarity in matters of potential bloodshed endeared him further, but she would not put him in danger.
In the street, she hailed the first passing hackney and climbed inside. “St James’s Square.”
***
A now-familiar attendant—not the pretty one, unfortunately—opened the door to Georgina and regarded her warily.
She smiled broadly and assured him she had a gift for Mrs Gardner and her friends and wished to surprise them with it.
He stepped aside and allowed Georgina to enter, guiding her to a sitting room.
Georgina strode across the threshold, her footsteps echoing off the walls as she shut the door behind her with a heavy thud. Mrs Gardner, in a gown of mauve cotton, sat placidly in a thick satin chair, and Ellis and Montgomery lounged side by side on a sofa across from her.
Georgina’s stomach lurched when she saw Elizabeth seated opposite them. Attired in a muslin walking dress and gray spencer coat, the Countess cut an elegant shape as she held a cup of tea delicately in her lap.
“How cozy,” Georgina murmured. She remembered her father’s trembling hand holding his tumbler, and how his glasses sat skewed on the bridge of his nose.
He had become an unwilling pawn in this vicious game, which amplified her need for retribution.
Yet, here sat Elizabeth, taking tea with the very people behind her father’s suffering.
Indeed, the very people behind my brother’s death.
Just how complicit was she? Warmth flooded Georgina’s face.
Elizabeth inclined her head, brow furrowed.
Ellis rubbed his hands together, as though he had successfully snared some prey in a trap. “Well, well, well, Miss Pace. What a pleasure. We missed you this morning when we called. I am so glad you have joined us. Have you decided to return Mrs Gardner’s faro box?”
Georgina’s eyes flashed. Her fingers tightened around her whip, but her left hand reached across her and withdrew the faro box from the deep pocket of her long greatcoat. “This? Indeed, yes. You can have it back.”
She walked slowly in Elizabeth’s direction, almost enjoying the glint of dismay in her bright gray eyes as she tracked the hand holding the whip. At least something rattled her. Did she expect Georgina to strike her after everything they shared?
Very gently, Georgina placed the faro box down on the table beside Elizabeth, tilting her head slightly to one side. The calmer she remained, the more Elizabeth’s discomfort appeared to grow.
Georgina turned back to Ellis and Montgomery. “Now, I would like Mr Coombes’s vowels.”
Montgomery lifted his brows in surprise. “You have not yet supplied what is owed. We stipulated today, Miss Pace.”
Georgina shrugged. “The vowels are invalid, procured using illegitimate means.”
“You will struggle to prove that, Miss Pace,” Montgomery continued. “This affair need never have become such a spectacle, had you not made it so. Mr Coombes would have learned his lesson, paid his debts in due course, and all would have been forgotten.”
“Unless the accrued interest proved beyond his means, in which case he would have found himself at the bottom of the Thames,” Georgina murmured.
“If you are so concerned about that outcome, then I would encourage you to settle his score—and the future interest—today,” Ellis added, his tone so saccharine-sweet it made Georgina sick.
“No. I am done with helping.” Georgina ensured her voice remained level and devoid of emotion. “I am washing my hands of it all now.”
“After all of this?” Montgomery demanded, a confused crease in his brow.
“There you go again, failing to protect people, Miss Pace,” Ellis remarked. “It’s rather pitiful.”
Elizabeth interjected. “Ellis! On the contrary—”
“With due respect, Countess, it’s only that Miss Pace’s track record is … poor. After all, the night Henry tragically died, he’d pledged to bring his sister with him to help settle his accounts.”
“Beloved Henry,” Montgomery corrected, maligning the inscription on Georgina’s fob watch. He withdrew it from his pocket as if to check the time.
Georgina knew what was coming next. She wanted to beg them to stop, but she held firm, unwilling to give them another such victory over her.
“Don’t.” Elizabeth spoke firmly, but they did not heed her.
“Sadly, Miss Pace had cried off. Une affaire de c?ur, I believe it was,” Montgomery added.
Georgina inhaled sharply and felt her reliable Manton’s boxlock pistol sway in her pocket. She had packed it for the duel that morning, ostensibly to abduct Colt if necessary. It might yet become useful.
She thought she caught a pitying look from Elizabeth and could not abide. “It was not even that. Just a fuck. And not even a particularly good one.”
This remark caught the group off guard. Mrs Gardner uttered a tiny cry, Elizabeth brought a hand to her mouth, and Ellis and Montgomery exchanged a bemused glance.
Seeing the men smile, -Georgina’s fury overtook her.
She raised her riding crop in her right hand and thrashed it hard across Montgomery’s unsuspecting face.