A sharp whistle of warning sounded outside, quickly followed by the clatter of horses and the unmistakable creak of a carriage. Georgie looked through the cracked windowpane as a black-and-yellow traveling chaise rocked to a stop outside. By the time she reached the cottage door, the steps had been let down. She gasped as Juliet leapt down and barreled into her arms, hugging her tightly around the neck like some fragrant-smelling octopus.
“Oh, thank goodness you’re all right!” Juliet sobbed. “When we heard Josiah had taken you, we were so worried.”
Georgie disentangled herself from the embrace and eyed her sister suspiciously. “We? You mean Mother’s here too?”
Juliet’s cheeks pinked. “Oh, no, I mean, well—”
“Afternoon, Miss Caversteed,” Simeon said.
Georgie suppressed a groan as the full implications of his presence sank in. “Please tell me you have Charlotte or Tilly in there with you?”
Juliet bit her lip. “No, actually. If you must know, Simeon and I were about to leave for Gretna when Mr. Wylde arrived with your note.”
“You were eloping? Oh,Juliet.”
“Yes, well, we didn’t in the end, did we?’ Juliet said crossly. “Because I demanded to come after you instead. You’re welcome.”
Georgie glanced back at Simeon and dropped hervoice. “You might as well have eloped, Ju. Word of this is bound to get out. You’ll be ruined.”
“I don’t care,” Juliet said mulishly. “I want to marry Simeon, and he wants to marry me. That’s all there is to it.” She glanced around. “WhereisCousin Josiah, anyway?”
“Inside. Benedict put a bullet in his arm then knocked him a facer. He’s out cold.”
“Good.”
Simeon jumped down from the carriage—and stumbled over his own feet. He righted himself. “I’ll just go and see if I can help, shall I?”
Juliet beamed at him. “Oh, yes, Simeon, that would be perfect.”
Georgie sighed. “Well, at least you’ve solved one problem. Josiah sent his carriage away, and I assume Benedict rode here.” She gestured at the carriage. “We can put Josiah in there to get him back to London.”
“You should dump him in the Thames,” Juliet said.
“I have a better idea.”
Chapter 36.
The trip back to London was rather jolly. Georgie, Juliet, Simeon, and Josiah all squashed into the chaise.
Josiah had been efficiently bound and gagged in the same way he’d bound Georgie, which gave her a great deal of satisfaction, and when he finally roused from his stupor, his furious attempts to free himself entertained everyone in the vehicle.
Benedict and his two companions—Alexander Harland, whom she recognized from Lady Langton’s, and another equally handsome specimen he’d introduced as Sebastian Wolff—rode alongside. A flash of memory caught her; this must be the Mr. Wolff Benedict had told her to send his five hundred pounds to in Newgate. She studied the man’s olive skin and saturnine features. Juliet had whispered that he was the youngest son of the Duke of Winwick.
Simeon produced a notebook and pencil from his jacket. “I do believe I should write a poem commemoratingthis great victory,” he said. “Iambic pentameter, do you think?”
Georgie glanced out of the open window and caught Benedict’s eye as he rode parallel to the chaise. His comic expression of horror made her chuckle.
She couldn’t help but wonder what Simeon would have done if Juliet had been kidnapped. He was far less physically intimidating than Benedict, but he clearly held strong feelings for her sister and love made people do extraordinary things. Perhaps he would have surprised them all.
She stifled a little pang of jealousy at the adoring looks Simeon sent Juliet across the carriage, as if she were the air he breathed and the gravity that kept him anchored to the earth. She could imagine them as an old married couple, still exchanging such glances, even when their hands were gnarled and their eyes rheumy with age. If only Benedict looked at her with the same adoration.
She glanced at him again, admiring his large hands guiding the horse and the strength of his muscled thighs, and a sudden intense recollection of what they’d done in the night came to her, of his body pressed over her, his mouth at her neck, her breasts. Heat scalded her cheek at her inappropriate thoughts.
Benedict caught her eye with a knowing look, and she justknewhe knew what she was thinking. His wicked glance promised a repeat of such pleasures the next time they were alone. Would there be a next time? She fervently hoped so.
When they reached Hyde Park, Benedict’s companions bade their farewells. Georgie told a grumbling Simeon to get out and walk home, amid assurances to Juliet that she would put their case before Mother and lend her support to a proper, non-clandestine marriage.Instead of returning directly to Grosvenor Square, however, Georgie told the driver to convey them to Blackwall.
TheLady Alicewas still anchored by the quay—all three hundred majestic tons of her—and Georgie smiled as she stepped down onto the wharf, tottered up the gangplank, and hailed the captain. He snapped to attention and greeted her with polite surprise.
