Selina’s hand was at her throat. “Are you all right? He has not—”
Georgiana shook her head. “He does not know I am the author of the novels. I did not reveal that much of myself, not even in an anonymous letter. But he knows aboutyou, Selina. He knows you are behind Belvoir’s and he means to take down the library and you with it. Last night, he boasted to my brothers that he’d learned something new. He told them he had information that was going to destroy Belvoir’s and its owner so completely, they’d be the laughingstock of London.”
Selina felt dizzy. Belvoir’s—her library—Peter and the children—
But she could not think of that, not yet. “Let me help you get away,” she said. “Come up with me to the office. I can check the accounts—I’m sure we can arrange for an advance—”
“No. I came here to warn you, and now I have.” Georgiana winced. “The guardianship hearing, for Stanhope’s siblings—that’s soon?”
“Two weeks from now.”
Georgiana’s face was drawn and pale. “I can try to hold my father off. I can—distract him, perhaps. Cause some other kind of scandal to take his attention off you until after the hearing is over. Perhaps one of my brothers—”
“No,” Selina said. The word burst from her, panicked and angry. “No. Keep his attention on me.”
Georgiana’s lips pinched in. “You don’t know him. You don’t want him to perceive you any more than he already does.”
“No,” Selina said again. “Perhaps I don’t want that. But it must be that way nonetheless.”
It was worse than she’d feared. Just from knowing Selina, Georgiana’s fragile independence was threatened. Nicholas’s political reputation was marred. Peter might not get the children.
She could not accept that.Herchoices had brought them to this point,herdecisions and actions. There was only one way to ensure that the consequences were restricted to her alone. She had to keep the Earl of Alverthorpe’s attention directed only at herself.
“You must stop associating with me.”
Georgiana looked at her, a familiar glance of confusion.
“You need to leave here. Right away. You must protect yourself first of all. You must give me the cut direct if you see me on the street.”
“Selina,” Georgiana said gently, “this isn’t your fault.”
“It is. Itis.”
She had started this whole chain of events, and she’d thought it was because she wanted to help Ivy Price, but part of it had been pride. She was clever enough to pull the wool over the eyes of the wholeton. She knew better than everyone else.
No more.
The cottage in Cornwall. The lease her man of business had signed on her behalf.
“I have already done it once,” she said.
“Selina, what on earth—”
She grabbed Georgiana’s gloved hand. “I willnotlet harm come to you. Or Nicholas. Or Peter, or the children.” Her voice was shaking, but she pretended it was not. “Iwill not have it.”
“How can I help?”
She felt as though her heart were being torn from her chest. “You can help by leaving. Leave this alley. Do not come back. Send a letter to Lydia Hope-Wallace if you need to contact Belvoir’s.”
“Selina—”
“No!” Her voice was too high, too loud. She tried again. “No. I have thought of a path out of this tangle, and I am going to take it. I will not discuss it with you further.”
“You do not need to be alone in this, Selina,” Georgiana said in a low voice.
Selina’s throat worked as she tried to swallow. “I am already alone in it.”
Will had gone. And Peter—
