The gentleman looked around at him, mouth open.
“I have heard tell that you have been quite frivolous in recent months. I do not think this characteristic is appropriate for a man seeking the attentions of such a charming young lady.”
The way Cecelia scowled at him suggested she believed he was lying through his teeth.
Yet, it seemed his words had worked, for Lord Barnaby made a quick excuse to leave.
With the second, a Mr Harrington, George reported, “It is said you have spent much time at Browns in recent weeks. I have heard you have not been very lucky at the gaming tables, sir.”
And that was the end of him.
“Lord Renworth, I hear you have many a mistress waiting in the wings for when you inevitably tie the knot.”
The gentleman, clearly snubbed, made his excuses and left just as the first two had.
Soon, George had seen more than half a dozen men fleeing from the drawing room, and with each, he watched Lady Cecelia's mood growing darker and darker.
By the time the eighth had left, he saw her disapproval quite clearly.
On the final visitor, he and Lady Cecelia left him with his head in a spin. At George's encouragement, he rose several times from his seat only to drop back down at Lady Cecelia's requests.
By the time they were finished, George was struggling not to laugh at the man's look of being a puppet on a string.
Once the gentleman had left, Lady Cecelia rose. She looked at George with an exasperated expression, her mouth opening and closing several times as if she knew not what to say.
He almost wished her to chastise him, for them to clear the air between them, to admit his feelings that he was most definitely conflicted in all of this.
Just seeing those men sitting beside her, seeing the way they had eyed her like she had been some prized pig they were determined to possess, made him feel sick.
But Lady Cecelia said nothing. Instead, she stormed from the room in a flurry of pale blue skirts, her anger palpable.
Lady Catherine hurried after her, leaving George and Mary alone save for a maid.
And it was the youngest sister who dared to confront him.
“Your Grace, I think if your aim here was to diminish Cece's prospects entirely, then you have accomplished it,” she said, scowling at him. “If you did not wish to take chaperoning seriously, you ought not have accepted the proposal at all.”
George's stomach twisted. “It was not my intention to do so, My Lady. I merely care for your sister's welfare, and I would not see her falling into the hands of the wrong gentleman.”
Mary rose from her seat and looked at him with a pointed expression. “I fear your outlook on the situation may be skewed, Your Grace.”
George crossed his arms over his chest and asked, “How so?”
“There were a handful of your gentlemen here today who would have been perfectly acceptable, yet you barely allowed them a foot in the door before you began hounding them. Pray, might you tell me why?”
George cringed at the question because, in truth, he could not even admit to himself the reason why.
“As I have said, I merely care for your sister's well-being and future prospects.”
This time, Mary crossed her arms over her chest and declared, “You certainly have a funny way of showing it.”
Before he could say another word, she too stormed from the room, leaving him alone to contemplate the trouble he had caused.
And for what reason? He did not know.
Chapter 11
At breakfast the next morning, Cecelia could not believe what she was hearing.
