Fates for Apate
Page 21
“What is it now?” Sabre asked, her tone teasing, but her eyes roving over George to ensure that there wasn’t a problem
George pulled up a chair and sat on it cross-legged, as she did when they were children. Sabre looked affronted but Jack just chuckled.
“I have some things to tell you,” George said, “and I might as well be comfortable for once while I do it.”
Sabre nodded as though granting a boon to a favored retainer.
George rolled her eyes but continued. “I know that you’re both upset that I didn’t tell you I was working for Robert, but I’ve been keeping secrets a lot longer than that.”
Sabre raised a brow but Jack just said, “Like what, Georgie?”
Now that the moment had come it felt like her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth. Finally in a rush she said, “Lockhart isn’t my real father.”
Jack’s mouth fell open and Sabre bobbled her teacup. “What?” the two Haberdashers said in unison.
“And I am twenty.” George put her hand over her mouth for a moment. “I’m sorry, Sabre, but I am the oldest. They hid my age so that it wouldn’t be obvious my mother was pregnant long before their wedding.”
Jack shook her head. “How can you even get away with that?”
“Father took her to the continent for an extended trip. By the time they returned they said I was a precocious three instead of four.”
Sabre nodded. “Clever.”
Jack shook her head. “That’s why you were always the tallest until you stopped growing a good two years before I did.”
George nodded. “I’m sorry.”
“How long have you known?” Sabre asked, suspicious.
“Since about a month before we formed the Haberdashers.”
Sabre tipped her head to the side, considering. “That sound about right.”
“What do you mean?” Jack asked.
“Don’t you remember?” Sabre asked. “George had been sick and withdrawn. That’s part of why I came up with the Haberdashers. I thought it might be fun enough to get her out of her doldrums.”
George sighed. “It did. And I know that I’ve been lying to you, but you’re both very important to me. The day I found out that I was, well, that I was a bastard, it felt like I lost my family. When we formed the Haberdashers it felt like I had a new one.”
Jack had tears in her eyes. “Oh, Georgie.”
“Anyway, since I talked to papa and Casimir about it last night, I knew I needed to tell you today.”
“Who else have you told?” Sabre asked.
“No one.”
“Never?”
“Who would I tell, if not you two?”
“Well, obviously there’s Robert. Or maybe Charlie. Or Tom.”
“Fine, I hear what you’re saying. But no, I never told anyone.”
Jack rose and came over to kiss George on top of the head. “You poor thing. You could have told us. We love you.”
George sighed and pulled her knees up. “I didn’t feel very lovable.”
“For twelve years?” Sabre asked.
George nodded. “Pretty much.”
“Wait,” Jack said, “I just realized you said your father is here. Does that mean…?”
“Yes, he came to tell me that mama had passed away.”
“Oh, Georgie, I’m so sorry.”
Sabre nodded. “My sympathies, George.”
George scowled. “I think we all know that I’d be much more upset if one of your mothers died.”
Jack and Sabre exchanged a look, but held their tongues.
“So what are your plans, Georgie?” Jack asked. “Are you and Casimir going after Otto, like he proposed?”
George shrugged. “We’re waiting to hear back from Robert. Although it looks like Gideon already has trips planned for Casimir in his new role at W.T. Investments, so we’ll be traveling soon one way or another.”
Sabre made a moue of frustration. “Why do you always get to do all of the exciting things?”
“I’m just an exciting girl.”
Jack shoved Sabre’s shoulder. “You toured the continent for almost a year. I am the one who hasn’t done any traveling.”
“Tell Gideon to take you somewhere.”
“With the pregnancy I’m lucky he lets me walk down steps,” Jack groused.
Sabre gave her friend a wicked grin. “Troubles in your paradise?”
“Be careful,” George warned. “I already told Jack that if you insisted on being disapproving of her husband that I would band with her against yours.”
“What? How could you disapprove of Quince?”
George grinned at Jack. Yes, it was definitely good to have all of the Haberdasher together again. “Well, I hate to leave you here thinking about all the things that are wrong with your husband, but I need to go home. Papa is staying with us for a few days, so I should be a good hostess.”
“Invite us to dinner,” Jack said. “I’d love to see him.”
“Consider it done,” George said, and then added with a laugh, “As soon as I find out whether we have a cook.”
When George left the duchess’s townhouse she knew that she had to make one more stop before returning home to entertain her father for the afternoon. Fortunately, the description she had been given was excellent and she found the building quickly. She climbed the steps and rang the bell.
The man who answered the door leaned against the jamb with his arms crossed. “Well, hullo there. Are you planning to make any investments with me?”
George grinned at her husband. “I already have, haven’t I? Show me your office.”
He gave her a brief tour of the sunny suite of offices that the earl had procured. As she expected, he ended the tour in one of the more remote corners away from the windows and wrapped his arms around her. “A kiss before you leave?” he asked.
“I wouldn’t leave without one.”
“So you’re saying I can either kiss you, or keep you here all day?”
She crossed her eyes at him, making him laugh. He brushed his lips lightly across hers.
“I can’t believe you’ve released me with such a light kiss,” she teased.
His next kiss reminded her of the night in his rooms in Vienna. Sweetness and restrained passion. Breaking the kiss, he leaned his forehead on hers. “Probably not something I should be doing in the office.”
“Before I forget, the Haberdashers want us to invite them to dinner while papa is in town.”
“Of course.”
She was reminded of how, in Calais, she had realized it would be easy to share decision making with him. Easy to rely on him. “Casimir?”
“Yes, ukochany?”
“I love you.”
He pulled back to look into her eyes for a moment, a half-smile on his lips. There was nothing restrained in the passion of his next kiss.
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AUTHOR’S NOTE
Thanks for reading George and Casimir’s story. We’ve all been terribly curious to see what George was really like. And she marries a dashing foreigner? Oo la la, George. On a more serious note, I really liked these two. They were both damaged but working hard at growing strong at the broken places. That’s all that any of us can hope to do.
Even though it is all in the background as set dressing, this book required the most historical research of all of them. The Congress of Vienna. The history of Poland. The floorplans of Georg
ian houses. To give you a sense of how historical fantasy and historical fact were blended in this one, it really is true that Russia and Prussia were working on an agreement that England, France, and Austria managed to circumvent. The part I made up was that our characters were right in the thick of it and made it happen. It’s too much fun when you can do something like that.
One of my favorite bits of color was including a story from the Frost Fair of 1814. I picked up info about the Frost Fair from following the Twitter account @1814now. Another thing that fascinated me was that George wanted to look at artwork from right before her era. Having already gone down the ‘researching art’ path with Quince I thought I knew what I would find, but George immediately went in another direction. Surprising girl, that George. She has a disturbing affection for William Blake.
Come by any time to keep up with the Haberdashers and my other stories at bysuelondon.com. Thanks for reading!
If you like the Haberdashers you may enjoy these books by Rose Gordon!
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Liberty for Paul—There’s only one thing Liberty hates worse than impropriety: on Mr. Paul Grimes, and unfortunately for her, it’s her own importunity that just got her married to him!
To Win His Wayward Wife—Not to be out done by her sisters’ scandalous marriages, Madison Banks is about to have her own marriage-producing scandal to a man who’s loved her all along.
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Her Reluctant Groom—Emma Green has loved Marcus, Lord Sinclair for as long as she can remember, so when he slips up and says he loves her, too, it should all be so simple. But it’s never that simple when the man in question was once been engaged to and jilted by Emma’s older sister.
Her Secondhand Groom—What Lord Drakely AKA Lord Presumptuous wanted was an ordinary village girl to be a “motherness” to his daughters and stay out of his bedroom; what he got was something so much more.
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His Contract Bride—Since just a lad, Edward Banks knew Regina would one day be his bride, he’d seen the paper to prove it many times; only someone forgot to inform Regina…
His Yankee Bride—John Banks wants nothing to do with the scandalous, sweet talking, ever-present, American beauty named Carolina, or so he keeps saying…
His Jilted Bride—She’s got a secret…and so does he. Hers is big…but his is bigger!
His Brother’s Bride—Presented with a marriage contract his twin brother has signed but cannot fulfill, Henry has to form a plan to save the Banks name, even if it means pretending he’s his brother, or worse yet, marrying a lady who holds a grudge against his family.
If you like the Haberdashers you may enjoy these books by Sandy Raven!
Caversham’s Bride (The Caversham Chronicles - Book One)
What would you do to save the ones you love most?
Sold into slavery by the men who were supposed to kill her, Angelia Gualtiero must now convince the man who purchased her to help her. Lia would do anything to save her little brother from her murderous aunt, even marry a man she knows wants nothing more than use of her body.
Marcus Renfield Halden, Ninth Duke of Caversham, needs an heir to secure his legacy and the futures of his young sisters from a desperate cousin whom he suspects of targeting him in pursuit of the title and fortune. When he sees a woman running from her guard in a market in Tangier, he is at first captivated by her beauty. After Ren learns her story, he’s in awe of her bravery. He then makes Lia an offer she cannot refuse.
Her brother for an heir.
Already His (The Caversham Chronicles - Book Two)
She’s loved him all her life.
Lady Elise Halden knows how to get a horse to bend to her will with a gentle touch and subtle coaxing. But she’s learning that bringing the new Earl of Camden to heel is nothing like training a horse. If she has any hope of reining in the Earl’s affections, she will need a plan. With help from her friend Lady Beverly, and her sister-in-law the Duchess, Elise sets out to win her indifferent Earl’s heart.
He’s admired her from a respectable distance.
As young men, Michael Brightman and his best friend swore sisters were off limits. This promise was made solely to protect his own sisters from his friend’s charming, rakehell ways. The Duke of Caversham’s little sister was always a precocious minx to avoid, till one day Michael realizes Lady Elise is all grown up and the things he wants to do with the lady are surely going to upset the friendship with her brother.
Together they discover that physical evidence doesn’t equate truth, and trusting the heart is sometimes the hardest lesson to learn.
What neither expected was to fall in love.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Chapter One November 1814, London
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Author’s Note