She stared at the striking couple, the fortune on her sister’s back and arms.
"If you’re coming, Georgina, I suggest you get into the coach," she said breezily as they headed for the front door.
"But—"
"Martin will assist you." He draped Ellen’s matching sapphier and gold dupatta over her tenderly.
"I’m so sorry," Ellen whispered. "She just appeared and took the gown I was planning to wear, and —"
"Don’t let it trouble you for a moment. I shan’t."
"But the sari, I had to do it myself—"
"It's perfect, my dear. You look perfect, and truth to tell, I can't imagine you looking more lovely. Hyacinth is a lovely color, but this suits your eyes so much better." He handed her up into the coach, and then sat opposite her, leaning forward.
"But she said—"
"What? What has you so upset?" Ash demanded when she broke off and bit her lip.
She couldn’t possibly repeat all the scurrilous things she had said, so she simply shrugged. "Mocked us for all the mud. And wouldn't help me get ready."
"It is easily washed off. Including your sari."
"Which I left in a heap for the maid—"
"They're used to it by now. They'll know how to clean it, I promise. The main thing is that you had fun, didn’t you?"
"I did. I’m so proud of you. You held your temper, both during the race and afterwards."
He clasped her hand lightly. "I was delighted to be holding you, until we were so shockingly and disgustingly interrupted. Ellen, I know what I said about—"
"Come on you two, or we will never make the first waltz," Martin called to Eswara and Georgina, still inside making sure they had everything.
He squeezed her hand and whispered. "They'll all be here in a munute. So let me just say how lovely you look, and how I ache to be alone with you. And to ask you if we can talk later, after the ball. In your room."
She blushed, but nodded. "Yes."
He sat back in his seat now as the other ladies began to step up in, his mother first. "And I am going to dance nearly every dance with you to make up for all the times we were thwarted in the past."
"Oh, but now Georgina is here, and we can’t—"
"She’s a spare wheel. There are no single men in our party. I shall just have to introduce her around to get her off our hands."
Ellen’s heart gave a little dance at his words ‘no single men.’
It gave even more of a dance when Georgina tried to claim the first waltz for herself, with Ash.
But he shook his head. "Ellen is the eldest, so you most perforce give her pride of place. And since she was so kind as to lend you that gown and all her adornments, you are triply obliged to her," Ash said firmly.
"Triply?" Georgina asked coolly.
"Yes, for allowing you to come as well. Such a devoted sister. We shall see you anon." He bowed and stepped away, leaving her fuming.
Ash kept hold of Ellen for the subsequent quadrille, so that by the time he returned to their party in the corner, Georgina had been standing out for ages, and developed a full head of steam.
Eventually the Duke filtered back to their party's corner with his wife, who claimed she wanted to sit the next few dances out. She fanned herself vigorously, and Ash immediately offered to sit with her.
"But you promised me—" Georgina protested.
"Far be it from me to contradict a lady, but I did no such thing. In any event, if you were not so self-centred you would see that Charlotte needs some refreshment. So the Duke might be kind enough to stand up with you, and I shall get the punch."
"Oh, I had thought to stand up with Ellen," the Duke said, which was the most rude he had ever allowed himself to be to a woman of his acquaintance.
"No, that’s quite all right. I’ve had two turns, your Grace. I’m happy to stay here whilst Ash gets refreshments for your wife, indeed, for us all."
"Very well, but we shall dance later for certain."
"Yes, of course, thank you, your Grace." She curtseyed.
"Shall we?" he said with a curt bow to Georgina.
She seized on the chance with alacrity, and a moment later, they were gone.
Once they were safely out of earshot, Ash said to Charlotte, "Well, are you more sure about the baby now?"
She nodded. "Yes. I just feel so ill, though. Nothing like when I was with the boys. Vomiting and everything. But I don’t want to tell Thomas until I’m sure."
"I shall fetch some ices for you both, then. That should cool you down and settle your stomach. I’ll be back shortly."
He kissed Ellen’s hand, patted Charlotte on the shoulder fondly, and vanished into the crowd.
Charlotte not dancing meant Georgina had more opportunity to make free with the men of their party, though it galled her that Ash had thus far evaded her.
He had alerted his mother that Charlotte was not feeling very well, and so she and Ellen took it in turns to remain behind.
Vanessa and Isolde, who was several months pregnant herself, saw the lay of the land, and also helped look after their friend.
It soon became clear too that Charlotte did not want a fuss in front of her spouse, so they also took it in turns to keep him busy dancing.
It was when Ellen took her turn to waltz with the Duke that Georgina made her move. She danced Ash out onto the broad terrace, and with the tenacity of an octopus, grappled his head down to kiss him.
Ellen caught sight of them framed in the doorway, and missed a step, so that the Duke trod on the hem of her sari, yanking it out of her waistband and sending a cascade of silk shimmering to the floor.
"Oh drat, I’m unravelling again," Ellen sniffed, though she was scarcely looking at the garment.
Thomas saw Ash and Georgina seemingly in the throes of the most passionate embrace, and sighed. "I am sorry, truly. Come, let’s get you back to Eswara."
"Can we please go home? I fear my mud bath has fatigued me after all."
"Yes of course, child. Whatever you wish."
In the end, Ash had to forcibly yank Georgina’s arms from around his neck.
"That is quite enough. Satisfied? Did enough people benefit from your show? Have you ensured that Ellen saw us? Are you glad enough now to have hurt her? Your own sister?"
"Hurt her? Why, how could I do that? You are a free agent, are you not? No ties, mistresses or fiancees, wives?"
"A fact I am going to remedy as soon as possible."
Georgina gave a simpering smile. "Well, it is rather sudden, but—"
Ash shook his head. "You vain little minx. What a self-centred, spoilt little witch you are. I’m talking about your sister Ellen. The only thing that kiss proves to me is that you are every bit as loathsome as I imagined."
He spat into the shrubbery and scrubbed his mouth with the back of his hand.
With his other hand he grabbed her elbow none too gently, and brought her back to Martin.
But when he looked around, Ellen had already gone.
Chapter Eighteen
Thomas and Charlotte nestled against one another in the coach on the way home from the ball.
Ellen struggled hard not to burst into tears as she sat across fro them. Perhaps she should have stood her ground, fought for Ash at the ball instead of just turning tail and fleeing. But years of losing out to her supposedly prettier and certainly far more headstrong sister had taken their toll.
Swhe sat trying to repleat her sari in a welter of misery. She had had such high hopes of the ball until her sister had pilfered her frock and uttered her declaration of intent where Ash was concerned.
The fact that Ash wasn’t in the least interested in Georgina never even occurred to her. Every other man in the world had been in one way or the other. All except the Rakehells...
"Not that I don’t adore London, darling, but can we head home to Somerset?" Charlotte asked quietly as the carriage drove through the dark streets. "I miss the boys and long for the comfort of my own bed and
things around me."
"Very well," Thomas said with an indulgent smile. "We’ll go in the morning. But all of you can stay at the townhouse as long as you like, of course, Miss Jerome."
"Oh no. If it is not too much trouble, I think my sister and I will be heading back tomorrow too. Family duties, you know."
"Of course. Only too happy to take you back. We will leave after breakfast, say around nine," Thomas said with a tight smile, wanting as little to do with Georgina as possible after her appalling display.
As soon as they got back to the house, Ellen headed straight to her room, yanked off her sari with a flood of tears, and began to pack her things and then her sister’s, ramming them into her sibling’s valise with a fury born of despair.
The only man she had ever cared about, and now...
How on earth she was going to face Ash to say goodbye she had no idea. And now he was in Somerset, working with her cousins Blake and Martin, and she was going to have to keep running into them. The thought of him and Georgina marrying made her ill.
Not that Georgina was the marrying kind, but Ash was such a catch, and a decent man. He might feel obligated to do the right thing, even though so many others had not bothered...
At that thought Ellen gave vent to her feelings at last, throwing herself face down on the bed and weeping into her pillow until she was sure she was going to choke.
She dragged off the last of her clothes and jewels, donned her pake blue wrapper, and then packed them all. She might have a whole portmanteau of riches now, but they meant nothing without the greatest treasure of all, love.
Leaving only her night rail and day gown and underthings for the morning, and trip back to Somerset, which she set next to her valise, she carried the rest of the cases to the door in preparation for their hasty departure tomorrow.
A commotion outside her portal at midnight caused Ellen to raise her head from the pillow. She had finally forced herself to try to go to bed and sleep, and had been lying there in a welter of misery when she heard the odd noises.
"And I’ve told you, not tonight. And I won’t come to your room either. I would be a terrible abuse of the Duke’s hospitality," she heard from the other side of the door.
Her stomach lurched. That was her sister's voice…
"Damn it, Georgina, I’m—"
"Just going to have to wait. Don’t you dare disturb me. My sister is sleeping and would take your importunate behaviour amiss."
Ash nearly screamed in frustration. Damn the little jade. She had planted herself squarely in the door frame, so there was no chance of slipping past her to see Ellen, to find out why she had left the dance so abruptly. Short of shouting the house down at that hour of the night, and blotting his copybook with the Duke, there was little he could do.
Eswara came up the stairs now and took his arm. "Plenty of time to talk to Ellen in the morning, son," she soothed.
"But Mother, she's making it seem as if I was, was—" He flapped his hand up and down."
"We all know the truth. So come now, time for rest. We can clear all of this up in the morning."
Ash seethed with frustration, but could see she was right, there was no budging the obduarate girl without a huge commotion, and did as his mother suggested. With one last glare at the smirking Georgina, he went up to his room and tossed and turned all night.
Georgina slipped into the room humming a little happy tune. And though she banged and crashed all over the place in an effort to find her things and wake Ellen so she could triumph over her, Ellen remained silent, pretending to be asleep.
Very early the next morning Oliver Neville called around from the clinic. "I know this is a big imposition, but I heard you were all here in Town. We have one doctor and three nurses out ill. Can you three—"
"Yes of course," Eswara agreed, pulling on a robe over her night dress, while Martin reached for his trousers.
"What about Ellen?" Ash suggested when they knocked on his door a short time later.
"No, leave her to sleep. It’s only six now."
The three dressed hastily and left for the clinic.
Ellen awakened at seven and shook her sister almost viciously. "Get up. We’re leaving."
"Leaving?" Georgina whined. "I only just got here."
"The Duke is departing today, and the others all have business and will be coming back eventually. So there is little point in staying."
"What about Ash?"
"What about him?"
"When is he coming?"
"When he’s finished with his final exams and so on," she lied. "It could be days from now."
"Well, if the Duke is leaving, things here wouldn’t be nearly so fine. All right. When are we going?"
"Nine. Up and washed, and by the way, you can keep the dress. I never want to see it again."
"Just as well. Not too high a quality. The bodice didn’t stand up to very much handling," she said cattily as she threw the covers back and showed her bare body. Since she had not found any of her garments, she had simply slept in the nude.
"Not that you need to worry about that, Ellen, dear," she said with a patronising smile."
Ellen yanked open one of Georgina's bags and flung a day gown and some fresh underthings at her head, smacking her in the face with the lacy knickers. "Here, make yourself decent while I check to make sure we haven't left anything behind."
The prospect of leaving her sister to make a clear run at Ash was only slightly worse than having to spend three days on the road with her.
Ellen packed the last of her items into her overnight bag, gathered her outer garments and forced herself to go down to breakfast. The Jeromes and Ash were nowhere to be found.
"Oliver Neville came for them," Randall explained through a mouthful of toast.
Georgina turned pale at that piece of news, and to Ellen's relief, suddenly couldn’t wait to leave London.
Ellen had one last long look around the townhouse. With a kiss for Ash’s brother and sister, and hugs all around for the Rakehells, she took her leave of London, and said farewell also to all of her dreams of being happy one day with Ash.
Chapter Nineteen
Three days of torment in the Duke's carriage with Georgina at her fatuous best, Charlotte under the weather, and Thomas trying to be civil, left them at the gates of Jerome Manor.
Once at home Ellen knew her dream was truly over at last. Georgina was never going to become sober and sensible, and her parents were getting older. Someone needed to look after them. And someone needed to take her little niece in hand. Charlotte had done a great deal for the child, but it was apparent that the Duchess’ pregnancy, though in its very early stages, was not going well.
So Ellen took the time she had been spending with Ash and his family, and spent it with her own instead.
Ash was stuck up in London, unwilling to turn his back on Antony Herriot when he needed him at the clinic, but wild that Ellen had left without so much as a word or a note.
He dashed off several missives to her explaining his reasons for staying, and telling her that he missed her, but he received nary a reply.
Georgina always pounced on the silver salver bearing the Jeromes’ post, and snatched every letter before it could ever reach Ellen’s hands.
She spent a great deal of time around the house revamping her wardrobe and raiding Ellen’s, though when she discovered her special midnight blue gown had ended up in Georgina’s room, she was livid.
"With all the blackmail money you get out of all the married men you'vve swived, I should think my poor gowns wouldn’t interest you in the least," she said as she stormed into her sister's room in search of her pilfered property.
Georgina waved her away. "True, but the drese was unusual and—"
"You can take anything you like except the gifts that Ash and his mother gave me, and this gown."
"Sentimental attachments, eh? You’re wasting your time. You’ve lost him. Well, you never had him to start with."
; "Neither have you!"
"Yet," she replied smugly.
"Why are you doing this, Georgina? The first time you ever met, you flirted with him, and then ran the other way. Are you forgetting he was a cripple in a wheelchair?"
The Rakehell Regency Romance Series Boxed Set 5 Page 54