by Jenna Jaxon
With a gracious nod, she laid her hand lightly on his sleeve. “I believe you will do after all, Blackham.”
Unmoving, the stunned Lord Travers blinked several times, as if not quite certain what had just happened. Finally, he settled a grim look on Rob. “St. Just, you accepted my challenge. I want satisfaction!”
“With utmost pleasure, Travers.” Rob moved so he was between Georgie and the earl. “I shall inform my second, who will contact yours. It may take them a while to reach us here in Cornwall, but I will be ready whenever you are.” Rob bowed and turned his back, leading Georgie away from the befuddled lord.
“So you will still have to fight him?” Chills scurried down her spine. They were so very close to the happiness that remained just beyond their grasp.
“Our seconds will contact each other and attempt to settle the dispute.” Raising her hand, he kissed it on the palm. “I suspect Travers will simply steal away, and no more will be heard of it. It would be very embarrassing for him if the reason for the challenge became public.”
Pray God Rob spoke the truth.
“So that was all it took? Your father’s given us his blessing?” Rob lowered his voice as they headed toward one of the carriages.
“Be careful you do not doubt it.” She laughed, not truly believing it was real either. “You saw how quickly he turned on Travers.” Grasping Rob’s arm, she leaned into him, deliriously happy. “We are finally betrothed, although not for long, I hope.”
“Unless you wish another voyage, or to travel to London by carriage over the next weeks to secure a special license, we must have the banns read in the parish church here.” He caressed her cheek. “Will you mind waiting very much?”
“I suppose we will find ways to pass the time.” Smiling, Georgie stopped as they crossed onto the shell road. Sliding her arms around his neck, she rose on tiptoe, her mouth hungry for his.
“Stop that this second.”
Georgie jumped away from Rob as Jemmy came striding up to them, Elizabeth following in his wake.
“No intimate contact with my sister until after the wedding.” His stern front did not disguise his glee. “I told you I would act as chaperone while you were on the voyage.”
“But—” Both she and Rob tried to interrupt, but her brother droned on.
“As there is to be no voyage, but there will be a betrothal period, I intend to watch out for you and your reputation during the period between betrothal and marriage.” Grinning as though he was enjoying himself immensely, her brother added one further admonition. “And I assure you, I have very sharp eyes.”
Georgie punched him in the arm. “Jemmy! For goodness sake. After everything we’ve been through, can you not allow us even a kiss?” She looked longingly at Rob. “Not even one?”
“Considering,” Rob chimed in, “as I just announced, we have already done much more than kiss, why not let us continue to anticipate our blissful wedding with an even more blissfully anticipated honeymoon?”
“I do believe, dearest, that you should make some slight allowance for Georgie and Rob.” To the rescue as always, Elizabeth linked her arm through her husband’s. “As you may remember, we shared much, much more than a kiss before we were married.”
“Elizabeth.” Jemmy sent an agonized look to his wife. “You are supposed to be supporting me in suppressing their urges before they are married.”
“I refuse to be a hypocrite, my dear.” Smiling sweetly at her husband, Elizabeth patted his arm. “As long as I remember that evening at the Harvest Festival, and the passageway between your room and Georgie’s at Blackham Castle—”
“You stayed in my room at home, Elizabeth?” Even though no one else could hear her, Georgie still lowered her voice. Old habits died hard. “The one with the secret passage?”
“Yes, my dear. And we had the most marvelous evening—”
“Elizabeth.” Jemmy tugged on her arm, heading up the path with a quicker than usual step. “Come. You have been standing for far too long.”
“Yes, dear.” The two of them moved toward the carriage.
Lingering just a moment behind, Georgie and Rob stood facing the Justine and open sea beyond. “A glorious morning, wouldn’t you say, Captain?”
“I would indeed, Mrs. Captain.” He took her in his arms before her brother could put up a protest. “My Lady Pirate, who has stolen my heart.”
“Aye, Captain.” She pressed her lips to his, for all the world to see. “Let us set sail on a new adventure.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
A little over two weeks later, Georgie stood solemnly beside Rob before the altar in the Lady Chapel of the St. Just Parish Church. No one could have ever convinced her a month before that she would be so deliriously happy to be married again. It was as though the sun had decided to shine on her perpetually.
Because they chose to wait and have the banns read, Georgie and Rob were thrilled not only to receive letters of well wishes from her and Elizabeth’s other friends, but also delighted when they insisted on coming all the way to Cornwall for the wedding. Although Georgie had argued that the week of bouncing in a carriage would not be wise considering their delicate conditions—Charlotte and Fanny were both, like Elizabeth, increasing—they were all adamant. Their other widow friend, Jane, who was not increasing, had agreed to ride with them to keep them company, and the journey sounded almost fête-like to Georgie.
Meanwhile, she and Elizabeth and Lady St. Just had not been idle. They had worked hard to plan a spectacular wedding breakfast in the large drawing room for Georgie and Rob, their guests, the local families, and friends. At the gathering after the ceremony, Georgie had met almost everyone in the parish, it seemed, before slipping off to talk and laugh with the members of the sadly depleted Widows’ Club.
“I am the sole member left.” The die-away, overly dramatic voice Jane used brought a smile to Georgie’s face. “The members of the Widows’ Club are now all happily wedded, even down to little Maria. She wrote to me not long ago, singing the praises of a blissful married life.”
“All happily married except for you, Jane.” Smiling archly at her sister-in-law, Fanny settled herself deeper into the chaise. “But then you said from the beginning that you would not marry again.”
“As did you, my dear,” Jane shot back.
“Well, Matthew finally convinced me that life without him would be the poorer indeed.” Smiling widely and actually blushing, Fanny looked happier than Georgie had ever seen her. “He certainly was right, I must say.” She leaned over and grasped Georgie’s hand. “I’m confident you will find the same thing true with your Lord St. Just, Georgie.”
“I am already convinced of that.” Although she continued to smile, Georgie quieted as her thoughts flew back to the previous week, before her friends arrived, to the duel between Rob and Lord Travers.
They had believed all Travers’s talk of the duel was bluster only, until a note had arrived requesting Rob name his second so the duel could take place while the earl was in Cornwall. Reluctantly, Rob had asked Jemmy, who had then met with Travers’s second, a gentleman named Marsh, who had arrived recently from London at the request of the earl.
“I didn’t quite know what to make of his statement, although it was rather to the point,” Jemmy had told them that afternoon. “When I asked the usual question, ‘What will it take to appease the earl?,’ the man answered simply, ‘Death.’”
Georgie’s head had spun, and she’d slumped to the floor. When she’d awakened, she’d clung to Rob, begging him not to go through with the challenge.
“I must do it, my love, or be branded a coward. And that is something I cannot have, for it would circulate through the ton at an astonishing rate. My honor is above reproach and must remain so.” He’d kissed her and promised, “I will do my very best to return to you in one whole piece.”
Two days later Rob had met Travers on the front lawn of St. Just Castle. Georgie had refused to watch, instead sitting in her dressing
room, holding Lulu and praying, awaiting the dreaded gunfire. First one shot resounded, and she’d clutched Lulu until she yelped. An aeon seemed to pass before a second report had rung out. She had buried her face in Lulu’s soft fur and cried, until Rob found her there.
“It’s all right, sweetheart. It’s all over, and I am none the worse for it.”
She had launched herself into his arms, crying harder as Lulu had yipped at being dropped to the floor. “Oh, my love.” She hugged him fiercely, never wanting to let him go. “I was so worried.” A sudden dread crossed her mind, and she looked up. “And Lord Travers?”
Shaking his head, Rob stepped back. “It was the strangest thing. Travers seemed sober for a change and very much to the purpose. He spoke not a word to me or even to his second, just stood ready, in his place. Jemmy was elected to drop the handkerchief, and, when he did, nothing happened.”
They had moved back into the marchioness’s apartment, and Georgie had sat on the chair, puzzled. “What do you mean?”
“I had raised my weapon, but Travers did nothing. So I hesitated, wondering what he was playing at. Finally, he raised his weapon slowly, until it was aimed squarely at me, and I started to pull the trigger of my pistol, when he continued to move his weapon, raising it to the sky. All the while he stared me in the eyes.”
“What was he doing?”
“I think he wanted me to kill him.” Rob’s gaze was distant. “Because he discharged his pistol into the air.”
“I heard it.” She had shuddered, knowing it could have been a deathblow to Rob.
“I waited a good long moment, contemplating doing exactly what I believed he wanted. You heard that he’s truly in the suds?”
Georgie had shaken her head. She’d hardly given Travers a second thought since her betrothal to Rob.
“Jemmy received a letter from a friend of his in London, warning him to persuade your father to break your betrothal to the earl because he was in such grave financial difficulties. Apparently there is talk he might have to break the entailment.” Rob looked away. “He might believe he’d be better off dead.”
With growing horror, Georgie had grasped Rob’s arm. “But you didn’t . . . ?”
“No, I didn’t.” He had covered her hand with his. “Even if it was what he wished, I could not, in honor, kill a defenseless man.”
Georgie had thrown herself into Rob’s arms at that.
“What are you smiling at, my dear?” Elizabeth broke in on her reverie. “The wedding night to come?” She laughed. “At least Jemmy can devil you no more. You are well and truly married.”
“Yes,” Georgie agreed, her gaze lighting on Rob, laughing with Jemmy, Matthew, and Nash across the room. “Very well and truly.”
Some time later, as the local guests were taking their leave, Rob snagged her hand and drew her up through the house toward her bedchamber.
“Are we beginning the honeymoon earlier than expected?” she asked, squeezing his hand. It could not be soon enough for her. She’d missed having him in her bed these long weeks.
“Not exactly.” He opened her door and whistled. Lulu barked and ran out into the corridor, panting excitedly. “This way.”
He led them down to the first floor, then to the steep steps that wound up to the parapet, awash in afternoon sunlight. As they surveyed their domain, Lulu sitting happily at their feet between them, a sense of peace settled over Georgie that she had not experienced since Isaac had been alive. Perhaps this was a benediction from him, urging her to be happy for the rest of her life in this beautiful, wild place. With her wonderful pirate of a husband.
As if hearing her unspoken thought, Rob slipped his arm around her shoulders. “All of this will shortly be ours alone.”
“Don’t say such things, Rob.” She smacked him lightly on his chest. “We want your mother alive and here for many, many years to come.”
“Oh, I heartily agree, my love. But she will be leaving us shortly, for an undetermined amount of time.”
Georgie cocked her head. “She will?”
“Your father has invited her for a visit to Blackham Castle, and she accepted.” Rob reached over and put his finger beneath Georgie’s chin to shut her mouth, which had dropped open.
“I don’t know which is more startling, that my father asked her after all her very pointed barbs at him or that your mother accepted the invitation.” She couldn’t imagine the warfare to be waged by these two Tartars.
“I believe they have finally met their matches, as temperament goes, and are eager to wage that war with gusto. I have insisted that Jemmy and Elizabeth accompany them as chaperones, for propriety’s sake. You know how warfare stimulates the appetites.” Snaking his arms around her, Rob drew Georgie to him. “All of the appetites.”
“Rob! You don’t think . . .” Her father and Lady St. Just?
“All’s fair in love and war, my sweet.” He nuzzled her neck, sending chills down her spine.
“Then what about in surrender, Captain Pirate?” She molded herself against him, his rising interest making its presence known.
“My surrender to you or yours to me, Mrs. Captain?” Freeing her shoulder from her gown, he kissed his way over it, kindling a fire throughout her.
“I don’t think that matters at all.” Arching into him, her happiness was complete. “Not to a pirate.”