Last Chance for the Charming Ladies: A Clean & Sweet Regency Historical Romance Collection

by Fanny Finch

  “I’m afraid that he passed last year,” she admitted.

  Captain Trentworth stared at her. “But he was in the prime of health, last I heard.” His surprise seemed genuine.

  Georgiana nodded. “Yes. It was a riding accident. Rather sudden.”

  “Oh.” Captain Trentworth seemed wrong-footed. “I—my sincere condolences.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I know that I… said some rather unkind things about his character the last time that we were together. And while I will not pretend that I did agree with him on, well, anything… I know that he was still your father. I’m sure that it was quite a sad time for you, and I am sorry.”

  Captain Trentworth had hated her father, and vice versa. She thought it rather kind of him to say such condolences to her. He sounded genuinely contrite.

  “I appreciate it. I know that you two did not see eye to eye and I would never expect you to fall to your knees in mourning. But to have you acknowledge my grief means… quite a bit.”

  Captain Trentworth nodded once, jerkily. “And I suppose then that your brother is now the duke.”

  “Yes. He has stepped up to the task admirably. There was a learning period but he has handled it with grace.”

  “I recall that he was a rather stoic man. I am not surprised that he handled the whole thing well. I wish him the best of luck in his continued work in the position.”

  “He is engaged, in fact,” Georgiana could not help but add. “To a most wonderful young lady. She is as a sister to me.”

  “I am glad to hear it. It is a sad thing, if a family member marries someone of whom one is not fond. And your brother has an excellent judgment of character, if I remember correctly.”

  “Yes, he does.” She decided it was best to simply gloss over how horribly Edward had nearly botched the entire courtship.

  If only she and Captain Trentworth were how they used to be. Then she could tell him of how Edward had not even realized that he was in love with Maria until Georgiana pointed it out to him.

  She would tell him all about how Maria had not understood why no man would call upon her, when it was because Edward was acting as her suitor without either of them realizing it.

  She would tell him of how Edward had gone too far in chastising Maria for her behavior one night, and how it had nearly ruined the entire thing.

  But they were not that close. Not now. And if she were to tell the story to anyone other than someone as close to her as Julia, or as a fiancé, then Edward would be horribly disappointed in her. Her brother was a private man, just as Georgiana was a private woman.

  But oh, how she longed to tell Captain Trentworth the whole story.

  Georgiana could have slapped herself. Only a few moments in his presence and she was already wishing to confide in him and share everything with him as she once had.

  She was still a silly girl underneath it all. As silly as Miss Perry. Perhaps even more so. She was six and twenty. She ought to be more sensible than this. Captain Trentworth was not hers to confide in. He had not been for some time.

  It was only that they were seeing each other in person and communicating after so long apart. Old habits died hard, after all. It was nothing she could not easily get over after a short while.

  She need only hold herself in until she got used to the new status quo.

  “When is the wedding?” Captain Trentworth asked.

  Making small talk like this was painful. Georgiana almost wished that the floor would open up beneath her and swallow her up.

  “In only a couple of months,” she said. “We have just sent out the official invitations. I would have sent one to you, except that I did not know that you would be in England…”

  “No, of course. Very sensible of you to assume that I would be out on the sea. And I would not expect you to try and get an invitation to reach me there.

  “You will pass on my congratulations and best wishes to the happy couple, I hope. I have always had a great deal of respect for your brother. And I’m certain that whomever he has chosen as his wife is a lovely woman worthy of good wishes.”

  “She is, and I appreciate your kind thoughts. I shall convey them. I know my brother will be happy to know that you think so well of him.”

  Edward had held his peace on the matter of Georgiana’s relationship with Captain Trentworth. He had liked the man, that much she knew. He had always had the greatest of respect for him and had conveyed it in every meeting between the two of them.

  But Edward had said nothing, either for or against, her engagement to Captain Trentworth. It had been a matter strictly between Georgiana and their father.

  He had recently told Georgiana that he felt it was not his battle to say anything one way or another in regards to her choices. He regretted it, in fact, and had confessed as much to her quite recently.

  It had been his feelings for Maria that had spurred the apology. He had told Georgiana, with great feeling, that he ought to have stood up for her choice in husband. That he should have supported her and Captain Trentworth’s engagement. Defied their father.

  Georgiana did not blame Edward. It had not been his battle to fight. As much as he wanted to protect her and help her, he had been right to stay out of it. At least, if you asked her.

  She had been the one challenged to stand her ground. And she had allowed her love to slip away. It was nobody’s fault except for hers.

  She wondered if Captain Trentworth would agree with her on that. Most likely, given the things that he had said to her when they had last spoken.

  But that was all living in the past. She ought to pay attention to the present. And Captain Trentworth clearly bore her no good will. He was, however, making an effort to be polite. She ought to do her best to do the same. Rise to the occasion and all that.

  “And how is your family?” she asked. “Your parents?”

  “Both gone by now, I’m afraid.”

  “I’m terribly sorry. It is a shame that I never got the chance to meet them.”

  She was going to meet them once their engagement was officially set. Captain Trentworth had gone to ask her father’s permission to marry her. Then they would go and tell his parents. And then they would put it in the papers.

  Now she would never get to meet the surely lovely people who had produced and raised such a wonderful man.

  What was more, he had been their only child. Captain Trentworth had cousins but no siblings. That might make him terribly lonely nowadays. No intimate family to whom he could go home.

  “They would have liked you,” Captain Trentworth admitted. “And you would have liked them. But I’m afraid that is not saying much. Everyone liked them. I had yet to find a person who was not won over to them by the time a morning’s call was finished.”

  “Were they sociable then?” Georgiana asked.

  He nodded. “Very.”

  “And yet they produced you,” she said. It was so easy to slip into teasing with him. It had been her habit with him for so long, it was difficult to shake off. “Where on earth did they go wrong?”

  Captain Trentworth looked as though he was trying to suppress a smile. “There is only so much that one can do when one’s child is determined to be antisocial, I suppose. I was a stubborn one.”

  “And remained so.”

  He nodded once, curtly.

  Georgiana decided that she’d had quite as much awkward small talk as she could stand at that point. “Have you met Miss Everett?” she asked, quickly turning to the girl as she walked by.

  Miss Everett was happy to be introduced to Captain Trentworth and engage him in conversation.

  Georgiana faded into the background, as usual.

  She was used to it, of course. There was no reason why she should be so upset. And yet, she was.

  It was because of her stupid girlish feelings, that was all.

  This was clearly a lively group of people. She wasn’t lively. Not in the slightest. She could appreciate it, but as an observer.
Not as a participant.

  To her surprise, however, after a short moment Mr. Tomlinson joined her at the fireplace.

  She had taken up a post there from which to observe everyone without being too far away. She could smile or nod if someone looked in her direction but need not participate fully.

  “Any particular reason why you are imitating the artwork?” Mr. Tomlinson asked.

  He clearly had a knack for teasing and being charming. “I’m afraid if you’re looking for someone with whom you can banter, I am not the best of choices,” she told him. “I am much better if you are in need of a listening ear or a sympathetic face.”

  “I have heard quite the opposite from Miss Weston,” Mr. Tomlinson replied. “She informs me that you are a gifted conversationalist.”

  “That may be true in her eyes. But Miss Weston has always had a rather higher opinion of me than I think is warranted. It comes with having known one another since childhood.

  “And if I am any sort of wit, I’m afraid it is only with those I am deeply acquainted with. I fear otherwise my tongue shall fail me.”

  “Then I shall have to become deeply acquainted with you,” Mr. Tomlinson said with a smile.

  Georgiana was not sure what to make of that.

  On the one hand, she was certain that many a woman would see it as a flirtation. She was tempted to see it that way.

  But she suspected that it was a flirtation which did not mean anything. She was not going to fall into the trap that so many other girls had become victim to. That is, the trap of thinking a man such as Mr. Tomlinson was serious when he flirted.

  Men such as Mr. Tomlinson flirted for sport. It was fun for them. It was nothing serious.

  She feared for the day that the poor man actually fell for a woman. She suspected the woman would not know that he was truly serious in his intentions until the actual moment of proposal. And perhaps not even then.

  “I am sure that we shall become better acquainted over the next few weeks,” Georgiana replied. It was a neutral enough answer that she would not offend him with. But she was also not promising anything to him or showing too much interest.

  She had hurt her heart once. She wasn’t going to get it hurt again over something as ridiculous as thinking a man of charm was serious in his pretty words.

  Julia clapped her hands. “I have been informed that dinner is ready,” she announced. “Shall we retire, then, to the dining room?”

  Everyone was in agreement, and flowed out into the dining room.

  Georgiana gave a sigh of relief when she saw that she was not sitting next to Captain Trentworth.

  She was next to Julia, and then across from her was Mr. Norwich. Mr. Tomlinson was next to her, and then diagonal to her was Miss Perry. Miss Everett was on Mr. Tomlinson’s other side, and across from her was Captain Trentworth.

  Hopefully this would go well.

  Conversation was lively, and again, Georgiana found herself staying quiet. It was not that she felt that she was ignored. It was simply that she preferred listening to speaking. Everyone had quite a lot to say.

  Miss Perry was rather silly, and seemed determined to get the attention of all three men as often as possible.

  Georgiana supposed that she could be sympathetic. To be young and pretty and looking for a husband, of course there was a feeling that one must keep one’s options open.

  It was almost like a competition, or a game. How many men could one have on a string all at once? How many suitors could one win over?

  Georgiana had never been that way. But then, she was not the sort of person that shared herself with others easily or liked to flirt.

  It had felt like a miracle when Captain Trentworth had been interested in her despite her quiet nature. And an even bigger miracle that he was a man whom she had genuinely been attracted to.

  Now, she tried her best to balance out Miss Perry’s enthusiastic nature. Julia was keeping up with it and doing a lovely job as hostess. Her mother sent word that she would be well enough to join them for a quiet game of bridge or two after dinner.

  “You are all lucky that Father has gone back to London,” Julia assured them all. “He hates card playing and would be regaling you all with his hunting stories.

  “They’re rather entertaining the first time around, but after the tenth time, they’re far less amusing.”

  Georgiana had heard Mr. Weston’s stories many a time, having grown up with him. She could agree with Julia’s assessment.

  “I feel as though the moment a man becomes a father, he is obligated to be as boring as possible,” Miss Perry said. “My father is quite a bore. He does nothing but read his law books.”

  Georgiana felt a bit uncomfortable.

  “I hope that you will not say your husband is boring once you have had your first child,” Mr. Tomlinson said with a laugh.

  “I shall of course do nothing but compliment him when he is in the room,” Miss Perry replied with a mischievous glint in her eye.

  Georgiana felt it was just skirting the edge of disrespectfulness. She could see that Captain Trentworth looked uncomfortable as well, as though he were thinking the same thing.

  She remembered how they used to be at parties together. They had been allies, often thinking along the same lines on things. Such as when a guest was getting rude or scandalous.

  Now, she struggled not to instinctively look over at him to catch his eye. They were not secret allies anymore. Once, she could read the very look in his eye as though he had spoken aloud. Now, she did not know him at all.

  It had been years. He had changed. He no longer cared for her. She must remember that.

  Miss Everett and Captain Trentworth seemed to be holding up a lively conversation throughout dinner. She asked him often about his time in the navy.

  Georgiana tried to listen in spite of herself, but found that Mr. Tomlinson kept trying to speak to her as well and it was distracting her.

  He inquired about her family, and about the wedding once she told him about it.

  “I am surprised that it took Edward so long to marry,” Julia said. “But then, he has always been a very particular person.”

  “That he is,” Mr. Norwich said. “He is like his father in that way, if I may say so.”

  “You are welcome to say so,” Georgiana replied.

  Edward was not like their father in many ways. Edward was actually compassionate and full of passion and able to forgive.

  But they were alike in their stubbornness and their determination. They were both hard men and inclined towards bitterness if they were not careful. Edward fought against it, fortunately, while Father had given into it.

  But she was certain that Mr. Norwich meant it as a compliment and so she did not say anything to contradict him.

  “It is rather sad, isn’t it, to have one’s sibling getting married?” Miss Perry asked. “I know that I have felt terribly envious when my siblings got married before me. Even if I am the youngest.

  “My condolences to you, Miss Reginald, that you must put up with your brother’s nuptials and all that it entails while you are still single.”

  Georgiana knew that she did not mean it unkindly. But it still hurt.

  If she were younger, then perhaps it would be easier to deal with. But with her age and her lack of suitors…

  Well. It only served to remind her that she would never be a bride. Never have her own wedding. And while she was not at all envious of her brother, it hurt to have the whole thing brought up.

  “Indeed, I could not be happier for him,” Georgiana replied. “I love my brother dearly. We have always been quite close. It warms my heart to see that he is going to be happy.”

  “Oh of course you are happy for him,” Miss Perry replied with a conspiratorial smile. “But it is a different thing, to be happy for someone and to be happy in general, is it not?”

  Georgiana saw that there would be no persuading her otherwise and said nothing, letting the subject change.

&nbs
p; Was she happy?

  She wasn’t sure. She was content. Was that not enough? Was that not all that most people could hope for? Especially women who were quickly ageing out of the opportunity for marriage?

  The rest of dinner passed pleasantly enough. Mr. Tomlinson still chatted with her a great deal more than Georgiana thought was necessary.

  Not that she disliked his conversation. It was only that it confused her. Surely he would rather be talking with the witty Miss Everett on his other side or the radiant, energetic Julia?