The Betting Season (A Regency Season Book)

by Knight-Catania, Jerrica

  “How can I know you won’t ask me to give you something in return which I can’t possibly give?” He was, after all, willing to do what she’d asked of him without asking too many questions.

  “On my honor as a gentleman, I promise that the favor I request of you will be within your power to grant.” For emphasis, he even placed his hand over his heart.

  She wanted to agree—largely because she couldn’t imagine how else she might meet Lord Haworth at this point. Yet something within her still gave her pause.

  “Must I get on bended knee to emphasize my honor?” Harry asked on a laugh.

  When he started to do just that, Georgie batted at his hands and fought through a blush. “Stop that. You’ll draw attention. I accept your terms.”

  “Excellent.” He straightened to his full height, and his expression turned serious once again. “Now, you’re accompanying Pippa to Vauxhall on Saturday, are you not?”

  He was going to do it. Georgie’s pulse galloped through her body, leaving her feeling like the blood was trying to burst through her skin. It was finally going to happen! She pulled herself together enough to nod.

  “Haworth will be there, as well…with a different party. I’ll head off at some point, leaving you and Pippa as though I’m meeting a lover or something else of the sort. When that happens, find a moment when you can leave her, and then come find me. I’ll be near the Chinese pavilion.”

  “And you’ll take me to Lord Haworth?”

  Harry nodded tersely. “But don’t forget that you’ll need to return the favor someday.”

  It took a valiant effort, but somehow Georgie refrained from enveloping him in a thoroughly inappropriate hug. “I won’t forget.”

  Saturday. That was only two more days. She felt like she was flying already.

  “Who the devil is Colebrooke?” Harry half-shouted just as Georgie walked into to the corridor at Berkswell House.

  “Harry!” Pippa admonished in return.

  Oh, goodness. Georgie might need to rescue Pippa. None of this sounded good. She scurried to the threshold and poked her head through the doorway. “Colebrooke? Did the elusive viscount make an appearance?” The title wasn’t at all familiar to Georgie…and she knew Debrett’s nearly as well as she knew the back of her glove. Ever since Pippa first mentioned him at Patience’s tea, Georgie had been trying to place him with no luck. One of these days she hoped to see the man herself, since Pippa seemed to be so enamored with him.

  Pippa smiled when she looked up. “Georgie, I’m so glad you’ve come.”

  Harry spun around to face her, gave her a curt nod, and grumbled, “Lady Georgianna.”

  So, they were to put on a show not just for society, but also for Pippa? Very well, even if it was rather odd. Georgie would play along with Harry’s game since he was going to introduce her to Lord Haworth tonight. “Lord Harrison, so nice to see you again.”

  He winked at her, but neither Pippa nor her half-asleep great-aunt in the corner of the parlor could see. Georgie fought to keep from reacting in any way. Pippa was likely caught up in her own adventures for the Season and wouldn’t notice that anything was amiss with Georgie, if she didn’t let the mass of nerves dancing around in her stomach show.

  Which, admittedly, was easier said than done. She’d never been very accomplished at hiding anything. Heaven help her if she was forced to attempt to lie to someone during all of this. Neglecting to tell everything was a different prospect entirely.

  “Harry,” Pippa started, “Georgie is going to accompany us to Vauxhall Gardens tonight, did you remember?”

  “Yes, of course.” He nodded. “Just so long as you two keep each other out of trouble.”

  He seemed hell-bent to make it next to impossible for Georgie to avoid letting anything slip to Pippa. Blast the man. He had essentially promised to help Georgie get into trouble, yet now he was telling his sister to keep her out of it? Well, not exactly. She didn’t want there to be trouble, per se. Just adventure. Sadly, the two likely went hand-in-hand.

  Pippa let out a laugh, and Georgie did her best to focus on her friend and not on her irritation with Harry.

  “As long as Albie doesn’t offer me any of his brandy, I’m certain I’ll be fine,” Pippa said with a wry grin.

  Harry scowled, then turned to give his sister some look or another over his shoulder. When he faced Georgie again, he waggled his eyebrows at her and brushed past her. “Don’t forget, we’ll meet at the Chinese pavilion,” he mumbled so low only she could hear him.

  That simple statement set off fireworks in her head, much like those they’d see tonight at Vauxhall. After feeling like it would take an eternity to sort it all out, now things were moving very quickly. Almost too quickly.

  She gave him the tiniest of nods before returning her attention to Pippa. She gestured towards Harry’s retreating form with her head. “He’s usually in much better spirits, isn’t he? He always seemed so to me.”

  Patting the seat next to her on the settee, Pippa smiled. “He bumped into Lord St. Austell, apparently. It put him in a mood.”

  Georgie took her seat, thankful that, at least for the moment, Pippa was lost in her own world.

  “But I don’t care about any of that, Georgie. Lord Colebrooke was here. He sat right where you’re sitting now and he…” A dreamy expression took over her features, as though she’d been transported into another time or place. Good gracious, Pippa was head over ears in love with this Colebrooke, and Georgie still didn’t really know who the man was!

  “He…?” she prodded, when Pippa didn’t go on. Then she settled in for what was certain to be a grand discussion of the mysterious viscount.

  Focusing on Pippa’s excitement this afternoon, before going to Vauxhall, would be—a nice and much needed distraction from her own building anxiety.

  Even still, meeting Harry at the Chinese pavilion couldn’t happen soon enough.

  “Oh, Monty!” Edie squealed as she plopped down on the settee across from him. “Have you come to rescue me from the boredom of a night alone? You are such a dear.”

  Her governess sedately came in behind her and took a seat in the wingback chair near the hearth, even as Cedric was left wondering what she meant by that.

  “A night alone? I thought your mother had declined all of her invitations for tonight.” If Georgie was at a ball or a soiree, he needed to be there. What if Haworth was at the same entertainment?

  “She had,” Edie mused aloud. “But Pippa Casemore insisted that Georgie must accompany her to Vauxhall, and Mother relented. Pippa has a bit of a scandal surrounding her, you know, and Mother thought it best for her to have a good influence like Georgie along. And since Georgie was going out for the night, Mother decided it wasn’t fair to Frankie and Mattie to stay home, so she accepted the invitation to the Chesterfield ball.”

  When she finally took a breath, Cedric tried to stop his mind from reeling. Georgie was at Vauxhall without him, and without her mother or sisters. While he’d always had a fondness for Pippa Casemore, she’d never seemed the sort who could protect Georgie—particularly not if she didn’t know what she was to protect her from. Berkswell and Casemore were probably more intent on protecting Pippa from St. Austell and the scandal than focusing on Georgie.

  This was not good. Not good at all. Every bone in Cedric’s body itched to get away from Berkeley Square as fast as he could. He stood, preparing to do just that.

  Edie pushed her lower lip out in a full, pitiful pout and looked up at him with huge brown eyes, just like Georgie’s. “Mother didn’t seem to care that she was leaving me all alone, though.”

  Devil take it, these Bexley-Smythe girls would be the death of him. “I fear I must also do the same, Edie.”

  She leapt to her feet and rushed over to him, taking both of his hands in hers as though she could forcefully make him stay. “Oh, but you can’t!”

  “Tomorrow,” he said, disentangling himself from her grasp and nodding to her governess. “I’
ll make it up to you tomorrow.”

  “Oh, but Monty!”

  He darted out the door before she could stop him.

  Pippa was squirming next to Georgie like a puppy that was the runt of the litter—the one who couldn’t find an available teat at feeding time.

  “Do sit still,” Harry finally said to her, saving Georgie the necessity of doing so, thank goodness.

  She could understand Pippa’s nerves, since Lord Colebrooke was supposed to be meeting her at Vauxhall tonight and she was next to desperate to see him again. But really, Georgie was far more concerned with her own problem of sneaking off with Harry to meet Lord Haworth, and Pippa’s constant movement was driving her to utter distraction.

  “I’m just excited,” Pippa responded.

  “You don’t say?” her eldest brother, Lord Berkswell, said with a raised brow.

  This wasn’t going well. If Pippa’s brothers kept goading her, her excitement might grow to monumental proportions—and the squirming would follow suit.

  Georgie linked her arm through Pippa’s to see if she could calm her friend in that way, or at least still her fidgeting. “I’m sure we will all have a delightful time.”

  “Just not too delightful,” Harry grumbled. He sent a meaningful glance in Georgie’s direction, as though she ought to know the intentions behind it. She thought she did, but was he only grumbling for Pippa’s benefit, or was there something else behind his words?

  She wasn’t given much time to debate Harry’s mood. The carriage rolled to a stop at Whitehall. Harry exited as soon as the coachman opened the door.

  Berkswell reached over and placed a hand on Pippa’s knee, though. “Stay here just a moment, will you?”

  That didn’t sound very good. Berkswell was as serious a man as she’d ever met. Georgie looked up to find Harry holding out his arm for her.

  “My lady,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.

  Thank goodness. She didn’t want to be present for whatever lecture Berkswell was preparing to deliver to his sister. She placed her hand in Harry’s and scurried along behind him.

  He closed the door and then winked at her. “No second thoughts? You still wish to meet Haworth tonight?”

  Already, her breaths were coming in shorter bursts, and a tingle of heat trailed up her spine at the thought. “Yes, I still wish to meet him,” she breathed. “I haven’t changed my mind.” Nor would she. Come hell or high water, she would get up in a balloon, no matter what Monty might have to say about the matter.

  Harry led her away from the carriage. “I didn’t think you had. But you should know…” For some reason, he stopped there, looking out at everyone arriving at Whitehall, on their way to the evening’s festivities on the ferry.

  Georgie waited for what felt an eternity, but still he just stood there staring out. “I should know what?” Lord knew she knew too much about too much as it was. Or so it felt most of the time.

  Finally, he faced her again, with a queer expression on his face. Was that concern? Good heavens, it was bad enough that Monty was always following her about and trying to protect her from life. She didn’t need Pippa’s brothers to join in that.

  “You should know,” he finally said with a frown creasing his brow, “that your brother has had dealings with Haworth.”

  Her breath hitched. Finding her voice proved difficult. “Dealings he hasn’t settled, I assume?”

  Harry shook his head.

  “And what does that mean for me?”

  “Possibly nothing. Haworth isn’t really a bad sort, generally speaking.”

  He looked back towards the carriage, and Georgie followed his gaze. The door was still closed.

  “But there are those who believe Haworth might seek retribution through you.”

  “Do you?” she asked tentatively.

  “If I believed that, I would never have agreed to your request.”

  Georgie nodded, but that was all she could do before Berkswell and Pippa joined them.

  Was she preparing to make the grandest mistake of her brief life? A twinge in her stomach told her she might very well be, but a series of flutters followed, and she could think of nothing else but following through with her plan.

  The tingles hadn’t ceased, or even slowed. If anything, they’d increased in pace. Georgie walked alongside Pippa, with Harry accompanying them, towards their supper box. The whole time, she remained in utter amazement that the entire world wasn’t feeling the same sense of awe and trepidation she was experiencing right then.

  But then Pippa stopped, bring Georgie back to the here and now.

  “What is it?” Harry asked.

  Pippa pinched her eyebrows together and shook her head. “I just want to explore a bit. I don’t want to find our seats quite yet.”

  “We’re already late.” Harry glowered at his sister. “I am meeting…someone, and I just want to see you settled before I go.” He caught Georgie’s eye for a brief moment, and she bit her lip. Then he looked away.

  “Very well,” Pippa agreed in a far too conciliatory tone.

  Did she believe he was off to an illicit tryst, as he’d planned? Why was she giving in to him so easily? Georgie looked over at her friend, who merely shrugged in response. This was all coming together far too easily. She could only hope that escaping from Pippa would be as easy as avoiding Monty had been. He had no idea at all that she was at Vauxhall. In fact, he thought that she and her entire family had stayed home for the night.

  Harry led them to the supper boxes. Lord and Lady Heathfield looked over at them from their own box as they entered, and Pippa blushed to a furious shade of red…no doubt thinking of the scene she’d been involved in during their ball.

  “Here we are.” Harry waved his arm for Pippa and Georgie to enter one of the boxes. “Sit down. I’ll be back…soon.” With that, he rushed off through the throng. He glanced back once and made eye contact with Georgie, likely making certain she’d noted the direction he’d gone.

  “Where do you suppose he’s headed?” Georgie asked for lack of any better conversational topics. She knew, but she wanted to be certain that Pippa did not.

  “To some clandestine meeting, I’d guess. Berks informed me tonight that Harry is a wolf. I had no idea.”

  Georgie had to force herself not to blink in a daze at the wolf comment, as she’d recently had a discussion with none other than Harry about wolves. How very odd. She mentally shook the thought from her head. “And you thought if you went along with his plan of sitting in the box, that we’d do what we liked after he departed?” Please, God, let that be Pippa’s plan. Then everything would go smoothly tonight.

  A wide grin stole over Pippa’s face. “You really do know me very well.”

  Georgie pursed her lips and nodded. Of course she did. She knew almost everything very well, whether she wanted to or not. “So what do you want to see? The Indian temples? The spring gardens?” She made a point of not mentioning the Chinese pavilion.

  “Let’s just head back the way we came.”

  And so they did. After they exited the box and started making their way through the crowd towards the entrance, a poorly garbed man bumped into Pippa and muttered, “Sorry, mum,” and then disappeared back into the throng.

  “One could get lost here and never find their way out,” Georgie said beneath her breath.

  She never would have expected Pippa’s response—to squeeze tight onto Georgie’s arm and say, “Isn’t it grand?”

  Gracious! Did she want to get lost tonight? That would be utterly perfect if she did, because that would make it all the more easy for Georgie to sneak off and meet Harry! She laughed, but didn’t trust herself to say anything more, lest she give away her glee over the ideas racing through her mind.

  They drew near the grove, but then someone reached out and grabbed Pippa. Georgie fought to avoid screaming and somehow managed it.

  “My lord,” Pippa said a moment later, in that breathy, dreamy voice she’d used earlier when spea
king of her Lord Colebrooke, and the same faraway look came into her eyes. That left little for Georgie to discern.

  It was good to finally see the man, however. He was quite a handsome devil. She could see what all of Pippa’s fuss was about, now.

  “My dear Lady Philippa,” he responded, with an equal amount of ardor in his tone.

  Good heavens, she felt like she was in the middle of the illicit tryst Harry was supposedly off to have. She cleared her throat to remind them of her presence.

  “Oh!” Pippa cried as she looked over at Georgie, her expression sheepish. “Lady Georgianna Bexley-Smythe, this is Viscount Colebrooke.”

  “My lady,” Colebrook said smoothly, inclining his head. “You are Stalbridge’s sister?”

  Georgie scowled, but nodded. “Do you know my brother?”

  Colebrooke started to respond, but then stopped himself and frowned. “Only by reputation.”

  The whole ton and all of England, and quite possibly half the Continent knew of Percy by reputation, so that was hardly a surprise. Still, Georgie was unable to stop the wince. She pushed the uncomfortable thoughts of her brother and his exploits aside. Colebrooke was providing her with the perfect excuse to escape Pippa and meet Harry at the Chinese pavilion. She’d be damned if she wasn’t going to take advantage of the opportunity provided to her.

  “Even through all these people, I do see someone I know. Will you excuse me?” She didn’t wait for their response, but simply left, disappearing into the crush as quickly as she could.

  “Georgie!” Pippa called out after her. She sounded sincerely concerned, but Georgie didn’t stop.

  She didn’t want to keep Harry waiting, after all. He might increase his yet-to-be-determined fee, if she did.

  “I always thought you were the level-headed one of the bunch,” Cedric grumbled as he half-dragged Patience Findley back to the supper boxes.

  “I always have been.”

  Her tone indicated she had no intention of remaining that way any longer. What in God’s name had gotten into these girls? No, ladies. They weren’t girls any longer, and that was the truly terrifying part of it.