All too soon he broke away, leaving one hand tangled in the hair at the nape of her neck, the pad of his thumb tracing circles over the sensitive skin beneath her earlobe. His breaths came in ragged gasps, and a muscle worked over and over again in his jaw.
“That is how I love you, Georgie,” he said many moments later. “Not as a sister.”
Too many thoughts were swirling through her mind to keep them all sorted: flying in Lord Haworth’s balloon; the favor she would owe Harry; Percy’s ever-mounting debts and ever-declining sense of responsibility; her desire to experience just a hint of adventure before the world all came crashing down on her; the taste left on her lips after Monty kissed her and the tug in her body from his nearness. It was all too much.
Monty stared deep into her eyes, searching as though they could answer him. “Tell me what it is you want, love. Anything at all, and I’ll give it to you.”
But Monty, dear, faithful, honorable Monty, could not give her what she wanted, even if her heart was begging her to let him try.
Georgie shook her head, pulling away from him. She needed some distance between them, enough that she could start to think clearly again. “It isn’t so simple.”
“Make it simple, then.”
She took a step back, even though she longed to step closer to him again. “I can’t,” she said, and then she spun on her heel and started back towards the supper boxes.
After only three steps, he moved by her side, matching her stride for stride. “Tell me why you wanted to meet Haworth, at least. If you give me nothing else, at least give me that.” Monty took her hand and looped it over his arm as though it belonged there.
It felt right, blast it all, like it had always belonged right where it was, which didn’t make telling him what she did next very easy at all.
“I wanted to meet Lord Haworth because he has what I want and you do not.”
She could feel Monty wince as they kept walking, but he stayed by her side until he’d returned her to Pippa and the Casemore brothers at the supper box.
Monty gave a slight, formal bow. “Lady Georgianna,” he said stiffly.
He left before the tear slipped past her eye.
Good heavens. What had she done?
Georgie might not be willing to tell Cedric just precisely what it was that she wanted—that elusive something which only Haworth supposedly—but he’d be damned if he wouldn’t do everything in his power to discover what she was dabbling in and what sort of harm she could come to as a result.
Whether she wanted his help or not, he would be sure she was safe. He had to. Because, devil take it, he loved her. He couldn’t stop loving her simply because she was too proud to admit she needed his help, or too scared to admit she might love him as well. Love had never worked that way. Neither had Cedric.
No, despite her refusal to include him in her plans, he wouldn’t give in so easily.
After leaving her in the care of the Casemore siblings, he stalked off into Vauxhall Gardens, in search of Haworth. If Georgie wouldn’t give him the answers he sought, Haworth damned well would.
At least, that had been Cedric’s plan. In his concern, he’d neglected to remember just how big Vauxhall was. It was huge. Massive. Enormous. He should have remembered that simply for the hour or so he’d already spent in search of Georgie. In all honesty, it was a miracle he’d come upon her at all. The odds had not been in his favor.
He spent the entire night marching through the garden, scouring every inch of the place for a sign of the viscount, but he never caught even the slightest hint of his presence. The dark did not aid his cause, nor did his growing fatigue.
By the time the sun began to rise, Cedric was ready to admit defeat—at least for this battle. He was not prepared to give up on the war. He would never give up, when Georgie’s wellbeing was at stake.
Still, a bit of sleep would do him a great deal of good.
Seeking that end, Cedric left Vauxhall Gardens and headed to his bachelor lodgings on Curzon Street.
As he drifted off to sleep, he prayed that whatever Georgie intended to do with Haworth would not happen before noon, at the very earliest.
Georgie’s heart hammered a rapid beat. It was nothing short of a miracle that Eloise couldn’t hear it, but Georgie had no doubt that if the maid could hear it, she’d demand to know what might possibly be the cause.
Eloise helped her to slip on her pelisse. She did up the buttons while Eloise took care of her own. The whole time this was happening, she kept rehearsing her act in her mind, hoping Eloise wouldn’t suspect something was amiss. Everything simply must happen according to plan, or all of her efforts would be in vain.
Eloise picked up a parasol and smiled. “I doubt we’ll have any rain today while we walk, but it’s best to be prepared for any eventuality. Are you ready now, my lady?”
“Yes!” Well, that was a bit more enthusiastic than she’d intended. Georgie took a breath and tried to calm down somewhat, so she wouldn’t reply so hastily again. She smiled. “Let’s be off, shall we?”
Together, they left Georgie’s chamber, made their way down the stairs, and all the way to the front entry hall. The butler and footmen were off in the blue drawing room, rearranging the furnishings just the way Mother wanted them.
Georgie couldn’t ask for more perfect circumstances. “Oh, drat. Eloise, would you be a dear and fetch my new gloves? The ones with the pretty lace trim—they’d match this bonnet perfectly, I believe. I think I left them on the writing table in my chamber.”
“Right away, my lady.” The maid dipped into a quick curtsey and then scurried up the stairs, without the slightest hesitation.
It was going to work. Without even exerting herself at all, Georgie’s breathing was coming in slight hitches.
As soon as Eloise was out of sight, Georgie shoved her reticule under her arm, darted out the front door, and half-ran down Berkeley Square to the waiting carriage, oblivious to anything around her.
Lord Haworth lifted a brow at her hasty arrival. “Any problems?”
“No. But we should go before they realize I’ve run off. Eloise will only search for my gloves for a few minutes before she comes down to tell me she can’t find them.”
“And do you have the money?”
Georgie opened her reticule and removed a small purse, tossing it over to him. “It’s all there. You’ll forgive my brother’s debt, now? And you’ll take me up in your balloon?”
“Unlike your brother, I always follow through with my promises.” He held out a hand to assist her into the carriage. “So let’s be off.”
By some anomalous quirk of nature or another, Georgie did not trip over herself in her mad scramble to climb aboard his vehicle. She took her seat, clasped her hands together in her lap, and did everything she could to contain the giddy squeal threatening to erupt from her lips.
She was going to fly!
“Make the pounding stop,” Cedric mumbled into his bedding, wrapping a pillow around his head to cover his ears. The pounding didn’t stop, however.
When he cracked his eyes open, the afternoon sun streaming in through his window was more than enough to leave him blinded. Good God. How long had he been asleep? At the moment, he didn’t even know what day it was.
“Open the door! Monty, I swear on your future grave if you don’t open this door in the next half second, I’ll plant you a facer so hard you won’t be able to father children.”
That had to be Bridge. Only he and Joshua would speak to him in that way, and the voice was too deep to be Joshua’s. Not only that, but no one else in Cedric’s acquaintance would so grossly misunderstand basic human anatomy.
Cedric dropped his pillow and pushed back the bedding. Bridge? In Town? When had that happened? He was still far too tired to sort through all of that on his own. Scratching his head, he got up and turned the lock.
“What are y—”
“It’s Georgie,” Bridge interrupted, pushing past Cedric and into the main r
oom. “She was planning a walk with her maid, but forgot her gloves upstairs. She sent Eloise back up to fetch them, and when Eloise returned, she was gone.”
“Gone?” Cedric’s fatigue was gone with that one word. He instantly reached for his trousers, pulling them on as fast as he could without falling over from the effort.
Bridge narrowed his eyes at him. “I thought you were looking after them.”
“Me?” he nearly shouted. Bridge had a lot of nerve, to try laying any blame on Cedric.
Last night’s overcoat was draped over a chair, wrinkled, but it would have to do. He put his arms in the sleeves and looked at his friend once again.
He hadn’t seen Bridge in months at this point, and he doubted that in all that time his friend had done much to tend to his appearance. His hair was too long, he was too thin, and there were lines forming on his face. For some reason, his clothes were more haggard and worn than Cedric’s, and he hadn’t spent the entire night trying to sort out the mystery of Georgie’s fascination with Haworth.
In short, Bridge looked like he’d aged decades in the last few months.
There wasn’t time to delve into that at the moment, though. He shook his head. “Never mind. That can wait. We need to find Georgie.” The task would be a much easier prospect if she would have told him what she was planning with Haworth, or if he’d found Haworth last night at Vauxhall. Since he hadn’t done either, he didn’t really have even the slightest inkling of where to start looking.
Still, he finished pulling all of his clothing on and headed out the door, signaling for Bridge to come with him. One thing was certain—she wasn’t in his bachelor lodgings.
Perhaps one of her friends would know where he might find her. If he could convince them that she might be in danger with Haworth, or at the very least that her reputation was at risk, maybe they would divulge her secrets.
But then again, maybe they wouldn’t. He had to try, though.
He took off on foot towards the Casemore household with Bridge at his side. It almost felt like old times, two friends off to slay dragons together. Almost, but things had certainly changed since they were boys, not the least of which being that they were now chasing Georgie, instead of Georgie chasing them.
And this time, there might truly be a dragon to slay.
The balloon was massive and beautiful, rising up to be visible over the tops of the trees in Green Park, with red and yellow silk in vertical stripes covered with a rope net. The ropes came down over the side and attached to the basket.
Georgie couldn’t stop her limbs from trembling as she excitedly climbed down from Haworth’s carriage and dashed towards the waiting flying machine.
He came along beside her, but at a much more sedate pace. “It uses hydro—”
“Hydrogen gas, yes,” Georgie interrupted breathlessly. “Hydrogen is lighter than oxygen, and concentrating it beneath the balloon will lift our weight into the air.”
“That’s correct.” Haworth cleared his throat and looked at her askance as they came up to the basket. Several men were holding it in place by the ropes coming down from the netting. He nodded to them. “When we’re ready to descend—”
“We’ll release some of the hydrogen.” Georgie blushed when he looked at her with perplexity. “I apologize, my lord. I’m fully aware of the scientific principles behind it all. What I don’t know is how it feels to fly.”
Haworth gave her a wry grin. “Well, I suppose we should move along with this, then, shouldn’t we? No reason to keep you waiting any longer than absolutely necessary.”
“Indeed.” Particularly because the twinges of nerves that had been dancing in her stomach for the previous couple of days had been more than enough to send her to Bedlam before they’d become more like a chisel and hammer, etching a new surface on her insides.
If they didn’t get up in the air soon, she might not be able to for lack of control over her body.
Side by side, Georgie and Haworth made the brief trek across the open expanse at Green Park towards the balloon.
“You’re certain these men who are assisting you are discreet?” she asked once more as they drew closer. She still couldn’t make out their faces, but it wouldn’t be much longer before she would be able to. The last thing she needed was to have someone run off to report on her adventure to Mother.
“Positive. Much like your brother, they owe me a debt of sorts. This is one of many ways they’re able to repay me. They won’t say a word to a single soul.”
She nodded, chewing on her lip. Surely, once they were up in the air, they’d be high enough no one would be able to recognize her. Wouldn’t they?
But then, that was why they were taking off from Green Park, after all. Anyone of importance out for a stroll or a ride would be at Hyde Park or somewhere along Rotten Row. No one would bother with Green Park. Her anonymity would be assured, once they were high enough in the air to clear the trees. She was sure of it.
When they finally reached the basket, Georgie looked up, trying to see all the way to the top of the balloon. It was so far up in the air that she felt like she’d fall over backwards if she stretched her neck back any farther. “Gracious, it is even bigger than I’d imagined.”
“Four hundred sixty cubic feet, my lady.” Haworth winked at her. “It will hold enough hydrogen that we could take two other people with us, if we were so inclined.”
She did a quick calculation in her head, factoring in the likely weight of the basket. “I’d wager it could carry six grown people, actually.”
He lifted a brow. “You may be right. I’ve never taken more than four, however.”
Debating the physics and chemistry involved was not aiding her cause. Georgie bit the inside of her cheek to keep from spouting off with any other random and inane facts which no one would care about. “Very well. Let’s get started. How do I get into the basket?” It stood nearly to her waist, and there was no door that she could see.
“I’ll have to lift you over.”
Damn and blast, she hadn’t planned on that. Thank goodness no one she knew was around to see such a sight. She nodded and pressed her eyes closed, hoping it would be over in an instant.
He put his hands to her hips and grasped her. The heat of a blush crept over her face, and she cursed her inability to hide anything from anyone at any time. It was highly inconvenient.
“No need to be embarrassed. Lifting your skirts and climbing over by yourself would be far more awkward, I can assure you.” Haworth firmed his grip on her. “You’ll need to steady yourself by holding onto my shoulders.”
She placed her hands gingerly where he directed, and then she was off her feet. Before she could protest, he had her back on her feet inside the basket. With a leap, he came over to stand beside her.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
Georgie nodded, keeping her eyes pressed tightly closed for some reason.
“Let us go, boys!” Haworth called out, and then he chuckled. “You’ll want to open your eyes for this.”
The weight of the basket shifted beneath her, and then it all wobbled slightly as they left the ground. Georgie’s eyes flew open as wide as they would go, as they left the earth far more quickly than she ever would have imagined.
“Oh!” she cried, desperately reaching for the edge of the basket. Within seconds, she was at eye level with the trees and continuing to rise.
It wasn’t fear she felt—far from it. At the moment, her heart was soaring and her soul flew alongside with her. The breeze fluttered her hair, and she looked down over the edge of the basket at the men below who’d held the balloon down.
“They look so small,” she said in awe. It made sense, of course. When one was many feet away from an object, its appearance seemed diminished whether the distance was horizontal or vertical. Yet she hadn’t expected it to be quite like this, for whatever reason.
“They’ll look smaller yet in a few moments. We have a bit higher to go before we’ll travel any great di
stance.”
As the balloon lifted them higher into the sky, streets and houses and parks and buildings all fell into place. “It’s just like a map,” she mused aloud.
“One wonders how they created maps before they could fly.” Haworth fiddled with some instruments and handles, and a rudder moved out to guide their path through the air. He was kind enough to refrain from openly laughing at her awe, but he couldn’t hide a small chuckle.
Georgie took a moment away from staring out at London below her to examine his gauges. In all of the reading she’d done about gas balloons, nothing had been mentioned about the necessity of having a gauge on board for any purpose. Then she made out what the smaller of the two was. “You’ve got a barometer with us!”
This time, Haworth could not contain his laughter at all. “Would you like to see how it works?” he asked when he could finally breathe again.
She knew how it worked, of course. But that didn’t mean she’d ever used one before. Georgie nodded, and then she waited for him to situate everything just so.
This flight was proving to be everything she’d wanted and more.
Halfway to Berkswell House, Bridge had stopped in the middle of crossing a busy street and looked at Cedric like he was a Bedlamite. “Isn’t Moira’s house closer than Pippa’s?”
And of course, it was. Bridge seemed to think that Cedric ought to be able to think clearly and sort all of that out, for whatever reason. Nevertheless, Cedric thought better of starting an argument at that precise moment and instead agreed.
They made their way to Moira Kirkwood’s home, where the Dowager Countess of Hearne informed them that her daughter had gone for a ride in Hyde Park with a gentleman suitor, and added that she had no idea where Lady Georgianna might be as she was not that debutante’s chaperone, thank the Lord. Mere seconds later, she closed the door on them.
“To Hyde Park, then?” Bridge muttered.
Cedric didn’t respond. He just took off in that direction.
When they arrived at the park, it was, of course, the fashionable hour. Finding anyone specific within the crush would be a daunting task, at best. It was a task that must be undertaken, though.
The Betting Season (A Regency Season Book) Page 14
