Loving Lady Georgianna (Spirited #2)

Chapter 36

The next few days were a blur for Georgie.

With the authorities coming in and out taking testimonies, Georgie had kept too busy to think about all that had happened. The family doctor had come in to mend her shoulder and the wound on her face. She had been ordered to bed, of course, but Georgie found her eyes continually drawn to the window. Every creak of the stair had her eyes falling out to the hallway. Would this be the day Thorne came? But three days had past and she hadn't caught a glimpse of him.

But apparently, she was well enough to be interviewed by the runners, and when it wasn't their attention upon her, it was Georgie's on the rambling carriages outside the parlor window as every gossip in London tried to catch of glimpse of the nefarious Lady Georgianna. Every simpleton passed with their mouths agape and their tongues wagging.

"And I thought my scandal would be the talk of the ton for decades," Charlie had said the previous day. Georgie had finally been granted a reprieve from her rooms, only for Greyson to take up residence by her shoulder. The only words she could make out through his glowering was something about nosy, pretentious peacocks. Or blood Viscount Thorne. Georgie had resisted an inward sigh as Charlie had continued. "You quite surpassed us all, Georgie."

Georgie would rather have not.

But what truly bothered her was that in all the hullabaloo, no one had much to say about Thorne. If she couldn't see him, surely someone had heard from him. Lady Marianne had met with Thorne's mother and from what Louisa had said, Thorne had been busy answering as many questions as Georgie. Though it would have been nice to hear from the man, himself.

Heavens, but she loved him. After the fire, she remembered being packaged into a carriage and settling on Thorne's lap. She had thought she had heard a declaration of love, but she had passed out and the next thing she knew, she was looking up at the doctor and she was in her rooms. What was taking him so long to come see her?

The only consolation was that Georgie had gotten the full story of the happenings that led to her rescue. The ballroom which apparently had devolved into a boxing match! She had gotten the full story from Charlie with bits thrown in by Greyson. Georgie hadn't heard of any further commotion, however, even though her brother now knew the man who had broken her heart. And been the father of her child.

The man that she loved.

His best friend, Vincent.

She had been waiting for Greyson to say something. Heavens knew he had been scowling at kingdom come the past few days. But so far, he hadn't spoken much at all. The storm was brewing, however, just on the horizon, and there was little to no chance she wouldn't be caught in the wreckage.

But for all that, she was most concerned about Thorne. His public confrontation with the Duke of Burkeley at the masquerade had been gossiped about wildly. Some had even been close enough to hear the truth of it. That the duke and Thorne were brothers, but the whispers had died down at the ludicrousness of it.

By far, the most juicy bit of gossip, anyway, had been her brother blackening the duke's eye in front of all and sundry. And everyone knew that it was Georgie--her honor--that had caused the confrontation. Apparently there were even bets in White's about what would happen when her brother found out her engagement with the duke had ended.

Heavens! Save her from over-protective men.

All she wanted to do was see Thorne. Part of her was ready to say to hell with propriety and knock on the man's door.

She might have if Lady Elizabeth hadn't been telling the truth. Randall was dead. Burkeley had called upon Georgie just this morning to let her know the developments. He had hired runners who had tracked down the men hired to not only kill Thorne himself, but Randall as well. Just yesterday, they had pulled Randall's remains from the Thames, his face nigh recognizable. Georgie had shivered.