Page 99 of The Duke's Bartered Mistress

You are sucking your thumb. It is clear you are not even a passing acquaintance with proper conduct.

Besides, it wasn’t as if Felicity would judge her. The woman was wearing a cat.

“Hello, Georgia. Do you—um…do ye mind if I sit with ye?” Absent-mindedly, Felicity stroked the tremendous gray feline wrapped around her shoulders. “Unless I am interrupting…?”

Without glancing down, Georgia flicked the embroidery from her lap to the settee beside her. “Not at all. I would welcome the distraction. I have just been sitting here feeling sorry for myself.”

“Oh?” The other woman’s brows drew in as she settled herself in one of the chairs across from her. “Why?”

Georgia blinked at her friend.

One of the reasons she’d always liked Felicity Montrose’s company was that the woman seemed completely unaware of the sorts of things which mattered to Society. As long as she had her cats and her photography equipment—and really, she was quite brilliant with both—the rest of the world could go take a long walk off a short pier.

But surely… Georgia cleared her throat as she examined the pad of her thumb. “I am berating my stupidity.”

“Ah.” Felicity shifted the cat off one shoulder, so it hung limply across her other shoulder. “Because the Duke betrayed ye?”

“What? No, because I disgraced myself with him. Because I was foolish and made a foolish decision based on—on lust. I forgot to protect my reputation.”

Felicity was nodding wisely. “Ah,” she repeated. “I thought it was because ye thought the Duke used ye.”

She was determined to rub it in.

“That as well.”

The cat lifted its head and Felicity tugged it down, repositioning it in her arms like a gigantic baby. Or loaf of bread.

“I think ye’re wrong,” she said softly, her attention on the feline. “I do not think your decision was foolish—it was noble.” Before Georgia had a chance to snort—politely, of course—her friend continued. “And if ye were moping about the fact the Duke used ye to get to yer father—or was it uncle?” She shrugged and met Georgia’s eyes. “Well, ye obviously did not see the man’s expression when ye ran off.”

Georgia told herself she had no more tears.

She was wrong.

“His expression? He was upset, of course, that he had been caught.” Irritated at her own tears, she began to pull her glove on with enough aggravated forced to pop a button. “Yes, he used me, just as Father said.”

He used you to get to Father—no, to get to Uncle William. Why did he want Uncle William? What did it matter?

The cat in Felicity’s lap chose that moment to rear its head and hiss at her.

Felicity nodded. “Miss Prettypaws believes you to be foolish as well.”

Well really. How did one argue with a cat? She’d never managed it with Rajah.

So instead, Georgia raised a brow. “This one is named Prettypaws?” She was as large as Rajah, but it was impossible to imagine Demon’s statuesque feline being worn about one’s shoulders like a fine stole.

“Miss Prettypaws.” Felicity was blushing as she stroked the feline’s head once more. “She’s almost fourteen, ye know. When she was a kitten, she had the cutest black pads on her paws, and my—” She bit down on what she was going to say and after a moment, swallowed and continued. “I did not name her, but the name suited her.”

Georgia gentled her tone. “She’s lovely. They’re all lovely, Felicity, and I am sorry I have not given any effort into learning their names. I have been rather sunk in my own self-pity, have I not?”

The red-headed woman’s smile was slightly awkward as she peeked from beneath her lashes. “I have been glad for the company, truthfully. I hope ye know ye can stay as long as ye’d like?”

“Oh, I…” About to brush off the kind offer, the practical part of Georgia’s mind ran up and grabbed her lips and made her reconsider her words.

Her father had publicly rejected her.

With the debt repaid, her sister was finally about to marry a family which was extremely socially conscious.

And Demon…

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