Page 14 of Her Duke's Second Chance

Georgiana sat frozen the entire time, unable to remember how to move. She stayed like that until the click of the door closing behind him snapped her from her trance.

CHAPTER 5

“Igot you another gown. The publican’s wife is a seamstress, and she had a ready-made gown on hand that she adjusted to your size. I hope I got it right,” Robert said, holding up his offering to her.

“How fortunate,” Georgiana said breathlessly, still sitting by the fire looking bemused.

After collecting his traveling bag from the carriage, Robert had gone in search of the publican’s wife, from whom he had ultimately acquired the dress.

Once he had entered the bedchamber, a serving girl carrying a tray of food and a young man bearing a tub followed suit; Georgiana would get her dinner in the bath. Still, he was not sure how she would react. It puzzled him why she was so resistant to his overtures. Robert was determined to get to the bottom of her defiance and silently promised himself that he would persevere in his attempts to wear her down and win her over.

“Not really. Many a runaway bride arrives unprepared. Having gowns on hand is merely a profitable business for her,” Robert said.

“Mmm. Did you ask if she had seen Daisy or Lord Newston?” the duchess asked.

“I did. Unfortunately, she had not seen them. I expect Lord Newston would have arranged for more comfortable accommodations than what could be found here.”

“Do you think so?” she asked with a frown.

“I do. I have known the earl long enough to know that he abhors discomfort.”

She sighed. “Daisy’s much the same.”

“Two peas in a pod, are they?”

She hunched over, looking defeated. “Do you think it will be too late by the time we catch up to them?”

“I hope not. I shudder to think of Newston as my brother-in-law. Not a positive addition to the dinner table.”

She giggled. “No, it would not be.”

“Well, no use borrowing trouble. We shall know what’s what once we catch up to them, which we will do as soon as this storm has abated.”

Once the staff departed, they ate the soup and bread that had been laid out for them. Following their meal, Georgiana demanded that Robert turn away so she could divest herself of her clothes and step into the bath.

Once she was safely ensconced within the confines of the wooden tub, she told him that he could sit back down. He turned and sat back on the stone ledge but made a point of not looking at her.

He listened to the water splashing as she bathed herself, and could not help visualizing her lying indolently in the warm water, her nipples peaked from the chilly air, one leg bent at the knee while the other was stretched out.

Her long brunette hair hung over the edge of the tub in long curly waves, nearly brushing the stone floor with its wet tendrils.

He could hear her breath, his mind’s eye seeing the rise and fall of her breasts, following the gentle slope of her belly, and downwards to the dark secret center of her.

He pushed away the thoughts.

Still, Robert could not help grinning to himself at the memory of Georgiana’s face when he had taken off his coat and stood before her in his naked splendor.

He had wondered whether she had acquired a lover, especially considering her bosom friendship with the Dowager Countess of Galerton.

Spending her time with the young, widowed, well-to-do lady certainly would have been the ideal opportunity to sample the illicit pleasures of adultery. But from her reaction to his nakedness, he could only conclude that she was still as green as a girl could be.

He was perturbed by how much that pleased him.

As he glanced around for something else to muse upon, he thought of his grandmother currently terrorizing the servants at Emberford Hall.

She had been quite ill as of late, and it had worried him deeply. Thankfully, with the help of physicians and her own determined disposition, she had made a full recovery. It was her fondest wish that he marry and give her great-grandchildren.

How could Robert say no to that?

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