Page 13 of A Scarred Wallflower for the Duke
Georgina stepped back, gripping her younger sister’s hands. “Why did you never tell me about this baron of yours?”
Lydia looked down. “I am sorry, Georgie. I did not mean to keep anything from you. I just… We wanted to keep things to ourselves until he had spoken to Grandmother and Marcus.” She sniffed. “I think deep down, we both knew something like this was going to happen.”
“Well.” Georgina offered her a gentle smile. “As it turns out, I do not wish to see you marry the Duke either.”
Lydia’s eyebrows rose. “You do not?”
“No. Not when it would make you so unhappy. Besides, the Duke is not well suited to you. He is very arrogant and rude, and something of a rake.”
Lydia blinked. “You determined all this just from your brief conversation with him today?”
“Yes.”
Lydia can never —ever—find out what truly happened between us.
Lydia squeezed her sister’s hands. “Will you speak to Grandmother? Please. She listens to you. More than she listens to Marcus and me, in any case.”
Georgina shook her head. She knew her grandmother well enough to know that trying to talk her around would only make her more determined to see this marriage through. “I shan’t speak to Grandmother. That will not achieve anything. But I do have a plan.”
Lydia’s eyes widened. “A plan?”
“Yes.” Georgina led her toward the bed, tugging her down to sit beside her. They sat facing each other, cross-legged in their nightgowns, just as they had done when they were children.
Georgina had always been protective of her younger half-sister, especially after Lydia and Marcus’s mother had died ten years ago. She had made it her duty to ensure her siblings were always safe and happy—and if that meant stopping Lydia’s marriage to the Duke, then that was what she was going to do.
The plan had come to her over dinner, as they had trawled through the rest of the meal in stilted silence. Georgina had been determined to help her sister, yes. But she had also been driven by an intense determination to never see the Duke of Levinton at their dinner table. This plan was for Lydia. But Georgina could not deny it was also a little for herself. Getting the Duke out of all their lives would be the best thing for all of them.
She gripped Lydia’s hands and spoke in a conspiratorial half-whisper. “Carry on with your courtship with the Duke.”
“No, Georgie, I—”
“Hush. Listen. You continue to see the Duke. But we shall invite Lord Renshaw here to call on me. Let Grandmother think he wishes to courtme. She shall be so surprised that any man wishes to make me his wife that she will not care a scrap that he is merely a baron. Then the four of us can spend time together. You can see Lord Renshaw, and I…” She swallowed. “I will do my best to scare off the Duke. I shall make sure he wants nothing to do with this family. Once Grandmother gets over the disappointment of the Duke not asking for your hand, Lord Renshaw can come to her and make his true intentions known.”
She looked tentatively at Lydia. It was a risky plan, to be certain. No doubt the Dowager Viscountess would have questions when Lord Renshaw appeared on their doorstep seeking to court Georgina. But she knew her grandmother’s focus was on making Lydia a duchess. Hopefully, if she believed her courtship with the Duke was progressing as planned, she would not look too closely at Lord Renshaw’s involvement.
“What do you think?” she asked Lydia.
Her sister launched forward and threw her arms around Georgina. “Oh Georgie, you are a genius. It is perfect.”
“Do you think it will work?”
“Oh yes. Yes, yes, yes.” Lydia leaped off the bed, pressing her hands to her heart. She twirled around, face suddenly alight with joy. “Thank you, Georgie. Thank you so much. I shall write to Lord Renshaw at once.” She grabbed Georgina’s hands, tugging her off the bed. “Do you really think you can scare His Grace away?”
“Don’t you worry, Lydia. I can be just as uncouth and improper as he is. One afternoon with me and he shan’t know what has hit him. He will be running from this family before he knows what is happening.”
Lydia giggled, her eyes shining. “Oh, Georgie. You are wicked.” She grinned. “Whatever would I do without you?”
ChapterEight
Two days later, Georgina found herself at the breakfast table, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Baron of Renshaw. It seemed that the moment he had received Lydia’s letter, he had sent word back to her, expressing his delight at the plan they were about to set in motion. Had told her he would come to Thomson House at once to begin his “courtship” with Georgina.
Of course, Marcus and her grandmother knew nothing of this, and so she and Lydia were doing their best to pretend nothing was afoot. Georgina had to admit they were doing a rather terrible job of it.
In spite of herself, she was nervous. Nervous enough to have spilled her tea twice, and to have completely lost her appetite. She had managed just three bites of her scrambled eggs. This was no real courtship, of course, but if the Dowager Viscountess caught wind of their plan, she would be hauling Lydia and the Duke to the altar faster than Georgina could blink.
And then that scoundrel Vincent—stop it! You cannot think of him that way!And then that scoundrel, theDuke of Levinton,would be her brother-in-law, and he would be eating at this table all the time, and he and Lydia would be—
Georgina shook her head violently, trying to erase the troublesome thoughts. This plan simply had to work. Under no circumstances could the Duke ever be a part of this family.
