Georgiana fell asleep quickly and slept soundly, not waking until the sun was shining through the window the next morning. Lucy was already awake and sitting nearby, ready for the moment her mistress awoke.
“How are you feeling this morning, Miss?”
Georgianna sat up and stretched slightly before replying with some surprise, “I actually feel perfectly well.”
“Everyone will be happy to hear it,” Lucy remarked, looking relieved herself that her beloved mistress was doing better.
“Is everyone else awake? Is Ambrose here?”
“Yes, and yes. I believe they are all in the main dining room.”
“Then, I must let them know how I am!” she replied, as she hastily got out of bed and encouraged her lady’s maid to dress her quickly, so she could set their minds at ease.
Very soon, Georgiana was ready and entering the dining room, where breakfast was already being served to the others. All three almost instantly rose to their feet upon seeing her, eager to get a closer look at her and to ask how she was feeling.
Adelaide was the first to reach her, placing a hand on the cheek of her niece, so she could closely examine her face. “You look much better this morning. How do you feel?”
“I feel just as well as I look,” she replied, as she took Adelaide’s hand in hers, pulling it away from her cheek but not releasing it.
“Good, good,” her uncle replied, his tone showing the relief they all so obviously felt. “We were nearly finished with breakfast. Do you feel up to joining us?”
“Yes, but don’t feel the need to wait for me if you are already finished,” she told them as they made their way back to the table.
“Nonsense,” her uncle replied.
“There was something I wanted to ask you,” Adelaide informed her as they all took their seats. “If you are up for the exertion, perhaps we could take a break from preparing for the garden party and go out instead. There is a newly opened perfumier in Bond Street. We could sit there and have them show us what they have.”
“Capital idea,” Georgiana replied as she began to eat. “If nothing else, it should give me a topic of conversation at the soiree later.”
“Yes, it will!” Adelaide replied. “I have just a few things to do before we can go.”
Georgiana nodded, the food in her mouth preventing her from replying. After eating so little the night before, she found she was quite hungry, despite the stray thoughts of Walter lingering in the back of her mind.
The others at the table seemed to sense it, and conversation was kept to a minimum. Her aunt was the first to finish and leave, followed closely by her uncle.
“I will let you know when I am ready for us to leave,” Adelaide told her as she left, kissing the top of her head as she passed.
This left just Ambrose, who seemed determined to wait for her to finish. “Shall we take a walk in the garden while you wait for your aunt?” he asked as soon as he saw she had finished eating.
Feeling well enough that morning to tease him, Georgiana reigned herself in, as she read the anxiety in his expression and posture. Instead, she simply rose with a smile and took his arm, so he could lead her out.
Squeezing her hand on his arm, he sent her a smile as a show of gratitude for agreeing to walk with him. “How are you this morning, truly?”
“I feel fine, Ambrose, really I do,” she replied. “Perhaps not as well as I feel in the country with nothing to worry me, but well enough, considering.”
“I would really rather you did not attend tonight. I would happily cancel as well and spend the evening here keeping you company,” he volunteered.
She smiled even as she shook her head. “That simply won’t do. I am here to stop all the gossip about me, in part, and, if after one ball, I disappear again, it may undo any progress I made last night. That is something I won’t allow, especially not after fainting for it.”
Her attempt at playfulness was entirely lost on her friend. “Surely you are allowed to decline at least a few events after … after seeing Lord Bartlett again. I know how hard that must have been for you. Even coming to London, before you thought you would see him again, the thought was a strain on you.”
“Yes … yes, it really was,” she replied, as her playfulness of a moment ago fled from her. “And it was even worse when he spoke to me…”
Ambrose startled and stiffened at that. “He spoke to you? When did that happen?”
Georgiana sighed sadly. “It was when you stepped away to get us refreshments. It wasn’t anything more than a moment, and then he was gone.”
“And what did he say?” Ambrose asked earnestly.
Her face puckered into a frown of confusion at this remembrance. “He … he called me Mrs. Rowley. It made no sense … I would have asked him why he called me that, but he left just as soon as he said it.”
She was so consumed with the conundrum, she didn’t notice at first that Ambrose had been silent for a while. Glancing up at him, he seemed to be especially disturbed by something.
Seeing her looking at him, Ambrose replied, “I wonder why he assumed we are married. He is aware we are childhood friends, is he not?”
She nodded emphatically, and then shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t have the foggiest idea what could have made him think it. I spoke of you fairly often, from what I can recall, and I know you met each other during the season…”
Ambrose still seemed troubled by it, finally saying, “Perhaps he is trying to goad you into talking to him? Or perhaps it is something else. Who knows? But I think it would be best not to dwell on it any longer.”
“I suppose you’re right…”
“Trust me on this,” he told her kindly. “What good could possibly come of it anyway?”
“You have a point,” she reluctantly agreed.
“One thing I am curious to know is—”
“Miss Georgiana!” Lucy called, interrupting whatever Ambrose had been about to say.
“Oh, excuse me, Ambrose,” Georgiana quickly turned and went back to the house. “Yes? What is it, Lucy?”
“The countess is ready to leave for town, Miss Georgiana,” Lucy informed her, a light wrap in her hand to put on her mistress before she could leave.
“Perhaps I could come with you and your aunt?” Ambrose, who had followed her to the house, suggested.
“Thank you, Lucy,” she replied as she let Lucy put the wrap on her. “And, yes, I would love it if you would come along, if it will not be too dull for you. After all, I don’t see what could be of interest to you in a perfumery.”