“Not at all,” the butler replied, the barest hint of a smile cracking through his somber mien. “I speak of the ladies. If I may be so bold as to offer my observation, they seemed rather tired when they returned this afternoon. Miss Bridgerton especially.”
“I’m afraid my mother has been working her to the bone,” George said with a half-smile.
“Just so, my lord. Lady Manston is never as happy as when she has a young lady to marry off.”
George froze, then covered his lapse by devoting an inordinate amount of attention to the removal of his gloves. “That would seem somewhat ambitious, given that Miss Bridgerton does not plan to remain in town for the Season.”
Temperley cleared his throat. “A great many parcels have arrived.”
Which was his way of saying that every item required for a young lady to successfully navigate the London marriage mart had been purchased and delivered.
“I’m sure Miss Bridgerton will meet with every success,” George said evenly.
“She is a very lively young lady,” Temperley agreed.
George smiled tightly as he took his leave. It was difficult to imagine how Temperley had come to the conclusion that Billie was lively. The few times George had crossed her path at Manston House she had been uncharacteristically subdued.
He supposed he should have made more of an effort, taken her out for an ice or some such, but he’d been too busy hunting down information at the War Office. It felt so bloody good to do something for a change, even if the results were disappointing.
He took a step toward the stairs, then paused and turned back. Temperley had not moved.
“I always thought my mother hoped for a match between Miss Bridgerton and Edward,” George said casually.
“She has not seen fit to confide in me,” Temperley said.
“No, of course not,” George said. He gave his head a little shake. How the mighty had fallen. He’d been reduced to dangling for gossip from the butler. “Good night, Temperley.”
He made it to the stairs, his foot perched on the first step, when the butler called out, “They do speak of him.”
George turned around.
Temperley cleared his throat. “I do not think it a breach of confidence to tell you that they speak of him at breakfast.”
“No,” George said. “Not at all.”
There was a long beat of silence.
“We are keeping Master Edward in our prayers,” Temperley finally said. “We all miss him.”
It was true. Although what did it say about George that he missed Edward more now that he was missing than he ever had when he’d merely been an ocean away?
He walked slowly up the stairs. Manston House was much smaller than Crake, with all eight bedchambers clustered on one floor. Billie had been put in the second-best guest bedroom, which George thought was ludicrous, but his mother always insisted upon keeping the best guest bedroom free. You never know who might unexpectedly visit, she always said.
Has the King dropped by, he always parried. This generally earned him a scowl. And a smile. His mother was a good sport that way, even if the best room had gone empty these past twenty years.
He paused in the middle of the hall, not quite in front of Billie’s door but closer to it than any other room. There was just enough of a crack under the door to show a faint flicker of candlelight. He wondered what she was doing in there. It really was much too early to go to sleep.
He missed her.
It came to him in a startling flash. He missed her. He was here, in the same house, sleeping just three doors down, and he missed her.
It was his own fault. He knew he’d been avoiding her. But what was he to do? He had kissed Billie, kissed her until he was nearly past the edge of reason, and now he was expected to make polite conversation with her at the breakfast table? In front of his mother?
George would never be as sophisticated as that.
He ought to marry her. He rather thought he’d like to, as mad as that might have seemed just a month earlier. He’d been quite warming to the idea back at Crake. Billie had said “you don’t have to marry me,” and all he could think was —
But I could.
He’d had just a moment with the idea. No time to think or analyze, only time to feel.
And it had felt lovely. Warm.
Like springtime.
But then his mother had arrived on the scene and started going on about how adorable Billie and Edward were together and what a perfect match they made and he couldn’t remember what else but it was nauseatingly sweet and according to Temperley went very well over breakfast with toast and orange marmalade.
Toast and marmalade. He shook his head. He was an idiot.
And he had fallen in love with Billie Bridgerton.
There it was. Plain as day. He almost laughed. He would have laughed, if the joke weren’t on him.
If he’d fallen in love with someone else – someone new, whose presence did not fill such a wealth of his memories – would it have been so clear? With Billie the emotion was such an about-face, such a complete departure from a lifetime of comparing her to a pebble in his shoe. He couldn’t help but see it, shining in his mind like bright starry promise.
Was she in love with Edward? Maybe. His mother seemed to think so. She had not said as much, of course, but his mother had a remarkable talent for making sure her opinions were precisely known without ever actually stating them explicitly.
Still, it had been enough to render him insanely jealous.
In love with Billie. It was just the maddest thing.
He let out a long, pent-up breath and started walking again toward his room. He had to pass by her door, past that tantalizing flicker of light. He slowed, because he couldn’t not.