Rogue Grooms Read Free Page B

back. “Quite so, Elizabeth.” Georgina said. “Quite so.”

Chapter Three
    Georgina had been wrong about Alexander Kenton. He was not beautiful.
    He was otherworldly.
    Dry and clean, his hair was a light brown, tinged gold by the sun. Tiny lines radiated out from the corners of his eyes, which were vividly blue against the bronze of his skin, every time he laughed. His shoulders were very broad beneath his borrowed coat, and his bearing was quite poised and straight and correct. He must have been in the army, like her first husband, Jack.
    Georgina thought he looked like a Caravaggio painting.
    He was also a duke.
    A frown pulled at her brow at the thought. That was a bit problematic. Peers, especially dukes, seemed the very worst of lechers, always cornering her in dim corridors or dark garden bowers, always thinking she would be full of gratitude for their ham-handed attentions. Her trusty sharp-tipped hair ornaments had quickly disabused them all of such notions.
    She would have so hated to use one on this particular duke!
    But thus far there seemed no danger of that. Alexander Kenton was a very charming duke. He had taken the entire Lady Kate situation with such good humor, as no other man of her acquaintance would have done. He even fed the dog, now dry and clean and not a bit sorry for all the trouble she had caused, bits of his tea cakes and sandwiches. He conversed with Isabella quite as if she were grown-up. He laughed and joked, and did not once try to flirt with Georgina in any but the lightest and most respectful way.
    His two friends, Viscount Garrick and Mr. Marlow, were a bit sillier. They told horrifyingly bad jokes, and obviously thought themselves quite the wits for it. Occasionally, one or the other would cast her provocative glances. Or rather, they would simply roll their eyes and wiggle their eyebrows in what they obviously fancied passed as provocative ways.
    But Alexander; ah, now, he could easily prove far too attractive for her own good.
    “... Is that not so, Georgina?”
    Georgina’s attention snapped back to Elizabeth, from whence it had wandered into the clouds. “I beg your pardon?”
    Elizabeth’s gray eyes were slate dark with concern. “Are you quite all right, dear? You look flushed. Did you catch a chill by the river?”
    “Indeed not! I am quite well. It should be Lord Wayland we are concerned about catching chills.”
    Alexander laughed. “Not I, Mrs. Beaumont! I am healthy as a horse.”
    “Perhaps I should give you both a dose of castor oil,” Elizabeth mused.
    “No!” Georgina and Alexander both shouted.
    Lady Kate barked riotously, quite as if she also had been offered a dose.
    “You must forgive Elizabeth,” Georgina said. “She feels it her bounden duty to nurse and cosset everyone who comes into her sphere.”
    “Indeed I do not!” Elizabeth protested.
    “You must remain healthy for this evening, Wayland,” Freddie Marlow said. “You would not want to miss Lady Beaton’s ball.”
    “We are also attending the Beaton ball!” said Elizabeth.
    “It is predicted to be a dreadful crush,” Freddie answered, obviously delighted at the prospect.
    “It always is. It is simply a great pity that my husband is in the country this week and will have to miss it!”
    Georgina glanced at Alexander over the rim of her teacup. “Perhaps we shall see you there, then, Lord Wayland. That is, if you have not caught a chill.”
    He grinned at her. His smile was very wide and white against his tanned skin. “I could wish the same for you, Mrs. Beaumont. But perhaps you would allow me to escort you and Lady Elizabeth to the ball? In the absence of your husband, Lady Elizabeth.”
    Yes, yes, yes! Georgina’s mind shouted. Aloud she said, “How very kind of you! Have we not imposed on you quite enough for one day?”
    “Nonsense! I have not had so much fun since I returned to England. Please, do allow me to escort you.”
    Georgina exchanged a look with Elizabeth, and nodded.