LITMIR.BIZ

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that lot of scoundrels.”

      “I wouldn’t. Not for the squeamish.” Charlie quirked an eyebrow.

      “I should also warn you to be prepared for rumors concerning Miss O’Rourke and me.”

      Charlie blinked, then shook his head. “You had me there for a minute. I almost thought you, of all people, had found the ‘one.’ Well, never mind. So you want society to think you’re courting? Is Miss O’Rourke going along with this?”

      “She will likely be quite distressed when she learns of it. But my requests that she stay at home and be protected have fallen on deaf ears. She intends to ask her own questions and meddle in Home Office business. Henley will be looking for a way to get at her. She is one of the last who could testify against him—that he drugged and kidnapped her.”

      “So you intend to hang on her every word? Discourage any other suitors? Make it impossible for her to locate Henley?”

      “Precisely.”

      “And if she sends you away?”

      “I shall stand fast.”

      “You know what society will say about this affair, do you not? That you are beyond smitten, and that the O’Rourke girl has made a jackanapes of you.”

      Jamie laughed. “Not to my face, they won’t.”

      “Ah,” Charlie said, “and this will work well into your usual scheme, will it not? In seasons to come, it will be whispered that your heart is broken and no marriage-minded chit should set her cap for you. Damn clever.”

      “My usual scheme?”

      “Your reputation in the ton, Jamie. Nary an ingenue nor a courtesan has held your attention long. ‘Tis just a matter of time before you move along to the next entertainment.”

      He forced a grin and a shrug. “You will not give me away? “

      “Never! Furthermore, I shall join you in your game. I do not intend to let you go about alone at night again. Whoever wants you dead will not have an easy time of it.”

      “Or Henley will get two Hunters for the price of one.”

      “I am so pleased that you let the gentlemen go off to their club after church,” Mama announced as they sat down to the table and shook her napkin out to lay it across her lap. “Now it is just me and all my girls. Well, the ones I have left.” She sniffled and touched her handkerchief to the corners of her eyes.

      Gina shot a quick glance at her sisters and noted that both Bella and Lilly did the same. By their tense expressions, she realized they all feared that Mama was winding up for a bout of hysteria.

      “But enough of that,” Mama continued, laying their fears to rest. “We all miss Cora dreadfully, but we must accept God’s will. I am simply grateful for the opportunity to have my little family all to myself. There are things we must discuss. Plans to form and decisions to be made.”

      “There is time for that, Mama,” Bella said as a maid served a platter of cold sliced meat.

      “Not much time at all, dear. Less than a fortnight. ‘Twould be sooner if I could arrange it.”

      Ten days, by Gina’s reckoning, counting this one. Yes, she was painfully aware of the ticking of the clock. Ten days to find Henley. Ten days to avenge Cora and reclaim her own future.

      “And we must look to the future. I will scarce be settled at home when I will have to come back here. March, will it not be, Bella?”

      “M-March?” Her sister colored a most interesting shade of fuchsia.

      “Oh, do not deny it,” their mother smirked. “I know my daughters. Your husband did not waste much time getting an heir on you. You shall have an early spring babe. And I know a girl wants her mother at such a time. Never fear, Bella. I shall be here for you.”

      Bella looked at Gina and Lilly for help, but as Bella did not deny their mother’s conclusion, there was nothing they could say.

      “And Lilly, you shall not be far behind, I think. From the look of that strapping husband of yours, I would not be surprised to welcome twins by summer.”

      “Mother, we have been married little more than a week!”

      “Aye, it does not take long. My girls will be no less fertile than I. And your husband looks no less virile than Bella’s. Boys, I’d warrant. A great pity your father will not be here to see it. He always wanted sons.”

      “Then perhaps you should stay rather than go and have to return so soon,” Bella offered. “Andrew has often said you are welcome to stay as long as you please.”

      “Aye, but we cannot leave our home in Belfast vacant so long. The servants will be stealing us blind. No, we must return as soon as may be, and Gina will have to stay there when I return in the spring. Someone must watch over the house.”

      Lilly raised her eyebrows and leaned forward as she spoke. “But you cannot leave Gina alone, Mama. A single woman …”

      “Faugh! Gina is a spinster now. Both older and younger sisters are married. No one is like to offer for her now. She may as well make herself useful.”

      Gina was astonished. It had never occurred to her that her own mother would consider her little better than an unpaid companion.

      “And she is scarred, besides,” Mama continued. She turned to look at Gina with a frown. “You were never clumsy before, child. Falling on the stairs and cutting yourself with a broken glass—why, I never heard of such a thing happening before to any of my girls. And now you must cover it whenever you go about in public. I am certain you would much rather not leave the house. Yes, you will be more comfortable at home. In Belfast.”

      Gina’s hand went to her throat as it always did at any mention of her scar. The story they’d told their mother about how it had happened was a bit flimsy, but she had believed it, nonetheless.

      “Mama!” Lilly protested. “Gina is in her prime, and the physician said the scar will fade with time.”

      Bella nodded. “Lady Sarah has said that Gina is a great success in society. Why, a few young men have asked after her. If you must return to Belfast, you should leave Gina here with us.”

      She was warmed by her sisters’ defense, though she doubted Bella’s veracity. Who would have asked after her? She’d only danced with a handful of young men.

      Mama shrugged. “What? Leave her with you? And no one to guide her? Why, Mr. Hunter and Mr. Farrell are hardly the sort to look after a young girl.”

      A young girl? Moments ago she’d been a spinster. Gina sighed as the simple truth dawned on her. Mama did not want to be alone. She did not want the last of her daughters to be out of reach. And Mama was likely to do anything she could to keep Gina by her side and at her beck and call.

      “Mama—” Lilly began.

      “Gina is coming home with me, and that is an end to it.” Mama waved one hand in dismissal of the subject.

      The remainder of lunch was punctuated with sighs and awkward spurts of bland conversation while Gina felt as if she might jump out of her skin. The future her mother had mapped out for her was never one she would have chosen. One, in fact, she found abhorrent and, in its own way, terrifying. But given her circumstances, and if she could not find the answers she sought, it would be the only course open to her.

      She wouldn’t give up yet, though. She still had ten days and she would make the most of them. Regardless of Mr. Renquist and the Home Office, she would just have to take matters into her own hands.

      Her mother excused herself, declaring that she was quite fatigued and needed a nap. The table fell silent until they heard a door close somewhere above them.

      “Gina, did you know what she planned?” Lilly asked.

      She shook

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