The Trouble with Honor by Julia London

Author:Julia London
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781460327098
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-02-24T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

LONGMEADOW WAS AS impressive as George had heard, perhaps even more so. The Beckington butler led him and Finnegan down wide, carpeted corridors that turned into more wide, carpeted corridors, each one lined with paintings and portraits that George did not have time to study, artful little consoles that held Ming vases and hothouse flowers, and all of it illuminated by sunlit windows whose velvet drapes had been tied back with thick, gold silk cords.

The guest room George would inhabit was large, with a four-poster canopied bed and a view of the forest. As he stood in the middle of the room, looking up at a ceiling that had been painted with ropes and Grecian urns, he could certainly understand that Honor would not want to lose these surroundings. He really didn’t know how exactly marriages were arranged among the very privileged, but from what he did know, he believed it was doubtful that she would marry into such opulence as this, only because there were so few families that enjoyed such wealth.

He was beginning to feel a bit foolish; he’d come here after a long internal debate. He’d told himself that he was helping Honor Cabot. His body had said otherwise. His body, his heart had said that he had to see her again. But toward what end? That was the murky mystery brewing in him.

Finnegan seemed perfectly at ease, putting George’s things away as George stood by, uncomfortable in his uselessness. He’d not wanted Finnegan to come, but Finnegan had explained to Easton that if he arrived without a manservant or valet, he’d appear out of place.

“I am out of place,” George had pointed out.

“Only if you believe yourself to be,” Finnegan had said curtly, and had begun to fill a valise, his jaw set with determination. George knew better than to argue with the man when he was like that, and now here he was, brushing down George’s formal dinner coat. “I suggest you have a walkabout,” Finnegan said without looking up from his work. “You might prepare yourself for croquet. Perhaps it will improve your disposition and put you into a proper frame of mind for society here.” He glanced up at George. “If I may, sir, it is vastly different than the society in which you typically associate.”

George couldn’t help but grin. “Do you know, Finnegan, that there are days I have the strongest urge to put my fist squarely in your comely face?”

“That would not become a gentleman,” Finnegan said, and went about his business.

George couldn’t watch Finnegan any longer; he ran his fingers through his hair, straightened his neckcloth and went out. He walked out into the gardens and paused to admire the fine specimens of roses rivaled only by those he’d seen around St. James.

He heard the sound of feminine laughter and was unthinkingly drawn to it, making his way through the maze of roses to the gate that led to a large expanse of manicured lawn. Beyond the vast lawn, he could see a lake shimmering in the sunlight, bounded by forest on two sides.

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