Page 3 of The Cornish Lyon

Georgiana looked down at her hands, swallowed hard, then, with considerable trepidation, raised her eyes to meet her friend’s. “I…I found it had become necessary to admit to her that I am with child.”

Fanny’s eyes few wider still and her mouth dropped open. She probably hadn’t been expecting such a revelation. Well, almost certainly not. “No…” she gasped, and closed her mouth. Her eyes, however, remained stretched wide. “How…?”

Georgiana frowned. “How do you think? The same way everyone gets like that.”

“But who…?”

Georgiana could see her friend mentally flicking through all the young men she knew, which, in Georgiana’s case, was not many. Almost none, as her aunt had kept her shut up like a novice nun, a fact Fanny had pointed out on many occasions.

“But your aunt never lets you out of her sight…”

Georgiana huffed in impatience. “Well, I didn’t get like that in front of her, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Fanny managed a nervous titter. “I wasn’t, although it’s an amusing thought at what her expression might have been like. But, I have to ask, however did you and whoever it was manage to find the opportunity?” She paused. “And where is he now, this cad who deflowered you and seems to have vanished away rather than face up to his obligations? Surely, he should have married you?”

Georgiana sighed. “It was the grandson of one my aunt’s oldest friends—Lieutenant Alexander Crichton, and he can’t face up to his obligations because he’s dead.”

Fanny’s eyes, if it were possible, grew even wider. Any more and they’d come popping out of her head. “Dead? How?”

Georgiana swallowed, for even though two months had passed since she’d heard of his passing, it still hurt, and probably always would. Only now the hurt was much overshadowed by the dilemma she had so recently found herself in. A dilemma that was going to be impossible to hide before too long.

“He was serving on the ship The Sea Horse, carrying troops across to Cork, at the end of January, shortly after we met. There was a storm. His ship sank, and most of those on board were lost.” She had to dig her nails into the palms of her hands to keep her voice steady, although this was only partly due to grief and predominantly due to a mixture of anger and anxiety. “His body has never been found.”

“Oh.” Fanny’s face fell. “I saw him once or twice at balls. He was so handsome and dashing in his uniform, as are all our gallant soldiers and sailors.” She frowned. “But how did you contrive to meet him when your aunt wouldn’t allow you to go to balls? And become so…afflicted?”

Another sigh squeezed itself out of Georgiana as she tried to conjure up the face she thought she’d fallen for so deeply two months ago and failed. All she could see now was a vague outline and his smart naval uniform. “I thought him most handsome too.” Only now she couldn’t be so sure. Their acquaintance, such as it was, had been so short.

“I guessed that, or you wouldn’t be in the condition you are now.” Fanny paused. “How did you get like this? I mean, I know how, obviously, but when did it happen and under what circumstances? I’m curious to know how you escaped your guard dog of an aunt long enough to, er…?”

Georgiana sighed. “I encountered him first at a party my aunt threw, to which she invited only select friends. One of them brought her grandson with her, home on leave from the navy. We met and immediately realized we were in love.” One of the few social events her aunt had deemed suitable. It had been Georgiana’s one and only sortie into society. A rather fateful one.

Fanny pulled a wry face. “Did it happen at the party?”

Georgiana shook her head. “No. My aunt was taken ill with what she thought was the influenza and had to take to her bed. She is not a good patient and always thinks she’s dying when it’s nothing but a slight cold. Alexander took advantage of this to call on me.” Her cheeks heated. “Encouraged by the note I sent him informing him of my aunt’s illness. We, er, we went into the garden where there’s a secluded summerhouse.”

“But how did your aunt not notice your absence despite being confined to bed? She’s like a bloodhound crossed with an eagle and knows everything that goes on in her house.” Fanny chuckled. “You must be a very sneaky one.”

Georgiana found her cheeks were heating. “We, er, we weren’t very long.” In fact, Alexander had been so quick she’d been not only disappointed but also puzzled as to why people thought the act so pleasurable. But she wasn’t about to share that bit of information with Fanny, who, she assumed, had never done the deed herself.

Fanny leaned closer still. “Why did you let him?” Like all young ladies attending social events, both of them had been told time and time again, by school mistresses, governesses and female relatives, never to allow any young gentleman to take liberties with them. Not that the “liberties” had ever been fully explained, but young ladies always had a way of finding out exactly what was meant by them, especially ones who had attended school. Rumors were rife at school about young ladies who had succumbed to these “liberties” and paid the price.

Indeed. In view of all those warnings and cautionary tales, why had she let him? She sought for viable reasons to explain what she now saw as an act of foolhardy stupidity. “Because he was so handsome, I suppose. Because he said he’d fallen in love with me and would love me forever, and no one has said that to me since Papa died. And because he swore that we should be married on his return from Cork, once I came of age. He promised me so.” Which, now she said it aloud, made her sound like a complete idiot. In fact, she could not deny that she was just that. She’d done exactly what she’d been warned not to do. She’d allowed a young man to persuade her into succumbing to him. Of course, his hot kisses in the summerhouse, not to mention his hands on her breasts and elsewhere, had done a lot of the persuading. She’d been a weak fool, carried away by the stirrings of her own body, and look what had happened. Punishment for her stupidity had been a while in coming, but it was here now with a vengeance.

“What was it like?” Fanny’s voice had taken on pure salacious curiosity now. She’d obviously missed spotting the remorse Georgiana was feeling.

Should she tell the truth or lie? Honesty won over. “Not what I was expecting.”

Fanny leaned forward, her expression betraying her eagerness for more details, but at that moment they were interrupted by the arrival of the tea. Cook had included cucumber sandwiches as well as cakes, so there was quite a spread. Not having eaten anything at midday, Georgiana found her mouth was watering despite the way her heart was pounding.

She waved a dismissive hand at Ellis. “You may leave us. I shall pour.” Her voice had only the slightest of tremors, but it provoked a curious look from the old retainer.

Once he’d gone, she poured two cups of tea in silence and offered one to her friend.

Fanny took it but didn’t even take a sip. “You were about to tell me what it was like.” Like a terrier with a rat, Fanny was not about to give up her quest.

Georgiana didn’t bother to pick up her own cup. “You want the truth?”

Fanny nodded.