She opened her mouth to inform him that she had not just suspected, she had been sure of it, and then closed it again. The less he knew about her plan, the better. ‘You have no idea what I meant to do,’ she said with a contrary toss of her head.
‘Perhaps not. But I know what you have accomplished,’ he said, grinning in triumph. ‘By morning, I shall see that all of London knows what you have done here. And that includes my cousin and your father.’
What all of London thought of her did not matter, nor did she care about her stepmother. But she could not bear it if her father heard of this incident. It might kill what little feeling he still had for her. ‘What would it gain you to do such a terrible thing?’
‘I will have no reason to, if you do as your family wishes and accept my offer of marriage. Once the announcement is in The Times, we will never speak of this again.’
‘That will not be possible.’ Mr Challenger had been so quiet during their interchange that his interruption caused them both to jump.
Nash turned to him. ‘The matter is between the lady and myself, Challenger. Your opinion is not required.’
‘On the contrary.’ The other man smiled confidently and placed himself squarely between her and Sir Nash. ‘You are operating under several misapprehensions. The first is Miss Knight’s reason for attending the club tonight.’
At the dramatic pause that followed this, even Georgiana leaned in, eager to hear what was to come next.
‘Enlighten us,’ Nash said with a cold glare.
‘She was not here to barter her innocence to a stranger. She sold it to me.’ Then he turned to her with a smile that would melt the reservations of the most frigid virgin and pulled her into his arms, toying with a lock of her hair. ‘I told you it was unwise for us to play such games at Vitium et Virtus. As tantalising as I find this little trick you pulled tonight, it calls too much attention to our relationship.’
‘Your relationship.’ Sir Nash sounded as if he could not decide whether to be sceptical or annoyed. But George was far too preoccupied with the feeling of being pressed firmly into the body of Frederick Challenger to care what Sir Nash thought about it.
Mr Challenger broke the lustful gaze he had been giving her to frown at Sir Nash. ‘Our betrothal is, as yet, a secret from her family. But that makes our bond no less permanent.’
‘You?’ If Sir Nash’s response was incredulous, he was no more surprised than George herself.
‘Can you think of a better explanation for Miss Knight’s presence here?’ Though Mr Challenger delivered the question with a tone of dry sarcasm, it was far more likely that he was thinking the same thing to himself.
‘Well...’ Nash looked from one to the other of them, obviously not convinced.
‘It is not as if she came here to surprise you,’ Challenger said, dismissing her actual plan as impossible. And now that it had gone horribly wrong, it did seem ridiculous. But as long as her mistake did not end up forcing her into the arms of Nash Bowles, it would be an embarrassing success.
She gave not a word to confirm or deny. Instead she sighed and leaned into Mr Challenger’s body, nestling there as if it were the most natural thing in the world to be held by a virtual stranger. And it did feel rather nice. His embrace was neither too tight nor too loose and the breath that was ruffling her hair was pleasant.
Perhaps she had needed his protection. At the sight of them together, Sir Nash seemed to swell in his indignation like some disgusting sea creature. ‘You are playing a dangerous and foolhardy game, Miss Knight, if you think to partner with this man instead of me. Do you not know the reputation of the Challengers? Surely your father does not wish you to marry into such a rakehell family. And this man is the worst of the lot. Just look at where he is.’
‘He is in the same place as you,’ Georgiana pointed out quietly. ‘I see no difference.’
‘There is one and it is significant,’ Nash shot back. ‘I am but a patron here, but Frederick Challenger is one of the owners. He is the master of the revels tonight. If you do not wish to give yourself into the hands of a despoiler of innocents, then avoid him at all costs. There can be no greater one than he.’
‘Unlike some men, I do not take what is not freely given.’ The look he gave Nash told Georgiana quite clearly that, even amongst unrepentant sinners, there were some lines that could not be crossed.
‘Georgiana.’ Nash turned to her now, holding out a hand as if he could coax her back to his side. But the benign smile that accompanied the gesture was followed by a brief, downward gaze to stare at her body.
It was then that she remembered her state of undress and the fact that the original plan had not included removing her mask. This time, she made no effort to hide her shudder at his gaze.
Without waiting for a request, Mr Challenger stepped away from her and seized a cloth from a nearby table, tossing it about her shoulders, hiding her from view. Then with a manner as dire as death, he pointed a finger at Sir Nash. ‘In the future, you will refer to the woman at my side as Miss Knight. At least until such time as she does me the honour of becoming Mrs Challenger. Then, you will not speak to her at all.’
‘That day will never come,’ Nash said, almost shaking with rage. ‘I will talk to my cousin over this. We had an understanding.’
‘You do that,’ Mr Challenger said. ‘But one thing that you will not do is remain in this club a moment more. Collect your hat and be on your way, or I will have Snyder help you to the door.’ This was followed with the sort of cold, satisfied smile that assured everyone near that this was less a request than a threat.
‘This is not the end, Challenger. This is not the end.’ But it looked final enough to Georgiana. Sir Nash was backing towards the door as if afraid to take his eyes from the man next to her. Then, with a swish of the black cape that he wore, he was gone.
And once again, she was alone with Mr Frederick Challenger.
When he was sure Sir Nash was gone, he released his hold on her and his warm expression returned to disapproval. ‘Well?’
‘Thank you for making him go away,’ she said, her nerve failing her in the face of such a large, angry man.
‘Do not thank me. I did not do it for you,’ he said. ‘I cannot abide that fellow. He cannot seem to manage a visit here without doing something so foul that I have to turn him out. If you had a jot of sense you would not have come here, to risk falling into his clutches.’
In the face of this fresh condemnation, she felt as young and foolish as her stepmother thought her to be. Then, she remembered that Mr Challenger had spent the whole of their limited acquaintance thinking such things about her, with no basis in fact. ‘My behaviour was the result of desperation,’ she said firmly, looking him in the eye. ‘My father and stepmother are all but forcing me to marry Sir Nash and I find him repellent. I thought if there was some way I could prove to them how awful he was...’
‘So you came here to find him,’ Challenger said. ‘And just what did you mean to do once you had?’
She could not reveal the whole of her plan without announcing Ben’s part in it. If he lost his position because of her foolishness, how could she forgive herself? ‘I thought to scream for help,’ she said, wondering if it would have worked. ‘When someone came to my rescue, I would demand that he be a witness against Sir Nash to my father.’
‘Or you could have drawn a crowd and not a rescuer. You could have been ravished for sport by the very man you thought to entrap, while the worst of the ton looked on and laughed.’ His voice