The Betting Season (A Regency Season Book) by Jerrica Knight-Catania, Catherine Gayle, Ava Stone, Jane Charles Page B

occupied while he was alive. The five Bexley-Smythe ladies sat there, with their varying shades of blonde hair and the same chocolate-brown eyes, like five versions of the same woman, all in different sizes. It brought him a sense of comfort…the idea that, while so much with the world could be so wrong, at least he knew that some things would never change.
    Once they were all situated, the marchioness returned her attention to Cedric as she poured and distributed the tea. “And to what do we owe this honor, Lord Montague? I’d not expected to see you before the Sutherland ball this evening.”
    “ Nor did I,” he replied pensively. For a bit more time, he selected a biscuit off the tea tray and chewed on it. “But I found myself with nothing to do and no one to see on this lovely afternoon, and so I thought I’d drop in on my favorite ladies in all of London.”
    Flattery had always served him well. Surely today would be no different.
    Lady Stalbridge tittered graciously while Freddie, Mattie, and Edie all gave him small smiles behind their becoming blushes.
    Georgie was not so easily satisfied, though. She narrowed her eyes and lifted a brow in his direction, and the soft rose muslin of her afternoon gown rustled as she shifted in her seat. “Nothing to do and no one to see? Really, Monty, you’re a peer. And one of the most eligible bachelors in Town. I don’t believe you for a second.” Her frown was deep enough to cut him to the core.
    Instead, he laughed. “The most eligible bachelor in Town? Hardly.”
    “ Of course you are,” she shot back. “You’re an earl, and one of only nine who are also unmarried and under the age of fifty. There are a handful of peers of other ranks who would fit that description as well, but how many of you also have all of your teeth and haven’t squandered your fortunes?” Georgie leveled him with a stare, but didn’t pause long enough for anyone to answer her question save herself. “A very few, if one should ask me.”
    “ And we all know that everyone ought to ask Georgie for everything,” Mattie put in, barely stopping her smirk. “After all, she has committed to memory everything that has ever passed her eyes.”
    “ Not to mention a few bits that never did as much,” Frankie added.
    Georgie’s face flushed to a fiery hue, but she held her tongue. A small pit of pride welled up inside Cedric at the sight. Not too long ago, Georgie would have immediately spouted off some retort or another to her sister, further fueling the flames. Perhaps she was ready to face the London Season. Perhaps she was no longer the little girl who was so desperate to prove her value through her vast and prodigious knowledge.
    Still, she was very young, and a bit naïve, and far too impressionable for her own good. The Season, she might be prepared to face; Lord Haworth and his desire for retribution against her brother, however…Cedric wasn’t so certain on that score.
    He cleared his throat, drawing all of their attention onto himself and away from Georgie’s discomfort. “Most eligible bachelor or not, what could be more pressing for me to do in Town than to make certain my favorite ladies have arrived intact?” Especially when Bridge hadn’t bothered to escort them.
    That final sentiment hung heavily in the air between them, with no one needing to say it aloud, but all of them surely thinking it.
    Finally, Lady Stalbridge smiled warmly across at him and then refilled his teacup. “You know you’re always welcome in our home.”
    As she passed it over to him, she took his hand briefly in her own and squeezed, and a wealth of compassion passed through her eyes to him. Mattie, Freddie, and Edie each replicated her expression shyly, but when Cedric passed his gaze onto Georgie, he was left perplexed.
    Her eyes were pinched together against her nose and she pressed her lips into a thin line, with a slight crook on the left side. He couldn’t remember a time when she’d looked