Why Earls Fall in Love by Manda Collins Page B

arm in his younger cousin’s stead.
    “So be it,” he said, patting Georgie on the arm as if she were a favorite spaniel. “Show me these tombs, then, Lyd.”
    “How fickle the young men are these days,” Georgie said with a shake of her head as she watched the trio disappear back over the hill.
    “You don’t really mean to tell me that you are disappointed,” Con said with a roll of his eyes. “I might not have years of war experiences behind me, but I wasn’t born yesterday.”
    Allowing him to lead her around toward the back of the tower where the doorway and the stairs were located, Georgie gave what was suspiciously like a snort. “Hardly,” she said with mock disgust. “I am not an ancient, but I believe I have the good sense to avoid entanglements with men as young as that.”
    “Aha,” Con said, feeling more satisfaction at her pronouncement than he should, “then you admit to entanglements with men!”
    “Well, I will hardly become involved with entanglements with women,” she said calmly. When he laughed she stopped. “What is so funny about that?” she demanded. “It is only the truth.”
    But Con knew that now was not the time to explain just how entanglements between women might work, so he patted her on the hand and nodded his agreement. “You are perfectly correct. Forgive me. I simply thought of something that amused me.”
    By now they’d reached the doorway leading into the tower. On the ground around the base of the tower, blocks of stone lay in varying positions, as if they’d fallen from the top and simply stayed where they’d landed for the last several hundred years.
    “Shall we ascend?” Con asked, gesturing for Georgie to go first. From his position he had a nice view of her backside as she climbed up the narrow staircase. But soon enough it became too dark to see anything, no matter how much he’d wished to.
    “It is so dark,” she said from above him, and he could hear her hands pressing against the stone walls to ensure that she followed the right path.
    “You’re doing very well,” Con said, resisting the urge to press against her body that was so close in front of him. Not so much for licentious reasons but because he wanted to ensure her safety. “Do not let go of the walls.”
    “I won’t,” she assured him. “Without it, I do not think I’d be able to follow the path.”
    Finally a small beam of light shone over their heads and Georgina heaved a sigh of relief. “Finally,” she said, “I was afraid we’d never find the top of this tower.”
    By the time they’d walked a few steps farther they were in full sun. Stepping up and onto the parapet of the tower, Georgie gasped. The view of the surrounding countryside, including Bath and the river Avon, was extraordinary.
    “Breathtaking, isn’t it?” Con asked, stepping up beside her. “It’s been years since I’ve been up here, but it is just as overwhelming as when I first made the climb.”
    “It is difficult to believe that it’s all real,” she said, raising her hand to shade her eyes from the glare of the sun. “Bath and all its buildings look like a child’s miniature set.”
    “I think so too,” Con said with a grin. “It is hard to believe that you cannot simply reach out and pick up Bath Abbey with your hand.”
    “I wonder if I can see Lydia and Philip and James,” Georgie said, stepping forward a bit to look over the edge and at the ground below.
    But instead of Con’s cousins, she saw something that made her blood chill. It couldn’t be him. It simply couldn’t.
    “What is it?” Con asked, stepping up beside her.
    How could the man be so bloody perceptive? Georgie wondered with a sigh. “Nothing, my lord. I just thought I saw someone I knew.”
    Immediately he stilled. “Your husband again?” he demanded.
    “I’m sure it isn’t him,” she said, not bothering to deny it this time. “It’s likely some stranger who looks like—”
    Con’s voice cut across her