Then again, James would never have agreed to try to be inconspicuous if Jack hadn’t assured him she refused to fall in love during her first Season and certainly wouldn’t be marrying anyone for at least a year. Georgina recalled that Jack’s cousin Judy had shared those intentions, but they all knew how that had turned out, with Judy’s wedding occurring this week. But Georgina wasn’t about to remind her husband that well-laid plans, particularly those involving the heart, could go awry.

To ease her husband’s annoyance at his lack of success in sending every one of Jack’s beaus running for the hills, Georgina remarked, “She doesn’t favor any of them, you know.”

That got a brilliant smile out of James, which earned him a glare and the complaint “Why are you so happy about that? The purpose of this Season is for her to meet and fall in love with a fine young man and get married. Instead, she wants to be like you. She’d be a rake if she could. She’d be a pirate if she could. She’s taken every one of the unladylike things you’ve taught her quite to heart. I should have drawn the line at swords and pistols. But fisticuffs? You wisely didn’t mention that, and I wouldn’t even have known if she didn’t offer to give me a demonstration.”

“Where exactly is the harm? She’s a Malory and my daughter. I want her to be able to protect herself with whatever is available to her, if I’m not there to do the protecting. And from what little Jack has told us about the time she spent on her abductor’s ship, she did put her pugilist skills to good use in venting her anger on the ship’s captain and keeping him from taking unfair advantage of her. You can’t imagine how much I’m looking forward to getting my hands on that man m’self.”

“Still, you should have refused. It was so utterly inappropriate to teach Jack those skills. They didn’t help her defend herself when someone was intent on abducting her. Instead they made her think she could fight those men herself after the fact, when she was already captured—which could have gotten her more hurt than she was.”

When Georgina saw the thunderous expression appear on James’s face, she knew it wasn’t directed at her, but due to the impotent rage he’d felt at having been as helpless as Jacqueline had been to hurt the men responsible, so Georgina quickly changed the subject. “Well, she’s breaking countless hearts, you know—just as you did. And enjoying every minute of it. You weren’t really that callous, were you?”

But he didn’t like hearing that, either, and sat forward. “I know for a fact she’s not the least bit callous. She’s honest to a fault. She’s not leading them on, George. She’s not giving false hope. She’s just having fun. Isn’t that a good part of what this bloody Season is about?”

Georgina rolled her eyes. “You know very well it’s a marriage mart. For her to attend all the balls and soirées is misleading when she doesn’t want to marry yet.”

“Shall we cancel the rest of the Season? Problem solved.”

“By all means. You can tell her.”

He chuckled. She snorted. They both knew there would be no canceling when Jack had so been looking forward to this Season—if not to landing a husband during it.

“Well, I know that you’re as relieved as I am at how quickly she’s put that ordeal behind her,” Georgina said.

“But has she really? When her anger returns every time it is mentioned? So does mine, if you haven’t noticed.”

“Then I should have put it this way—at least she hasn’t spent the last month since we got home crying in her bedroom and refusing to step foot out of it, Season or no Season.”

That got a laugh from him. “Our darling girl? Cry?”

“Any other girl her age—”

Georgina didn’t finish as Jacqueline suddenly stepped into the room, saying, “Help me decide.”

Georgina raised a brow at her daughter, hoping she hadn’t heard what she and James had just been discussing. Jack’s neutral expression suggested she hadn’t.

Jacqueline was still wearing a robe and nightgown even though it was already past noon, but then she had no reason to prepare to receive her many callers when they continued to be turned away at the door. It was a bold move on her part, but it didn’t discourage any of them. Nonetheless, she had decided early on to simply enjoy the entertainments, not to be the entertainment herself. But she was breaking so many hearts. Her parents, her whole family, knew she would. She was too pretty, their Jack. Georgina was beautiful, but Jack didn’t take after her mother at all. She was taller at five feet six inches, and while she was blond and green-eyed like her father, her features were uniquely her own. High cheekbones, stubborn chin and disposition, a pert nose, and lips much too lush, and at the moment long golden curls loose about her back and narrow shoulders.

As for Jacqueline’s request, she held a mask in each hand, one a full porcelain mask that would cover her entire face, the other an exotic white domino edged with feathers that was long enough to conceal her face nearly to her mouth.

“Another ball?” Georgina said. “When did the invitation for a masquerade arrive?”

Jack shrugged as she came forward, dropped the heavier mask on the table, and swiped a sausage from her mother’s plate. “Yesterday would be my guess since we were quite busy elsewhere all day. And don’t worry, this ball isn’t until next week, after the wedding.”

Watching Jacqueline devour the sausage, Georgina said, “You haven’t eaten yet?”

“Who has time to eat?”

“We do,” James said pointedly.

Jack grinned and sat down next to her mother, yelling behind her, “I’ll have what my mother is having if there’s any left!”

Georgina remarked, “I requested breakfast. You wouldn’t rather have the sole that was prepared for lunch today?”

“I’m heartily sick of fish. That’s all Bastard offered on—” Jacqueline’s lips snapped shut and her cheeks flushed with furious color.

Georgina and James exchanged a concerned glance, seeing again what they’d just been discussing. Jack’s brief stay with the kidnappers continued to remain far too touchy a subject, and Bastard was the name she’d given the captain of the ship that had whisked her away from Bridgeport.

She’d never learned his real name, hadn’t been given even a fake one, and hadn’t found out whom he worked for. All she knew about him was that he was Catherine Meyer’s lover, if that was even the real name of the woman who had lied her way onto The Maiden George to cross the Atlantic with them, pretending to be Andrássy Benedek’s stepsister. Nor was it true that Andrássy was distantly related to the Malorys as he’d claimed. The two scoundrels had told elaborate lies so they could rob the Malory women of all their jewels on that voyage and then kidnap Jack to boot once they arrived in Connecticut.