He took my hand and started to lead me up the stairs. I floated behind him, half in a dream. The bedroom was bathed in a glorious rosy sunset and the waters of the Thames below sparkled like magic. Swans were swimming past, their white feathers tinged with pink.

“This is heavenly,” I said again.

“I promise you it will be even more heavenly,” he said and started kissing me again. Somehow we seemed to be sitting on the bed. But that was when the little alarm bells started going off in my head. I hardly knew him, after all. And it was just possible that he had spent last night with Belinda. Was that what I wanted for myself—a man who flitted from girl to girl, from one encounter to the next? And another thought alarmed me even more. Was I following in my mother’s footsteps? Would I be starting down that long road that she took, moving from one man to the next with no home, no stability?

I sat up and took hold of Darcy’s hands. “No, Darcy. I’m not ready for this,” I said. “I’m not another Belinda.”

“But I promise you’d like it,” he said. The way he was looking at me almost melted my resolve again. I rather thought I might like it myself.

“I’m sure I would, but I’d regret it afterward. And with all that’s going on in my life right now, this would not be the right time. Besides, I want to wait for a man who really loves me.”

“How do you know I don’t love you?”

“Today, maybe, but can you guarantee tomorrow?”

“Oh, come on, Georgie. Let go of that awful royal training. Life’s for having fun. And who knows how it might turn out.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I should never have led you on. You did promise to behave like a gentleman.”

“As for that”—he had a such wicked grin—“your relative King Edward was a perfect gentleman but by God he bedded half the females in his kingdom.”

He took a look at my face and stood up with a sigh. “All right, then. Come on. I’ll call a cab to take you home.”

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Belinda Warburton-Stoke’s sofa yet again
Monday, May 2, 1932