was in it and on her way, her camera in her lap, before she could think of the proper protest.
Ten minutes later, it sank in that Mr. Martin actually intended to pay her for her work. And she knew exactly what she would do with that paycheck
Chapter 7
"Mr. Harmon, I am quite willing to pay for your services. I'm not asking you to bill my father if you think he won't be pleased. This is very important to me." Georgina jerked her elbow from the man who was steering her out of the office. She was growing extremely tired of men leading her about like a pet dog.
"Now, Miss Hanover, I'll be happy to look up those deeds if your daddy wants me to, but it's not something you need be worrying your pretty head over. I hear there's to be a wedding soon. You need to be picking out a nice gown and writing invitations. You and Peter will make a lovely couple."
She had been irritated before, seriously annoyed upon occasion, but never had Georgina felt so overwhelmingly furious in all her entire life as she was now. She wanted to box the man's ears, grab his black whiskers and tug with both hands, rip them right off his smug face, and then she wished she could lift her leg as high as Mr. Martin had and kick the lawyer where it hurts.
Instead, she gave him her best vapid smile, waved her fingers in farewell, and sauntered out of the office as if she hadn't a care in the world.
And then she stalked straight over to the courthouse.
She was damned if she would let any more men stand in her way. She would find out who owned those houses, and she meant to give him a piece of her mind. And if he didn't listen to reason, she had every intention of revealing the scandal to every woman she knew until his name was black as tar all over society. She didn't know where she would go from there, but she would think of something. There must be laws of some sort. If there weren't, then somebody ought to make them. The mayor could help her with that. Her mother and the mayor's wife were good friends.
Having learned her lesson, Georgina smiled beguilingly at the clerk behind the counter labeled deeds. "I want to surprise my fiancé. Could you help me? I need to know how to look up the owner of a piece of property."
By the time Daniel arrived five minutes later, Georgina was up to her elbows in crumbling old books. Dust smudged her nose and stained her gloves and coated her elegant gown, but she was smiling victoriously as she ran her finger down a list of addresses.
Daniel glanced over her shoulder to see just the information he had come in search of, and it was just as useless as he had suspected it would be. But he wouldn't spoil her triumph by letting her know that.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded. "I told you I didn't need your services."
Undaunted, Georgina stuck her tongue out at him and slammed the book closed. "Go fly a kite, Mr. Martin. I've better things to do than work with you."
Even coated in dust she smelled like lilies, and she rustled softly as she stood up right in front of him. There should be music so he could dance her around the cramped little floor. It was the only excuse Daniel could think of to grab her in his arms. Of course, what he ought to do when he grabbed her was to shake some sense into her.
"And just how do you propose to find out who owns ABC Rentals, Inc.?" Jamming his hands in his pockets, he blocked her exit.
Her lips tilted mischievously. "The same way I persuaded the clerk to tell me how to find the addresses. I bet I find out faster than you."
He didn't like the look in her eye. And he didn't like the look in the clerk's eye as he watched them. Daniel knew a possessive look when he saw one, and he knew what put it into a man's head to be possessive of a woman. He scowled. "And what do you propose to do with the information if you manage to get it? Start your own newspaper?"
"Wouldn't you just like to know?" Lifting her skirts, Georgina inched past him.
Daniel hurried after her. "Look, Georgina, you don't know what you're getting into.