"What you got here, honey? She sure enough looks like she could use some feeding up. You done brought her to the right place."
"Sukey, meet my wife, Georgina. Georgina, Sukey is the best cook this side of the Ohio, and she'd be the best cook on the other side, too, if her mama hadn't already claimed that title."
Sukey beamed. "My, my. Little Daniel done growed up and got himself a wife. Does my boy Ben know 'bout this?"
"I'm sending out the wires this morning. Is he in Texas or Natchez now?"
"He been sniffin' 'round a little girl down Natchez way, so I s'pect that's where he's at now. Those folks of yours likely to be there, too, now that it's summer. You'd best let them know what you gone and done or they'll be almighty hurt. Now you sit down here and let me whup you up a real meal."
She started toward the kitchen, but Daniel called her back. Gesturing with a modicum of embarrassment to Georgina, he asked, "Can you take Georgina back to wash up? I kind of dragged her away without giving her a chance to prepare."
Georgina sent him an incredulous look, but gladly took the excuse to hurry away. She just prayed that whatever served as a washroom in this place was clean.
When she returned sometime later, considerably relieved and in a tidier condition, she found Daniel already seated at a table mounded with just the kind of breakfast she had been dreaming of and topped off by cinnamon rolls so light they practically floated from the plate. As wedding breakfasts went, this was more than adequate.
Sighing with contentment as she sipped the steaming coffee, she ignored the covert look Daniel sent her, but the half smile that appeared a moment later caught her attention. She frowned and put down her fork filled with eggs.
"Don't look so smug, Daniel Martin or Mulloney or whoever you are. I'm still furious, and I'm going to find a way to get even."
"With whom? Me or Peter or the world?" He dug into his fried ham with fervor. "And what's the point? It's over and done, and we have work to do. There isn't time for plotting revenge."
Her fork lingered uncertainly in midair as she considered his complacency after the morning's events. But the mention of work kept her tongue from flapping loosely. Georgina regarded him with a measure of caution. "You'll let me work? Doing what?"
"Until I can figure out how to get your equipment back from your father, I guess I'll use you to do some of the interviewing. Both Mulloney and your father hire lots of women, and I think they'll talk to you easier than they will to me. I know word has got out that talking to us could cost them their jobs, but I have a plan for that. We need to turn Audrey and Janice to our side first, then we'll be rolling."
It didn't seem credible. Georgina had already seen the trouble she had caused and the resentment that resulted. She wasn't at all certain she would be welcome in that side of town ever again, and after the incident with those two bullies, she wasn't certain she wanted to go. She was beginning to think she would have done better staying in the part of town that she knew, digging through the courthouse records and going to dinner parties, instead of prying where she wasn't welcome.
Her doubts must have shown on her face. Daniel looked up from his feeding frenzy to scan her expression. "You're not backing out now, are you?"
"I don't seem to be very good at it," Georgina answered miserably. "I don't seem to be very good at much of anything."
Daniel grinned and the gray of his eyes practically sparkled. "I imagine there are one or two things you might be good at with practice if that kiss was any example, but I suppose we ought to reserve them until you've decided whether or not you want to be married. I'm looking forward to our wedding night."
Horrified, Georgina stared at him. "You said this was only temporary. You said we wouldn't really be man and wife!"
Daniel shrugged and popped a strawberry into her mouth. "We won't, not until you say so. But don't take too long making up your mind. It's hard being a faithful husband when there's no wife to be faithful to."
She accepted the warning for what it was and lost her appetite. She would either have to