Page 29 of This Earl of Mine

“It’s his day off. He goes to spend it with his sister in Bloomsbury.”

“You shouldn’t be out here alone.”

Georgie tilted her blade. “I’m not exactly defenseless.”

His eyes narrowed dangerously in the dim light, and he suddenly looked far less like a gentleman of leisure and far more like the ruthless killer she’d thought him in Newgate.

“Yes, you are.”

Benedict took a deep, steadying breath and tried to banish the jolt of primitive possessiveness that had seizedhim when he’d stepped through the trees and discovered Georgie in the arms of another man.

A split second later, when he’d realized she was being assaulted, fury had overwhelmed his jealousy. He’d actually reached over his shoulder for his rifle, a move so instinctive he did it without conscious thought. He’d cursed when he realized he wasn’t carrying his Baker. He’d spent years with it never far from his hand; he felt naked without its familiar weight.

But since going around armed to the teeth was frowned upon in polite society, he’d had to settle for carrying a foppish swordstick. It could skewer Georgie’s lecherous cousin quite effectively, but Ben had been tempted to simply rip the bastard limb from limb instead. He would have been outraged at finding any woman being mistreated, but somehow the fact that it was Georgie, his woman, increased his fury tenfold. How dare that bastard touch her?

Her disheveled appearance only made him more furious. Her cousin’s assault had dislodged the combs from her hair—it spilled in haphazard disarray over her shoulders—and her fichu was ripped where it had been pulled from her bodice. Benedict cast a scathing, dismissive glance at the knife she still held in one small fist.

“That little thing might have been enough to scare your cousin, but it won’t deter anyone with more experience with a blade.”

His stomach clenched as he imagined her coming up against one of the murderous scum he regularly encountered in his line of work. Men like Hammond and Silas. Smugglers, cutthroats, murderers, thieves. They’d have gutted her like a fish and never even paused for breath.God.The thought of her coming up against one of those back-alley bastards was enough to make him want to retch.

She needed to be protected from all that ugliness. From that harsh, dirty portion of the world. She might have caught a glimpse of it in her business dealings, but she hadn’t seen humanity at its worst, as he had. She hadn’t seen the ferocity, the barbarism, the depths men desperate to survive were capable of. The terrifying ease with which a human life could be snuffed out. He wanted to lock her away in her ivory tower, somewhere safe and as lavishly appointed as her money could afford.

Her dismissive shrug only increased his irritation. Did she truly not know the danger she’d been in? Long years of warfare had shown him just how vicious and bestial a man could become. Murder and rape were daily occurrences in the backstreets of this city.

She wiped the back of her hand over her mouth. “Ugh. I can’t believe Josiah tried to kiss me.”

Blood pounded in his temples. “How can you be so naive?”

She frowned, and he bit back what he’d been about to say:Of course your cousin wants to screw you. Any man with eyes would want to.

I want to.

He took a step toward her and caught her wrist. In a quick, practiced move, he twisted her arm back and up, and squeezed. She dropped the knife with a soft cry of dismay, and he let her go, ignoring the glare she sent him. “See? Lucky for you, I have more honor than your cousin.”

Bloody foolish woman, to put herself in such a dangerous position.

If she was humiliated by how easily he’d disarmed her, she didn’t show it. She huffed out an indignant breath. “Josiah doesn’t want me. He only wants my money because he’s gambled his own away.” She bit her lip. “Perhaps I should just give him a lump sum, so he’ll leave me alone.”

Benedict ground his teeth. “You are not to give thatcockroach a penny, do you hear me? He’s a grown man. He can make his own way in the world, just like everyone else. Christ, I saw men lose limbs in the war. They’re back here now, making lives for themselves.” He shook his head in silent fury. “Your cousin has no idea how lucky he is. He could work, as you do, instead of drinking and gambling his days away.”

He glared down at her. “And why do you always think you have to buy your way out of any problem, hmm?”

She lowered her chin and stared at his chest. “Because it’s the only way I know.”

Her defeated tone made something in his chest twinge uncomfortably.

“Father always wanted me to marry a man like himself.” She sighed. “A man with drive, with his own money. So whenever someone offered for me, he made it clear that any husband of mine would only receive an annual income of a thousand pounds. The rest would remain under my control.” She gave a small, wry smile. “However much those men professed to love me, when it came right down to it, none of them would agree to that. My money is the most compelling thing about me.”

She was wrong. There was so much more to her than her fortune. Benedict was about to tell her so, but then she looked up into his face. Her eyes were huge in the dim light, her face pale. He’d seen that same look on the faces of raw recruits after their first taste of battle—delayed shock.

He was an idiot. Scolding her, frightening her with his strength when he should be offering comfort and reassurance. He opened his arms. “Oh, come here. It’s all right.”

She closed the distance between them with a frustrated little sniff, as if annoyed by her own weakness. He pulled her into an easy hug, and she leaned againsthim for a brief moment, her palms pressed against his shirtfront. He tried to ignore the warming effect it had on his body.

“Thank you for coming to my rescue,” she mumbled. She pulled back a fraction and met his eyes, and in the space of a heartbeat, the air between them changed. Her eyes darted down to his mouth then back up in unmistakable entreaty, and his gut tightened. Before he could think better of it, he lifted his hand and ran his thumb across her lips, tugging them apart the way he’d dreamed of doing since the first moment he’d seen her in Newgate.

Her eyes widened but didn’t pull away.

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