Page 36 of When the Marquess Was Mine
Rob made a sudden motion, quickly arrested. He gripped his hands together, but she saw his jaw flex. “That seems unduly harsh. Who persuaded him against it?”
“My father’s estate manager. I think he threatened to quit his post, along with most of the house staff, if Alistair persisted in that course.” She pulled her knees up under her chin and wrapped her arms around them. “My mother was beloved. She was kind and generous to everyone. After the way Alistair’s mother treated people—” She bit her lip. “I shouldn’t repeat gossip.”
“I shan’t tell. The woman’s dead, in any event.” He gave her a wink.
Georgiana grinned in guilty amazement. All her life she’d been told it was wicked to speak ill of her father’s first wife, whose dour portrait in the library had frightened her as a child before her father had it removed to a little-used room. “By all reports she was a rather cold woman. Her marriage to Papa was arranged, and he only met her twice before the wedding. Papa never spoke of her, but Lady Sidlow says she was surely the reason Alistair is as he is—aloof and critical and focused solely on himself. When she died, Papa married my mother within two months.”
“I trust he was happier.”
Her lips curled in a wistful but still happy smile. “Very. I don’t remember him well, but every memory I have is of him laughing, running races with me across the lawns or playing bowls with my mother. There was no doubt that he married her for love.”
“Clever fellow,” murmured Rob.
She flushed and changed the subject. “Why don’t you want to go to London?”
His brow lowered and his eyes grew distant, as if he were thinking very hard. “I don’t care for the people,” he said at last.
People like her, she thought uneasily, thinking of the scornful things he’d said about her and Joanna Hotchkiss.
“Is London the only possibility?” he interrupted her thoughts. He ran one hand over his head, ruffling up his damp hair into unruly spikes. “I must be a terrible burden on Lady Winston.”
“Oh, I’m sure she doesn’t think so! But...” She plucked another flower. “But you seem so much better now, and I would hate to slow your recovery by mouldering away here when being somewhere else might help restore your mind.”
He was quiet for several minutes. Georgiana, waiting anxiously for his response, began to review what she’d said. She felt like she was picking her way across a moor, feeling for every foothold and half certain each step would sink her. But she did think Rob would recover better somewhere else—not least because he would finally hear the truth—and she did want to help him—although she’d had that urge before and it had got her into this mess to begin with—
“What if nothing does?” he asked. “Restores my mind, I mean.”
She flinched. “I’m sure something will!”
“But if it doesn’t.” He tilted his head to glance at her. “What would you do, if I never remember anything? Would it change things between us?”
It was a terrible question to ask. If she thought about that, that this charming, romantic, good-humored Rob might be the new Rob, forever, it might allow dangerous thoughts and feelings to flourish. Of course she would still have to tell him he was not Lord Sterling, but if she did, and he never reverted to the Malicious Marquess... Already she was struggling to remember why she disliked him and that she must get him back to his family and out of her hands as soon as possible.
But she could not tell him that, not today.
“No,” she said softly. “Of course not.”
What did one more lie matter, at this point?
Chapter 12
The tension eased from his shoulders, and he took her hand, bringing it to his lips for a soft kiss. “Could we go to my home, then?”
“If—if you prefer,” she said unsteadily. He still held her hand, his fingers strong and gentle. She gave her head a shake, but didn’t pull free. “Yes, that might be ideal—even better than London.” And it was. She’d sneaked into Kitty’s library last night and verified that Salmsbury Abbey was some forty miles away.
Rob glanced at her, clearly startled by this easy agreement. “Is it near?”
“Not too far,” she said, secretly crossing her fingers that she could manage to get him there.
“Where?” he demanded, his face sharp with interest.
“Ah...” She couldn’t tell him where Sterling’s actual home was, since it lay in distant Yorkshire, near her own family estate. Kitty knew that and would wonder if he said anything. But she couldn’t actually describe where Rowland’s seat was, either, for the same reason. “It’s nearer than my home,” she said. “And going there must be better for your health.”
“Yes,” he said slowly. “All right. We’ll do that.”
“Brilliant,” she said, trying to hide her relief. “Let’s go soon.”
He shot another glance at her, as if sensing something was off, but she only smiled back and tried to pretend she was wholly pleased with the plan. Which she was. It was for the best. And the sooner it was done, the better.
