Page 47 of When the Marquess Was Mine
Chapter 15
Kitty accepted the news with a smile. Georgiana suspected she must have tired of having an invalid in the house, and Georgiana herself hadn’t been a very engaging guest since Rob’s arrival. Geneva exclaimed in disappointment for the blink of an eye, then lapsed into envious musings about the life in London she pictured Georgiana returning to. Mother Winston fussed, but only briefly, and declared that of course dear Sterling must have the best doctors. Georgiana told Nadine to pack her things and prepare to leave in the morning.
Rob was at his most charming that night. It made something inside her chest twist to see how he made Geneva laugh and Kitty smile. Mother Winston looked on fondly, tittering when Rob turned his gallantry upon her, too.
Georgiana tried to be cheerful as well, reminding herself that the stressful pretense was about to end and she could be herself again soon. Instead all she could think about was that this was the last evening she would be seated beside Rob, the last night he would turn to her with his rueful, crooked smile, the last chance for those casual touches he gave that each seemed to send a little shock to her heart.
“Well, my love,” he said to her after dinner, “shall we take a turn in the garden?”
Another stupid lurch of her heart. “Are you sure?” she asked. “You’re not too tired?” It had been a long day, and he’d been on his feet far more than he ought to have been. She was sure she wasn’t imagining him to be a little paler, his mouth a little tighter, than usual.
“Never too tired to walk with you,” he replied.
Georgiana smiled, even though the words were all for show. “Then of course we shall walk. Whatever you desire, my dear.”
They made their way into the twilit garden. Georgiana hitched her shawl higher on her shoulders in the cool night air. Rob offered his arm.
She blinked at it. “There’s no need,” she whispered.
“For Lady Winston’s sake,” he replied as quietly. “And perhaps a bit for mine. I forgot the cane.”
“Oh! Yes, of course.” She knew she ought to have protested more, but she leapt at the chance to hold his arm again. And when she tucked her hand around his elbow, he pulled her close to his side as if he, too, didn’t want to miss a moment of this particular last time.
They walked in silence until well out of earshot of the house. “You must be eager to go home,” she finally said. The impending end hung over her like the approaching night, casting everything into melancholy shadow. “Your brother seems very keen to pry you from my wicked clutches.”
She’d spoken lightly, but he didn’t laugh.
“I suppose I can’t blame him,” she babbled on. “Of course he must be very suspicious of anyone who would do such a thing. Now that I think back on it, I don’t even know why I did.” She laughed, but stopped at once because it sounded hysterical to her ears. “No doubt you wonder the same thing.”
They had come around a row of topiary and could no longer see the house. Rob stopped. “I do.”
Georgiana sighed, her bravura draining away. “You deserve a full confession,” she said softly. “Kitty...” She paused, wanting to be fair to her friend. “Charles sent her horrible, dire letters, about you and the deed to this house, claiming you’d tricked him out of it and meant to turn it into a house of sin. He raised everyone’s fears that you were en route to throw the family into the hedgerows, and told Kitty to bar the doors and windows and not to let you in under any circumstances.”
He made a scornful noise.
“We didn’t know,” she hurried on, her face burning at the memory of how she had thrown fuel on Kitty’s anger. “Ididn’t know how wrong that might have been. But the end result is that every person in the house braced for your arrival as they might have prepared for Bonaparte himself.
“I didn’t recognize you when Adam and I first encountered the thieves. I hope you can believe me: I didnot,” she repeated emphatically. “Adam feared the thieves returning but I couldn’t leaveanyoneto die in the road—you were almost dead already, and if we hadn’t brought you here—” She stopped and calmed herself. “It wasn’t until we reached the house that I saw your face clearly. Kitty...” Again she hesitated. “I don’t know what Kitty would have done if I’d told her your proper name. She had sworn she would never admit you to her house—thinking you meant to evict her—and yet there you were, beaten and looking for all the world like you were on death’s doorstep... I never thought she wouldharmyou. But if she had refused to help, it would have been much the same thing.” She raised her hands helplessly. “In the shock of the moment, covered with blood and fearful that you might die no matter what, I told her you were someone else.”
“Why Sterling?” he asked quietly.
Georgiana flushed. “It was the only name that came to mind that I knew would assure her help. She might have guessed the truth otherwise, since Charles had put her on guard against your arrival. She’s never met Sterling and wouldn’t know.”
“She’ll know when she does meet him.”
“I know,” she said on a sigh. “I am not eagerly looking forward to it.”
He stared out over the hills, no more than dark smudges against the indigo sky. “What would you have done if I woke up without having lost my memory?”
“Oh, I was prepared for that,” she assured him. “I expected it, obviously, and had it all worked out. I would impress upon you—quite firmly—how generous it was for Kitty to take you in and save your life, and how unconscionable it would be for you to hold Charles to some stupid wager about the house. I knew exactly what your contrite letter of apology would say, as you declared no intention of putting a family out of their home.”
“Did you?” He sounded amused, and, remembering how energized she’d been at the thought of telling him off, Georgiana also smiled.
“I was prepared to write it for you, actually.”
He laughed.
“But you didn’t know your own name when you woke,” she went on, the moment of levity fading. “And Dr. Elton told you I was your fiancée before I could stop him or think of a better story. It all spiraled completely out of control in just a few minutes and then I... I was trapped.”
