Page 53 of When the Marquess Was Mine
Heartsick, she pulled away. “I can’t,” she said in a stifled voice.
“You can’t marry him,” he said—pleaded. “Not now.”
“You want me to jilt Sterling.” It was frightening how close she’d been to doing just that. She had given Sterling her promise and here she was in another man’s arms. Georgiana turned away and wrapped her arms around her waist to keep her heart from bursting.
The silence that followed hurt her ears.
“He doesn’t deserve that,” she added softly. A tear trickled down her cheek and she dashed it away. “I can’t go with you, Rob.”
“Georgiana—”
“We don’t know each other,” she interrupted, to herself as much as to him. “This is a lingering madness, from pretending we were engaged. A few days apart and it will all seem like a fever dream, something that would never happen if we were ourselves...”
“No,” he said, so low she barely heard. “It isn’t. Not for me.”
“But you don’tknowthat,” she retorted. “You can’t! And I—” Her voice wavered. “I can’t do that to Sterling.” It was unnerving that she had to keep reminding herself thatSterlingwould be the injured party, that she was doing this forSterling’ssake—Sterling, whose face she could not recall at the moment.
“You kissed me back.”
She had, and God help her but she wanted to do it again. If she turned around now, if she saw his face, she would probably throw herself back into his arms and let him kiss away every sensible thought in her brain, and persuade her to go with him. Resolutely she kept her back to him, even though he was so close behind her she could feel the heat of his body. “It can’t happen again,” she whispered. “Good-bye, Rob.”
An agonizing moment later, he moved. His fingertips brushed her shoulder, but she shuddered, scalded by his touch, and his hand fell away. Then the door opened and closed, and he was gone.
Rob slumped against the wall in the corridor, his leg aching again. It hadn’t hurt at all when he’d thrown caution to the wind and run after her. At that moment, he would have hobbled through a blazing furnace on two broken legs to see Georgiana again, to kiss her just once more.
And that kiss... She’d wrapped herself around him and kissed him back with her heart and soul in her mouth, and he’d almost combusted on the spot. Forget what had happened before. In that one delirious kiss he’d seen his future: she was meant for him and he was meant for her, not for show or pretense but forever.
Instead he was standing unsteadily on a bad leg, still burning for Georgiana at the same time he felt cold to the center of his bones.
He limped toward his room. Tom intercepted him at the top of the stairs, port bottle in hand. “What did you do?”
Rob ignored his brother. He let himself into the spacious room they were sharing and made his way to the small writing table under the eaves, where he collapsed into the chair with a thump. Digging his fist into the throbbing muscle of his thigh, he rummaged in his valise until he found the folded paper she’d given him in the carriage.
“What’s that?” Tom, ever the busybody, peered over his shoulder.
“The deed to Osbourne House.” He took out a sheet of paper and his writing utensils, and began preparing a quill.
Tom gave a low whistle. “The fair Georgiana had it all this time?”
“Tom,” said Rob evenly, “do be quiet.”
His brother raised his brows. “You knew she was engaged.”
I thought she was engaged to me. “Yes.”
“I told you Sterling would be some competition.”
She kissed me back.“It’s not your concern.”
“Wakefield is a very dodgy fellow,” Tom said, ignoring his silent commands to stop talking. “You ought to think twice before getting twisted up with that one or his sister.”
He could hardly think of anything but getting twisted up with Georgiana. “Tom.”
“The best way to smooth over this entire debacle is to maintain a wide distance from the lady,” his idiot brother went on, coldly and callously to Rob’s ears. “If Sterling does hear of it and won’t have her after all, you don’t want to be caught up in the scandal.”
“Shut it,” snarled Rob. “Keep your bloody stupid advice to yourself!”
After a startled moment, his brother heaved a sigh. He poured a glass of port and thumped it down on the desk. “You know it’s a bloody stupid idea. You don’t need me telling you that.”
