Page 62 of When the Marquess Was Mine
He had. He did. “It wasn’t entirely a lie. Shehasgot a fiancé. It’s just... not I.”
“And there’s the rub,” murmured the duke.
“I don’t want her to marry him.”
“No?” Rowland leaned forward. “Why not?”
Rob raised his head and met his father’s mild gaze. Rowland was no fool; he’d always known when his sons were lying or troubled. Rob was sure his feelings were written all over his face, to his father’s knowing eyes.
“You hardly know the girl,” the duke reminded him.
I know enough.He might not know everything about Georgiana—not things that Sterling, the bloody scoundrel, probably did—but he wanted to. He knew her heart. He knew he would never forgive himself if he sat around and did nothing while she married Sterling, always wondering if she’d done it out of loyalty or some misplaced duty. At the very least he had to see her again, and see if she felt anything for him like what he felt for her. If she didn’t... he could accept that, somehow.
But if shedid...
“I’ll fix that,” Rob said, the decision reached without conscious consideration. “I’m leaving for London in the morning.”
Rowland’s brow arched. “Are you, now? To what purpose?”
“To see if she might want to know me better,” he said. “My real self.”
“Indeed? And what will you tell your mother, who will rail at me to prevent you racing off and ruining your newfound health?”
His mouth curled.Obviously I do not think that far ahead, echoed Georgiana’s voice in his mind. He understood that feeling now. “That’s why I told you, so you can explain to her why I’m gone when she wakes.”
Rowland scoffed. “A dirty trick, lad!”
Rob acknowledged it with a wave of one hand. “Do you think I’m mad?” he asked on impulse.
The duke didn’t reply for a moment. Rob glanced up to see him staring moodily into the fire. “I was about your age when I met a girl,” Rowland finally replied. “The most beautiful girl I’d ever seen, with wit and spirit and more dash than any other five girls put together. I turned myself inside out trying to get her to notice me, and then made a fool of myself when she did. Nothing anyone said could have diverted me as long as she kept encouraging me. Are you mad? I’d say so, merely because I recognize the symptoms, having been afflicted by them myself.” He glanced up. “It came out rather well for me, although your mother still thinks I make a fool of myself sometimes.”
“Then that’s all right, isn’t it?” Rob exclaimed in relief.
“If you’re lucky,” grumbled Rowland. He slapped one hand on his knee. “Go, then, and see if you’ve caught the same happy madness I did. I hope this lady is pining for you just as badly as you are for her.”
Rob grinned. “I hope so, too. But I mean to find out.”
Chapter 21
Two days after her visit to Sophie, Sterling came to call.
Lady Sidlow herself announced him, sweeping into Georgiana’s room with a slight frown on her face. “Still not ready! My dear, what are you about, lying in half the day? Lord Sterling has come. Unfashionably early, of course—the manners of that young man—but that’s neither here nor there, you mustn’t keep him waiting. Hurry, Nadine,” she snapped at the maid, who was pinning Georgiana’s hair into place.
Sterling. Georgiana’s heart jumped into her throat, but not for any good reason. It wasn’t eager anticipation, but something much more like dread spilling through her. Her visit to Sophie had done nothing to set her mind at ease, nor to answer the questions lingering in the back of her mind. She was sure her guilt and doubt would be stamped upon her face.
That thought brought on another surge of self-reproach that she was dreading seeing him. The best way to forget all about Rob was to spend as much time as possible with Sterling, and remember why she’d been in love with him for most of her life.
“And do put on a more flattering dress, Georgiana. You’ve looked wretchedly pale lately,” added Lady Sidlow as she sailed out the door.
“Will you be changing your dress?” asked Nadine in the silence.
Georgiana stared at her reflection. Did she look pale? It was surely not the fault of the dress, and would hardly be fixed by changing clothes. “I can’t think of what Lady Sidlow means for me to wear, so no, I shan’t change.”
“As you say, ma’am,” mumbled Nadine around the hairpins she’d stuck in her mouth. “Pinch your cheeks. Her Ladyship’ll relent a bit if it looks like you did something.”
Georgiana rolled her eyes. Surely it was more important not to keep Sterling waiting. Once she saw him, things would settle back into the way they’d been before, and she wouldn’t need to pinch her cheeks.
When Nadine was done with her hair, Georgiana rose and went downstairs, her steps slowing as she approached the drawing room door, and her nerves suddenly tightened. There was the rumble of Sterling’s voice, so familiar and yet also strange, after all these weeks. It had been over two months since she saw him last, she realized, and for one frightening moment she couldn’t quite recall what he looked like.
