Page 93 of When the Marquess Was Mine
Sterling gazed at her. “Yes, I’ve not told anyone. It’s not too late to reconsider.”
She bit her lip. “Perhaps not, but I haven’t changed my mind. I would never have done such a thing in the first place if I weren’t entirely certain it was the right thing for both of us.”
His eyes closed and he sighed, pacing away from her before swinging back. “Then why did you smile at me earlier? I’ve not heard anyone else speak of it, so you’ve not told people, either.”
“I wanted to speak to you—”
“We were engaged to bemarried,” he said with some despair, “till death did us part. Everything was splendid until you told me, all of a sudden, it wasn’t. I loved you.” He shook his head in confounded despair. “Now you want to talk?”
“It wasn’t sudden,” she said softly. “Not for me. I think you knew it, too, if you search your heart. I never wanted to hurt you. But Sterling... we would have been miserable. We might not have realized it for a year or more, but we would have. We were too comfortable apart, too happy spending all our time with others. And when we were together, our relationship was more like brother and sister.”
He cocked one brow. “I never thought of you as a sister.”
“Sooner or later one of us would have met someone who made us regret our marriage. Someday, you’ll be very glad I did this.”
“So that’s it?” He put his hands on his hips and managed to look put out. “You’ve met someone else.”
Georgiana pressed her lips closed. “My decision had nothing to do with anyone but you and me.”
His jaw jutted out, and he nodded. “What did you want to discuss, then, if not resuming our engagement?”
“Alistair.”
Sterling jerked. “Why?”
She was sure she didn’t imagine his sudden tension. “Why could you and he not reach an agreement in the course of two years, if you wanted to marry me, your father approved, and Alistair knew my father would have approved?”
His gaze veered away. “He’s not an easy fellow. Damned harsh negotiator.” He gave a mirthless huff. “And I was a foolish one. If I’d just given way to his demands, we could have been married by now.”
Thank goodness you didn’t, thought Georgiana with a faint flush, remembering Rob’s words the night before. When they were naked in his bed, marveling at how Alistair’s obstinacy and Sterling’s desire for a piece of land had given them the chance to fall in love with each other. “What did he demand?” she asked, instead of thanking him.
Sterling’s eyes flitted to the door. “It changed. One month he’d want to pay the dowry in installments, the next month he’d offer it at once, but with more restrictions. Half in trust for children, things like that.”
“Installments,” she repeated, thinking of Lady Sidlow’s confidence about the bills. “He’s done something with my funds, hasn’t he?”
This time there was no mistaking Sterling’s discomfort. He retreated a step and looked away from her. “You shouldn’t pry into it.”
Georgiana let out an angry breath. So Lady Sidlow had been right—Alistair was short of funds, and he’d dipped into her inheritance. She followed Sterling, putting her hand on his arm when he would have backed away again. “He’s trying to steal from me, isn’t he? He would have cheated me—and you. Pretending to negotiate over that bit of land or how the dowry would be paid when he was really stalling. Tell me, Sterling,” she insisted. “Please. For our lifelong affection for each other, for the friendship our fathers had,please.”
He stared away from her, a muscle in his jaw flexing. “He invested it. Or perhaps he invested his own funds and lost them, then drew on yours to make up the loss, I don’t know. He refused to agree to terms for so long, we almost came to blows before he admitted what he’d done. A trading venture, out of Liverpool. He dangled the prospect of that land in exchange for my waiting until the ships make enough trade runs to repay his capital—oryourcapital, I suppose. If he were to withdraw the investment now, he would take a large loss.”
“Merchant trade?” Her brow wrinkled. That didn’t sound like Alistair, who was contemptuous of anyone in trade. “It sounds quite risky. What if the ships sink?”
Sterling shrugged. “The cargo was insured. I had his word he would make the land your dowry if he lost the investment or couldn’t redeem it. And I would have been content with that,” he added quickly. “Ididwant to marry you. Land or money, either would have been sufficient.”
“What company?” she asked.
Sterling blinked. “Why—?”
“I think I deserve to know where he invested my inheritance.”
“Forester and Philips, I believe,” Sterling said, with patent reluctance. “I know nothing about it except that he expects a handsome return.”
“Thank you for telling me.”
“What made you talk to him about it?” Sterling seemed to shake off his melancholy and grow more curious. “Every time I mentioned asking your opinion of something, he would snarl at me that he didn’t care what you thought, nor should I.”
A dull flush of anger rose in her chest. “He would say that,” she muttered. “He’s come to town. I did write to him, about ending our betrothal, but he arrived far too quickly. He must have been on his way when my letter found him.”
