It was then she noted the redness and scars. “Your hands,” she cried, reaching for him. “They are raw…andblistered.”
“It is nothing.”
She snapped her gaze at his. “How can you say so? They are… You must hurt.” Her throat ached, and guilt hammered at her heart.
He gripped her elbows and urged her to stand, and it was only then she realized they were still intimately crouched closely together. She rose to full height, unable to look away from the callouses and blisters on his hands. How could she feel so wretched? Of course he had blisters. Before he met her, he’d been a pampered aristocrat who had never done a day’s work in his life. She closed her eyes tightly. Yet for the last several days, he had been laboring without complaint, brilliantly fixing all the issues around the manor.
“Open your eyes, wife.”
Oh, please, do not call me so. She complied, and his gaze ensnared hers.
“When I promise you something, I will deliver on it.”
Georgianna’s heart crashed against her chest. “I beg your pardon?”
He lifted a brow. “Did I not promise you that I would fix the outhouse today, clean the pens, and paint the barn and then the house?”
Oh God, the unending list of chores. “I…yes.”
She stared down at his reddened palm, a lump forming in her throat. Without thinking, Georgianna lifted his hand to her lips and kissed his palm. The earl faltered into remarkable stillness at the hint of intimacy.
He was so diligent and reliable. Shockingly, at that moment, she felt the benefits of having a companion to share her burdens with.
Husband and wife overcome difficulties together.
Remembering that strong reassurance, longing almost broke her apart.
How can I be so silly to wish that this…to wish that you…were real?
Georgianna released his hand as if she had been burned, appalled at the errant, outrageous thought. Centering herself against the emotions writhing inside her chest, she gently took his hand and tugged him over to the counter. Reaching upward, she plucked a pot from the peg, poured water from a jug inside, then sliced a lemon and squeezed it in the water.
“This will sting a little,” she said softly, “but it will also soothe and disinfect the flesh. I will then make a lavender poultice to wrap your hands.”
“Thank you, Georgianna.”
Her name rolled sensually off his tongue, and that peculiar warmth once again shivered through her heart. She nodded, unable to look at him, afraid he would see the naked longing in her stare. Georgianna wanted to hide this emerging awareness inside…hide it from him and even from herself, for she did not understand it. His presence at her home should mean nothing, nor did she see a future for herself with any gentleman. Buried in Crandell with a few eligible suitors who would never consider the Heyford sisters for marriage, Georgianna had suppressed those dreams before they got the chance to take root. It wasn’t a husband and child she had hopelessly yearned for, but the means to provide for her family that did not rely on a gentleman finding her meager connections worthy.
So why did it feel as if each day in the earl’s presence, something unknown inside her awoke?
“Why don’t you look at me, Mrs. Stannis?”
Mrs. Stannis. He said this teasingly, yet there was a hint of something unfathomable in his tone. She closed her eyes and swallowed tightly before opening them. Yet she still could not look up. The earl placed a finger under her chin, and it took little effort for him to nudge it, bringing her gaze up to his. Georgianna’s body surged to life with painful immediacy at his touch. Every breath she drew was rich with his warm scent.
“Your eyes are quite beautiful.” How bemused he sounded, as if he should not have noticed. “It is like they hold an inner fire only a few might be privileged to see.”
She stared up at him, feeling the beat of her heart in every crevice of her body. The earl stared at her, his gaze kissing over her face with intensity. Georgianna couldn’t help noticing that even dressed so casually, the earl radiated a chilling, dangerous elegance. “And your tongue is glib and charming as ever,” she said softly, briefly looking away from his intensity.
“Only for you, my sweet, only for you.”
Incorrigible and outrageous. “Please, work no more until your hands have healed.”
“There is no need for that caution, wife. I am not so delicate, hmm?”
There was a very decided twinkle in his eyes, and she smiled. The door opened, and Lizzie bustled inside, her gaze instantly going to where Georgianna held the earl’s hand within hers and that his other hand was on her face. Georgianna could imagine the intimate picture they presented. Surprise widened her sister’s eyes, but she wisely held her counsel.
Clearing her throat, Georgianna lowered his hand and stepped away from the earl. “Has the fight ended?”
A muffled laugh came from Lizzie. “Yes, I bravely waded in and saved Midge. When are we going to cook her?”
