Looking up, she made sure Preston was looking the other way. She did not need this bruited about below stairs. She tugged again at Greyville’s hands, but he was suddenly immovable. He was also smiling, albeit one that was rueful and wry.
“Lady Georgianna,” he began, pulling her hands to his chest, which meant she went neatly along.
Too close. Too blasted close. She couldn’t think when she was this close.
“I am sorry,” he said, which helped clear her head. “I wish I could give you your wish. But you know that it’s been too late since your aunt stepped onto that balcony.”
The panic was building again. He was boxing her into a corner, and doing it in the kindest way, and she saw the door to escape closing before her eyes. And worst of all, she was so afraid that she would end up hurting this kind man because her frustrations would simply pile up like dirty snow and freeze her. She was even more afraid that she might come to love him andhis little girls more than herself, which would take away her last choice.
She tried pulling again. “What about Priscilla?” she asked. “Last I heard, you were still engaged to her.”
He held her hands right against his heart. She could feel it speed up, as if he were as afraid as she.
“Your subterfuge seems to have been successful,’ he said. “This morning the Earl sent a notice to papers. Evidently the entire family is loath to visit Wales.”
She nodded and couldn’t think of a thing more to say. This time she wished she hadn’t been quite so successful.
“We must wed,” Grey said. “But even though I would be heartsore, what if we give it our best try for four months. At the end of that time, if you simply cannot abide me, I can arrange for a separation.”
That made her even angrier. “And what about the girls? Are you intending to have yet another mother desert them?”
“Well, my cousin didn’t exactly...”
She managed to get her hands free this time and punched him square in the chest. “They were abandoned. That’s all they know. That is all they would know if I left again. Maybe you are that much of a beast, my lord, but I. Am.Not.”
“And so, what do we do?” he asked, rubbing at his chest.
She could only close her eyes. He was a good man, wasn’t he? He wouldn’t hurt her. Would he?
But it was the rest of her life.
“What about this idea?” he finally asked, once again catching her hands and pulling them to him. “What if we look for Georgie together?”
She found herself blinking. “What?”
He insisted on overwhelming her manners. Worse, he grinned when he did it, and her own heart began to stumble about.
“I cannot take away the responsibility,” he said, his eyes distressingly sincere. “I can give you all the help you need. And the support to find what it is that belongs only to you.” Another grin. “Unless it’s gunrunning. I’m afraid I cannot support that, no matter what your brothers want.”
He surprised her into a burst of laughter. How could he do that when she felt the world collapsing around her?
“I sincerely doubt gunrunning will be involved. I tend toward seasickness.”
“Does this mean a future trip to India would be out of the question?”
“Absolutely not. I would overcome. But your responsibilities are here.”
He shrugged. “We will have quite a bit of money to cushion life’s blows, especially once I get the estates to be profitable again. I imagine it could also secure me a competent manager in time. The girls will be in school in a few years.”
She almost pulled her hands back again. “Do not even think of it. I told you. Wherever we go, those girls go. I will not have them deserted again, even for the chance to explore the world.”
He didn’t answer right away. Just gazed up at her, his hands cradling hers, his smile seeming to encompass her. “Is that ayes, Lady Georgianna?”
She battled an overwhelming urge to cry. “I’m afraid so.”
“Why afraid?”
“Because I have been told I am not a restful person. And I am being inflicted on you.”
