“No, we have both indulged in a little foolishness. It was hardly sensible for me to kiss you in public and deliberately cause a scandal.”
“But I thank God that you did it,” he said, fervently, “I cannot imagine my life without you in it.”
He lowered his head to hers, feeling her hands caress his cheeks. He stretched out beside her on the bed, holding her close to him.
“Nor I. How quickly things change,” she whispered, “it was not all that long ago that you contemplated seeing the back of me.”
“I have already admitted to being a fool, dear,” he reminded with a smirk. “Blind in more than one way.”
“Well, I for one forgive you,” Georgia murmured, and Keaton could hear the smile that he could not see. “Are we safe, finally?”
“All are safe. You and Amelia,” Keaton replied, “my solicitor has received a copy of the suit being made against me by Silverton. He has replied with confirmation of precisely how much it will cost, with a conservative estimate of my resources and my utter refusal to settle or surrender. It will take years for them to litigate, and by the time they lose, she will be over one-and-twenty. She is safe from them.”
Georgia took his hands playfully and let them caress the contours of her face. “What of Swinthorpe?” she frowned.
“Justice was swift. The driver who tried to… drown you, confessed to being one of the men paid by my uncle to injure me, in exchange for a commutation of his sentence from hanging to transportation. The others were found with Thorne’s tenacious help, and they testified that my uncle was the one who paid them and masterminded the attempt on my life. Thorne was at the Old Bailey. My uncle was found guilty and will hang. It is over.”
“So, there are no more obstacles,” she whispered.
“None. And no more mystery.”
“Elias died trying to save the life of a stranger.”
“My life. And I will spend the rest of it trying to repay that act of selfless heroism.”
“We both will. Were it not for him, I would not have you.”
“I do not know how I will even begin,” Keaton murmured.
“Nor do I. We will think of something. I have not said it before, but I want to say it now, as we were talking of Elias. Thank you for coming after me. For risking your life to save me.”
Keaton furrowed his brows. “How could I do anything else? You were in danger.”
“It is just the kind of thing Elias would do…” she said thickly, her voice trembling, on the verge of breaking. “I am glad I have found a man as brave as my brother was. Someone who can protect me. It is all I have ever wanted, I think. I lost my father, then my brother. It seems there has never been anything in my life that I could rely on for too long.”
“WhileIhave viewed the world as a dangerous place to be guarded against and mistrusted because I could not see it,” Keaton grunted.
Georgia hugged him tightly.
“Through me, you will see how wonderful the world is. And through you, I will feel safe and protected.”
Keaton smiled and considered how rarely that expression had come to him for so long. How rare it was that he found anything to smile or laugh about. He thought about his marriage, the circumstance into which he had been thrust against his will. No matter its origins, it was true.
“Then we are perfectly matched,” he murmured against her hair, breathing in the lavender scent that always clung to her skin.
Georgia's fingers found the open collar of his shirt, tracing the hollow of his throat where his pulse thundered. “Do you know what I thought about while I was drowning?”
The question made his arms tighten around her. “Don't—”
“You.” Her lips brushed the word against his jaw. “Not my life passing before my eyes, not God or heaven. Just you. The way your hands felt that afternoon in the lake.” She guided his palm to her waist, pressing it flat against the thin muslin. “The way you made me feel things I did not know were possible. How I might never feel that again, never have you take me apart so… thoroughly.”
“Georgia...” Her name came out strangled, a warning.
“I thought I might die without knowing all the ways you could make me yours.” Her teeth caught his earlobe, tugging gently. “Without discovering if you had darker desires you had held back.”
Heat pooled low in his belly, sharp and immediate. “Christ, you can't say such things.”
“Whyever not? Because I am a lady?” She shifted from the bed and into his arms, somehow managing to straddle his thighs despite the tangle of bedclothes. The position made her nightrail ride up, and his hands found bare, soft skin above her stockings. “I am tired of being careful. I want to be debauched. Thoroughly, completely ruined by my husband.”
