“No,” she denied with vehemence, thick brows snapping together. “How can you say that?”
“To make a fool of me, then? To make me pay for…Drake?” Her brother’s name came out a hoarse whisper.
“No. Teddy,no. What does that even mean,for Drake?”
He jammed a hand through his hair and turned so he didn’t have to see her eyes, wide and pleading and wreaking havoc on his insides. “Because it was my fault—what happened to him—and he was your beloved brother, your champion.”
From behind him, she gripped his bicep, tugging in a silent demand for him to face her.
He did not give an inch. He couldn’t.
Finally, her hand fell away. “It wasn’t your fault, Teddy. None of this was,” she said softly. “I never meant to trick you, or to force you into a real marriage. Th-that’s why I kept it fake. I only wanted to keep you safe. You must believe me.”
Now, he turned, eyes narrowing on her, searching for signs ofduplicity. “Must believe you? After all your lies? Do you really expect me to do that? Give me one reason why I should.”
Weak fool that he was, everything inside him wanted her to say the words—the words that seemed to reach inside him, acting like a balm for every hurt, every wound, every rent he’d ever sustained.
She searched his face, then shook her head. A single, fat tear coursed down her cheek.
In that moment, the compulsion to grab her, pull her close, and bury his face in her hair, hammered his willpower, nearly to the breaking point. How far he’d sunk. How vulnerable she’d made him. And still, he craved the words—words she did not utter.
“I…can’t.”
She may as well have gutted him with a blade. “I see.” He could not stand to look at her another second. He pushed past her, reaching for the lock, even as everything in him hoped beyond reason she would stop him. She would tell him this was all a horrible misunderstanding. That, of course, she loved him.
“You’re better now, aren’t you? You can…you can resume your life. Take up the reins of your title, marry Lady Catherine, as you always planned…and leave me to…pursue my own interests.”
It was like she’d stabbed a burning poker through his clothing, past the skin and bone and muscle of his back, to lodge into his chest. He turned his head to glare at her over his shoulder. “I beg your pardon?”
She lifted her chin. “I never meant to let things go as far as they did. Why do you think I told you I’d asked for an annulment? As it happens, I”—she swallowed—“I have an existing agreement with another.”
He shook his head to clear it. For a moment there, he’d thought she’d blithely implied she intended to marry another.
She laughed, a breathless, airy sound. “I’m…engaged, Teddy. That is why I had to come home, to see to some of the details of the agreement.”
Her words slammed into him, leaving him almost lightheaded. God, he’d stewed over the distasteful thought she’d meant to entrap him, or worse, punish him. But looking at her now, her beautiful face suddenly and incontrovertibly serene, he was forced to confront the possibility she really had just wanted to help him, and now that his memories had returned, really did intend to let him go his merry way.
“I see. And I suppose all your espoused sentiment, that was…” Damn his inability to keep his bloody mouth shut. In another minute, he’d be begging her to tell him her heart was his.
“Lies, I’m afraid. I had to be believable.”
He could not breathe.
Show no chink.
Shame yourself and you shame me.
He clenched his jaw, tight enough his teeth crunched.
She sent him a brilliant smile that turned his blood to ice. “You’re safe. Safe from Brook Haven, and the tea you hated. You can sort things with your father who I’m certain will be so glad to learn he has his son and heir back.”
He sucked in a breath. It was either that, or pass out at her feet and make a complete cake of himself. Without another word, he yanked open the library door, and let himself out of the manse, and out of her life.
Georgina stood utterlystill. If she moved, so much as a pinkie, she feared—no, sheknew—she would shatter.
She’d always intended to let Teddy go, she told herself. She’d always known he wasn’t really hers. She just hadn’t foreseen it ending quite this way.
But it wasn’t really done, was it? Because, considering his intrinsichonor, his insistence on doing everything exactly right, as Drake always teased him about, there was the distinct possibility, after giving the matter thought, he would realize she’d once again lied. He would entrap himself, marry her, despite the fact he hadn’t chosen her. She couldn’t let that happen.
