But he was also so much more than that.
He was generous and kind. Witty and thoughtful and spirited.
Ambitious with his future. Hardworking and hopeful.
Did he show this side of himself to Lady Diana, too, when he called upon her? The woman must be beside herself with wanting.
He huffed. “I am seconds away from taking your hand myself.”
I quirked a brow, daring him to try.
I looked around. There was only black and the moon.Distant lights. Lanterns closer to the house. Sighing, I lifted my hand and laced it through his arm.
His warmth felt like a comfortable, well-worn glove, and despite my anxiety, I quickly relaxed in his hold. He drew me nearer to his side and lifted his candle ahead of us. Together, we walked. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“You are very warm,” I admitted. And he smelled so, so good. Like spicy oranges.
“Because I’ve come straight from the furnace of the underworld.”
Caught off guard, I laughed aloud and bumped into his side. How different he was out here, just the two of us. I much preferred this duke. This man.
“For someone who doesn’t read fiction, you have quite the imagination. Heavens, I haven’t laughed so much in an age.” And it was true. I couldn’t remember the last time my stomach ached as happily as it now did.
“I think you, Georgiana Wood, prefer a villain to a dashing hero, don’t you?” His voice was husky and low.
We were halfway to the house, nearing the gravel drive. I thought of Sir Ronald, a hero to his core. Had I had half this much fun in a single night with him?
No. Not once.
Ronald and I had laughed, but it had never felt as real, asnatural, as this. Perhaps, all along, I’d been looking for the wrong sort of man.
“I suppose we shall see what Mrs. Johns comes up with.”
Marlow groaned, somehow tightening his hold even more. He made us slow our steps.
And then lights appeared to our left. Moving lights.
Lanterns. And the pattering of horses’ hooves.
I froze, yanking him back a step. “Who—”
“Gabriel must be home at last.” Marlow started to walk toward the house.
I dug in my heels, tugging him backward before blowing out his candle. “We cannot be seen!”
“Georgiana,” he protested, laughing, but it was a half-hearted chiding. He tossed his smoking candle and silver holder in the gravel ahead. He let me tug him back and toward a tree to the right. We moved around the wide, old trunk until I was satisfied we were hidden.
As though we could be seen this far from the house in the middle of the night anyway. But the candle had illuminated us some.
And if Gabriel found us out here in the dark alone, he’d tell Maggie, and Maggie would—heavens, what would Maggiethink? She would certainly tell the duchess, who would have my head regardless of what Marlow said. I had promised her I’d play my part.
Marlow needed a wife—a nice, well-mannered lady of good standing and wealth. He certainly did not need to be spending his evenings wandering around with me. Not that I was presumptuous enough to think that anything I did or said would keep the Duke of Marlow from marrying the woman he wanted to marry.
I poked my head around the trunk as the carriage slowed in the drive. The driver did not so much as peek in our direction.
Then Gabriel stepped down. We watched with bated breath as he took the stairs to the front doors. When hereached the top, he turned and looked out in the darkness. Straight toward us.
He lingered for a long moment. Then he turned and entered the house.
