I wanted to tell him. I wanted him to care. But unfortunately, his name was involved. I worried he’d be angry with me. “I was asked earlier ...” I swallowed a lump forming in my throat. I’d been managing the opinions of others for months now. I shouldn’t care, shouldn’t let their words affect me so. Admitting them to Marlow was both humiliating and painful. “I was asked if to earn your friendship, I’d done to you something like I’d done to—”
Marlow held up a hand to stop me. A muscle popped in his jaw. “Who? Who said this?”
I shook my head, looking down at my slippers. “Just some women from earlier.”
He shifted his feet, then reached out to lift up my chin. “Name them.” His eyes were fierce, his voice firm. “Please.”
As though he’d rush to defend my honor. My heart tugged toward him. “They are only repeating what they hear. I shouldn’t let them bother me.”
“Tell me their names, Georgiana, and I will ensure theynever open their mouths with falsehoods ever again. I will spread the ugliest rumors, and they can see how itfeels—”
I barreled into him so hard, he lost his breath, his very speech, as my arms flew around his neck. Face buried in his jacket, I choked, coughing out the rising emotion demanding an escape.
Slowly, his hesitant hands wrapped around my waist, and I let myself cry for a moment. Just a moment.
“What can I do?” he whispered into my hair. “Please, do not cry, Georgiana.”
I sniffed. “I’m not,” I lied, pulling back to wipe my eyes with my sleeves. “So sorry. I lost myself.”
“Don’t apologize. Let me help you.” He kept me in his hold, tightening his grasp. “Indeed, I refuse to release you until you’re smiling again.” He raised his brows, expectantly. “And let me be clear—there is absolutely no rush to smile.”
My lips quirked, and I tried desperately to bite down my humor. “No, I mean it. You have helped me so much already. Whilst I fear I have only made your life harder.”
He reared back, still holding me, shaking his head. “Not by half.”
“I have, Marlow. Indeed, just this afternoon I said something I shouldn’t have, and if word got around ... these women, they irritate me to no end.” I sighed and grasped his arms, thinking I should pull them off, but he took one of my hands and lifted it to his chest.
The right side of his mouth lifted playfully. “What, pray tell, did you say?”
My gaze hung on his. It was warm and inviting, and I felt far too at home in his hold.
I flushed. I could feel the warmth spreading from my neck to the top of my head. He would likely laugh, but it would be mortifying to admit, all the same. I cleared my throat and raised my chin, meeting his gaze with a confidence I did not feel. “I told them earning your friendship in such a way was no great chore.”
His lips parted, and was that a tint of pink in his cheeks?
I bit my grin. “Forgive me. I’ve slandered you just as much as I’ve slandered myself.”
He made a funny noise and looked to the side, laughing. “Georgiana Wood. You are ... dash it all, woman, if that gets out, my mother will have my head.”
I winced, laughing, and he was still reeling enough that I broke free of his hold and stepped back a safe distance. I immediately regretted it.
“The words flew out of my mouth, and I wished I could rescind them. But you said you do not care about Society’s opinions. Do you?”
“I do not care.” The humor in his voice calmed my nerves, but I still felt awful for dragging his name through the mud with mine. Upon our first meeting, I wouldn’t have thought twice about it.
So strange how fast life can change.
His eyes warmed. He watched me with a serious look from beneath his lashes. “Walk the gardens with me?”
“Now?” I looked around to the cracked open doorway behind us that led outside.
“We are quite alone.” Marlow rubbed his jaw, then tucked his hands behind his back. “And I think it’s best—I do not think I should be left alone with you just now.”
I raised a brow. He hadn’t worried overmuch about propriety before. Perhaps I’d finally worried him with how careless I could be with words. “I’m not sure my reputation can get much worse.”
He gave me a look that shot straight down my spine. “I’m quite sure it can.”
My throat went dry.
