Page 35
“Society does not care a snap.” Robyn snapped his fingers; the sound loud and oddly startling.
A tiny morsel of doubt crept into Georgine’s mind.
He brushed a finger over her cheek.
“They never do. The truth is dull, Georgine. Scandal, on the other hand, spreads like fire through dry thatch—and no one bothers to ask where the spark began or who started it.”
She opened her mouth to object, but couldn’t.
Every word rang with truth; more was the pity.
Anger simmered inside her at the injustice.
What a horrid bumblebroth.
“Facts are far too plain for their ignoble tastes.” She twisted her mouth in derision, not caring that she sounded bitter. “They crave scandal—juicy, sordid, and preferably ruinous.”
“Yes.” Robyn sighed, the sound hollow and resigned. “It is a fault of humankind.”
“Not all humans. Some refrain from such vileness.” She stared past him, idly noting the breeze teasing the purple lilac blossoms outside the window. “Matilda and Regina will suffer because of the scandalmongering.”
He had already said that.
So dashed unfair.
She had said that already too.
“They can put aside all hope they have of making a match.” He lifted her good hand and cupped it in his palm. “They’ll be turned away from drawing rooms, receive cut directs, and their names will be whispered behind fans. Yours will be dragged through the mire.”
Georgine couldn’t prevent her involuntary flinch, and Robyn must have seen it because he gently squeezed her fingers.
“I cannot stand by and allow any of that when I can prevent it,” he said softly.
Gossip drew blood as surely as any blade, the wounds lingering long after the whispers faded.
He brushed his thumb over her palm, the movement soothing and tantalizing at the same time.
“Georgine, I know this isn’t fair. We’ve done nothing wrong. But this is how Society works. And the only way to salvage this mess is to alter the story to our benefit. We shape the truth into something palatable.”
The intensity in his warm brown gaze made her heart beat faster and sent a rush of sensation flooding through her.
Only Robyn had ever caused her to respond in such a feminine manner.
“And we must act quickly before Mrs. Wynecott paints something grotesque and irreparable.” A steely edge had entered his voice.
She narrowed her eyes, not yet willing to concede her freedom for the trappings of matrimony. “And I suppose you have just such a solution?”
“In fact, I do.” He winked. “Something rather clever, I think.”
There was the boyish charmer she knew so well.
“And?” Georgine lifted her eyebrows. Even as she asked, in her mind, she railed against the injustice.
No, no, no.
I do not want to hear his solution.
I shall not like it. I shan’t.
