Dark Deceptions: A Regency and Medieval Collection of Dark Romances(39)

Tony smiled, revealing a very Adam-esque row of perfectly straight, pearl-white teeth. “It will be my pleasure, Miss Wilcox.” He held out his elbow.

*

Nicholas sat with his hip perched on the edge of his mahogany desk. The fa?ade of nonchalance was belied by his broken nose and crumpled clothing.

It had been a good six minutes since they’d last shouted at one another. It would appear they were making progress.

Nick swiped a hand across his brow, dashing back an errant trace of sweat. “Surely you see the wisdom in my words. You cannot marry this woman. Why, it would be ruinous.”

Apparently they were making far less progress than he’d hoped.

Adam closed his eyes and counted to ten. When he still felt like hitting his brother, he counted another five. He tried appealing to Nick’s sense of honor. “As a gentleman, you have to see that I’ve ruined Georgina. She is alone in the world. Without work…”

In a wholly un-earl-like show of emotion, Nick slammed his fist down on the desktop. “Christ, you are not thinking with your head!” He drew in a deep breath, and when he spoke again, his tone was even. “I don’t know anything about this woman other than that, in addition to being a maid, she was the reason for your overindulgence in whiskey.”

Adam looked away. His role with The Brethren precluded him from sharing key pieces of himself with his brother. He couldn’t mention how he’d come to know Georgina, nor did he care to get into details about Grace Blakely.

Nick placed his hand upon Adam’s shoulder, and Adam met his gaze square on.

“There is something about her I simply do not trust, Adam. You offer me very little about her background, and if I might speak plainly—”

Adam shrugged off his touch. “You haven’t been up to this point?”

Nick ignored his sardonic question and continued. “If this is about work, I’ll find her work. I am not suggesting you leave the woman to her own devices.”

Adam gritted his teeth. “Her name is Georgina.”

“Very well, then. I’m not suggesting you leave Miss Wilcox to her own devices. I can have my housekeeper set her up with a position in the household. Hell, set her up as your mistress but, by the good Lord, you cannot wed her!”

“He’s right, Adam. You cannot marry me.”

The color leeched from his skin as he swiveled on his heel, his heart lurching in his chest.

Georgina stood there, a perfect, pale, porcelain doll—small, fragile, and helpless amidst a room of life-size beasts. Based on the faint quiver to her lips and the white-knuckled grip on her skirts, she’d heard Nick’s scandalous proposal. A wave of hot fury licked at his insides and he wanted to hit his brother all over again.

Tony popped up behind Georgina. He waggled his finger at Nick. “Ain’t the thing, discussing a mistress, in front of a young lady.”

And now he wanted to hit his younger brother for showing Georgina to Nick’s office and exposing her to his brother’s priggish, bombastic views on status.

“Get out,” Adam ordered quietly.

When Tony didn’t move, Nick pointed to the door. “Out.”

Adam locked eyes with Georgina. Her gaze bled with hurt and humiliation. This was a wrong he’d committed. He’d be the one to soothe those wounds. “You, too, Nick. Out.”

*

Georgina braced for the earl’s protest, but to her surprise, he turned on his heel and left his office. The door closed behind him with an ominous click, leaving her and Adam alone. She rather suspected the earl’s willingness to leave had more to do with his confidence that Georgina would not capitulate to Adam’s harebrained offer. She studied the tips of her serviceable black boots atop the Aubusson carpet, the stark contrast a glaring reminder of who she was and who they were.

“Aren’t you going to look at me?” Adam asked quietly.

No. It was too hard to have all she’d ever longed for stretched out before her, hers for the taking. Except, as the minutes ticked by, she remembered Adam was the only other person who could weather silence with the same aplomb.

She glanced up and gasped, forgetting her dismissal, cruel Nurse Talbert, and the lofty Earl of Whitehaven. Adam looked horrific. “Adam, your face!” She rushed over and gingerly touched his swollen lip. He flinched. His blackened eye was a blend of purple and blues. Transported back to those hellish days of his captivity, she closed her eyes.

Adam rested his hands on her shoulders. “Georgina, this isn’t your fault.”

She swallowed, not opening her eyes because she didn’t believe him. It was. All of it. More than he knew. To compound all the ways in which she’d wronged him, she was now responsible for this friction between Adam and the earl.

“Adam, you mustn’t argue with him.”

Not for me. Not about me. I’m not worth it.

He lowered his brow to hers and inhaled deeply, as if she were a fragrant bud, and he wanted to forever remember her scent. “I’ll not allow anyone to disparage you, Georgina.”

If only he knew what kind of blood flowed through her veins, he wouldn’t so much as sully his hands by throwing her out onto the street. She couldn’t continue the lie, not to a man who was willing to battle his powerful brother—a brother he loved—for her honor.

“I-I n-need to tell you something, Adam.” Her insides fairly shriveled in fear of the condemnation she would see once she made her revelation. How long did it take a glimmer of admiration to die? A heartbeat? A second? The blink of an eye? “I don’t deserve your kindness.”