Dark Deceptions: A Regency and Medieval Collection of Dark Romances(44)

“Please,” she whispered forlornly.

His eyes slid closed. Christ. When she looked at him with those soulful, brown eyes, he could not deny her the Queen’s jewels, if she desired them. He tried one more time. “I do not want to leave you. I—”

She pressed her gloved fingers to his lips. Even with the thin, white layer of fabric between them, her skin nearly singed him. Passion roared to life. The last thing he wanted to do was speak to his brother. “Go,” she urged. “I’ll be fine.” Her lips turned in a crooked smile. “I’ve encountered far worse treatment than your family’s disapproval.”

Her reminder didn’t make it better. In fact, it made him want to hunt down his elusive captors and kill them with his bare hands. The thought of Georgina suffering clawed at his insides.

“Go.” She gave him a gentle shove.

Adam claimed her lips in a swift kiss. “Okay, I shall, but only for you. Otherwise they could’ve all go rot with their opinions.”

She made a small sound of disapproval. “Don’t say that. They love you and care for you. Now, go to them.”

Adam captured her hands in his. He raised first one then the other set of knuckles to his lips. Without another word, he turned on his heel and headed for Nick’s office. It was as he’d said to Georgina—his brother’s approval didn’t matter. But he would do this. For her.

*

Georgina stared after him, feeling as lonely as an angel who’d been cast out of the gates of heaven.

“Hullo there, sister.”

She spun on her heel. Adam’s younger brother lounged against a marble pillar, arms folded across his chest. His lips turned up in a roguish grin.

“H-h-ello.” Her insides shriveled with shame at the humiliating stutter. Adam and his entire family were the epitome of all that was graceful, elegant, and urbane. She, on the other hand, was…just Georgina.

He shoved away from the pillar and closed the distance between them. “You got him to speak with Nick. That was no easy feat.”

“How did you know?”

Another rakish grin. “I’m a younger brother. I make it a point to know these things.”

Georgina smiled weakly at him.

“He’s really not a bad chap, you know.”

The earl might’ve been a loyal, loving brother, but he was just as arrogant and snobbish as the rest of the ton so she chose to neither agree nor disagree.

“He’s not, you know,” Tony defended, correctly gauging her silence. “He’s not as stodgy as he might seem to you. You know, one of those priggish, stuffy noblemen.”

Georgina hadn’t seen anything to indicate otherwise.

He carried on. “He loves us. Oh, he’s overbearing and quite annoying most times. But when Adam was gone…” Tony’s blue-green eyes grew shuttered. A solemnity replaced his veneer of brevity.

She needed to hear the rest. “When Adam was gone…?”

He gave his golden head a shake. “I thought Nick would go mad. He would lock himself away in his office, reading each of Adam’s letters. He was convinced there was something amiss.” He slashed the air with his hand. “Said there was something not quite right with the notes, though he never said what exactly. He never wanted Mother or me to worry.” He leaned down, so close Georgina could count the odd smidgeon of freckles along the bridge of his nose. “So how did you meet my brother?”

At his blunt questioning, Georgina shifted. She didn’t know how Adam had explained his absence and had no intention of violating his confidence. Of a sudden, she became aware of the vulnerability of her situation. With Adam closeted away in his meeting, she was alone with Anthony Markham. She would venture neither the countess nor servants would notice if something were to happen to her.

She took a tentative step backward. Tony followed. She continued retreating until her back knocked against the front door, barring further movement.

“Hmm?” he asked.

Georgina had to remind herself that this was Adam’s brother. He wouldn’t try to beat the answers out of her. Still, after years of being kicked around, she’d learned that most men weren’t to be trusted. Tony might appear debonair and charming, but for all Georgina knew, he could’ve been one of the many men who brutalized helpless women.

She licked the seam of her lips. “I believe that is a question for your brother.”

His lips turned down, with what Georgina suspected was annoyed disapproval. “What can you tell me?”

Georgina flattened her palms against the door. “Mr. Markham, I will not speak about Adam’s personal life to you, even though you are his brother. I’d imagine you wouldn’t want either of your brothers running around and pressing young woman for details about your relationship with them?”

He dropped his gaze and his eyes narrowed on her trembling fingers. Then he reached for her hand.

Georgina bit her lip hard.

His gaze flew to her face and he took a hasty step backward, nearly stumbling over himself in his haste to get away. His eyes had gone round in his face. “You think I would hurt you?”

Georgina tossed her head back and forth with such alacrity that her simple chignon came loose, displacing a mass of curls. She shoved them behind her ears. “No,” she lied.

“Then why are you shaking?”