Lord Sebastian's Secret (The Duke's Sons #3)(41)

Hilda would see six months as an eternity, however. She would take it as a refusal. Georgina shuddered to imagine what her sister might do then. She’d mentioned this problem to her mother, but she didn’t think Mama had really taken it in. Perhaps after this latest prank she would listen.

Georgina reached her bedchamber, shut the door on this dilemma, and fell backward onto her bed. She hadn’t realized how worn down she was until they were safely home. When she could let go of the fear and determination that had kept her walking, she’d discovered layers of exhaustion beneath it. Her eyelids drooped. She forced herself upright. It seemed too much effort even to ring for the maid she’d put off earlier. She struggled out of her gown, barely managing to undress and crawl under the covers before she was sound asleep.

The following afternoon, Sebastian caught Georgina as she was coming out of her mother’s workroom. He’d been lying in wait for more than an hour, watching for her and evading her father. He felt the marquess’s eyes on him wherever he went now, full of suspicion despite their explanations and Hilda’s admissions of guilt. Somehow, Georgina’s father continued to blame him, which bothered Sebastian almost as much as the large purple bruise on his upper arm. “Come into the garden,” he urged.

“Mama sent me for a fresh supply of notepaper,” his fiancée objected.

“She’ll forget about it when one of the dogs calls for attention.”

Georgina looked back over her shoulder, then shrugged. “Probably.”

Sebastian offered his arm and was inexpressibly relieved when she took it. After all they’d shared in the last few days, he hated being away from her. It seemed an age since they’d touched. They went out the back way and hurried straight into the shrubbery where they couldn’t be seen from the castle. “Are you all right?” he asked her then. “Have you recovered?”

“I have great blisters on my heels,” she replied. “That is a lesson I have thoroughly learned—never go walking in riding boots.”

He nodded. His own feet suffered similar complaints. “And…otherwise?” He looked down. She looked up. Their eyes held. God, how he wanted her! Their time together in the wild had fired his desire rather than assuaging it.

“I am very well,” she said. “My only problem…”

“What?” he interrupted. Did she regret what they’d done after all?

She leaned closer. “I am so impatient to be married,” she murmured in his ear.

Her tone, her nearness, brought their lovemaking back even more strongly. “By God, yes!” He couldn’t help himself. He kissed her.

She melted against him, meeting his longing with her own, and for a few minutes they lost all consciousness of their surroundings. Then the sound of pugs yapping and the marchioness calling broke them apart.

“I can’t stay,” said Georgina. “Mama is keeping me close. I think she suspects that we…indulged. And she doesn’t know quite what to do about it.”

“Well, your father is treating me as if I pushed you into that gully,” Sebastian replied, reluctantly letting her go.

“They’ll get over it with a bit of time,” she said. “But, oh, Sebastian, your family. What must they think? What will your brother say to me?”

“You needn’t worry about that.”

“Worry? They believe I consented to an elopement! The idea of your mother…and the duke believing that. It makes me shudder.” She wrapped her arms around her chest and grasped her elbows as if to contain her reaction.

He should have gotten a letter off right away, Sebastian realized. It was just such a chore to produce one. But it had to be done. He should have known that. “I’ll tell them different,” he said. “Randolph will understand.”

“You don’t sound as if you believe that.” She gazed up at him anxiously.

“Of course I do,” declared Sebastian. “All will be well once I explain.” That would be heavy work, he feared, what with his distressing tendency to flail about in a muddle of words. Randolph was just the opposite; words were his joy and his playground. He could get so lost in a book that they had to shout to get his attention.

“He’s a clergyman.” Georgina held her elbows tighter. “And I’ve never even met him. He’ll think I’m a dreadful person.”

“He will not!” The mere suggestion made Sebastian want to hit something. He put an arm around her. “He’s not a priggish parson, far from it. You mustn’t worry.” Indeed, Robert had told him that Randolph had been relegated to his rustic parish because of “inappropriate levity” at a doctrinal conference. Sebastian thought of repeating this tidbit to Georgina, but he didn’t know what it meant precisely, and he didn’t want to give her the wrong impression of his brother.

Georgina was turning into his arms once more, where she belonged, when a slight figure burst out of the shrubbery and ran up to them. For once, it wasn’t Hilda.

“I’m so sorry,” panted Emma, clearly breathless from running. A sprig of evergreen was caught in her golden hair. “I was upstairs, and I saw you come out, and I wanted to tell you both. Together. I’ve never been sorrier about anything in my whole life.” Tears began to leak from her eyes and run down her cheeks. “I’ll never listen to Hilda again,” she said. “Ever. I knew it was wrong to leave you out there. But I had no idea she was going to say that, about eloping. I swear I didn’t! Please forgive me.” She was weeping hard now.