of letting me dog your heels when you were just a boy and were doing your utmost to put me in my place, the way your mother puts people she considers encroaching in their place.’
He shook his head. ‘There was an element of that, in my behaviour, I dare say. But it was because I couldn’t bear to look at you, thinking you’d forgotten all about me, that you hadn’t cared how badly you’d hurt me. It was like a nest of snakes writhing inside me every time I caught a glimpse of you.’
Oh, how cleverly he described things. That was exactly how she’d felt. All those emotions, swirling through her, making her want to strike out, the way snakes struck out and spat venom.
‘I acted as badly, when you came back. Because, even though I never received any letters from you all that time you were away, I went to the gatepost, hoping...’ She couldn’t say more.
‘You looked for a message from me? Even after what you believed I’d done?’
She nodded. ‘I sneaked out and went to the trout stream, too, hoping you might go there, the way you used to. I thought if I could catch you there, I could make you tell me why we couldn’t be friends any more. But—’
‘Georgie,’ he gasped. ‘Even after everything you thought I’d done, you still hoped... God.’ He bowed his head over their clasped hands. ‘You had more faith in me than I had in you. I believed,’ he said, raising his head and looking into her eyes, ‘I really believed that you thought so little of what we had that you found it easy to toss aside the promises we’d made.’
‘Oh, Edmund. All these years...’ She felt her lower lip quiver. And her vision blurred.
‘Don’t cry Georgie. Just be glad we’ve found each other again,’ he said. And then leaned forward to press his lips gently to her forehead.
She sucked in a short, shocked breath.
Just as the air was rent by the sound of a scream of outrage.
Georgiana made a desperate attempt to free her hand from Edmund’s clasp. Somehow, it wouldn’t seem so bad, Stepmama finding him in here, if only they weren’t holding hands.
Or if he hadn’t just been kissing her.
But Edmund had a very firm grip and was refusing to let go. What was more, before Stepmama had a chance to draw breath, he was saying, with marked irritation, ‘Do you have to make so much noise? Have you no consideration for Georgie?’
‘Do I have no consideration? Do I...? You...’ She pulled herself together, stepped into the room and bore down on Georgie’s bed. ‘Just what do you think you are doing in here?’ she hissed into Edmund’s face.
‘I should have thought that was obvious,’ Edmund calmly replied. ‘I was kissing Georgie.’
‘How dare you?’ Stepmama uttered in an outraged shriek.
Georgie experienced a strong urge to pull the quilt up over her face. And not only to drown out the screeching. The sound of footsteps thundering up the stairs meant that any second now, even more people were going to burst in on her.
Not that it appeared to bother Edmund in the slightest.
‘I dare,’ he said, ‘because it was essential that I persuade Georgiana that I am determined to marry her.’
Marriage? He hadn’t said anything about marriage before.
‘Only a gesture as dramatic as invading her bedroom and kissing her was going to convince her that I am in earnest, given the rift that had developed between us.’
‘Marriage?’ Stepmama shook her head. ‘But Georgiana swore it was no such thing. That you were merely friends.’
‘Nevertheless—’
‘No! You cannot marry her. Otherwise...’
She shut her mouth with a snap. Georgie looked over her shoulder to see Betsy and Wiggins jostling each other in the doorway to get a glimpse of what could possibly have occurred to make Stepmama shriek so.
‘Otherwise?’ Edmund was eyeing Stepmama coldly.
‘I only meant to say, I’m sure you cannot really wish to marry a girl like Georgiana.’
‘Not only do I wish it, but, should you attempt to oppose me in this, you will regret it.’
‘I...’ Stepmama swallowed. Wrung her hands. Turned to look over her shoulder at the servants.
‘Precisely,’ said Edmund, rather grimly. ‘There will be no way to keep my presence in Georgie’s room a secret.’
He was right. These were London servants. Hired along with the house. They had no particular loyalty to the tenants. And she could hardly expect them to keep such a juicy morsel of gossip to themselves. Oh, no—poor Edmund.
At this point, he let go of her hand, rose to his feet and went to the door.
‘You may be the first to congratulate me,’ he said to the servants in a determined voice. ‘Miss Wickford has just done me the honour of accepting my proposal of marriage.’
Wiggins’s left eyebrow rose in patent disbelief. But Betsy clasped her hands together and beamed at him.
‘Congratulations, your lordship,’ she said, bouncing on the tips of her toes.
‘Just so,’ said Edmund, reaching into his pocket and producing some coins, which he pressed into the hands of both servants.
Judging from the maid’s gasp, and the way the butler’s eyebrow immediately resumed its correct position, the bribe had been sufficiently generous to remove any malicious inference from the way they would relate the incident to anyone willing to listen. Which would probably be half of London.
Having ensured the servants’ goodwill, if not their silence, Edmund closed the door firmly on them and turned to Stepmama, his expression set.
‘Have you come to your senses yet?’ Edmund gave Stepmama one of those looks. The kind that put her in mind of his mother when she was depressing someone’s pretensions. Though Stepmama didn’t look as though she was about to meekly surrender. There was a martial light in her eyes that made Georgie suspect a battle royal was about to commence.
‘And do not attempt to hamper me by reminding me that Georgie is technically your ward and refusing to grant your permission for the match—’
‘Technically? There is no technically about it!’
‘Because,’ he continued as though she hadn’t interrupted, ‘if you should do anything so foolish you will find yourself presiding over a scandal that is bound to reflect very badly upon your guardianship. And that will not only adversely affect Georgie, in the short term, but also hamper your own daughter’s chances of ever making a good match.’
Stepmama’s eyes flashed fury. She clenched her fists.
‘Very
