She drew back. “I—why didn’t you tell me?”
He snorted out a humorless laugh. “You were always so quiet, so uncertain of yourself and what you had to offer. What good would telling you those awful things have done? I feared you would retreat into your shell further.”
“So you pushed me to present a more perfect picture in order to…” She trailed off as recognition dawned on her.
He nodded. “To obtain a man who truly deserved you, my dear. But now…I want the best for you, Georgina. And I can’t stand by and watch you marry a fortune hunter who has convinced you that his feelings for you are tender.”
Paul took a gulp of air, his eyes narrowing, but before he could launch into a tirade at her father, Marcus stepped forward instead.
“Mr. Hickson, I don’t know if my opinion is of any value to you, but Abbot is the most faithful and honest man I have ever had the pleasure to know. I would never for a moment believe him to be a fortune hunter.”
“Says his employer, a man who runs this utterly vulgar club,” Georgina’s father snapped, and Georgina shot Marcus an apologetic look.
It seemed unnecessary, for he only shrugged. “Then why don’t you ask some of the men Paul Abbot served with in India?”
Her father’s forehead wrinkled. “India?”
Marcus nodded. “This ‘fortune hunter’, as you call him, served with distinction in the East India Company and was injured saving ten other men in his company, including the son of the Earl of Waterberg. I will tell you all of those men will say nothing but good about him. I know that for a fact because I spoke to them ten years ago before I took Abbot into my employ.”
Paul had been curiously silent during the exchange, but now he moved toward Marcus, his eyes wide and his face lined with the same remnants of pain she had seen on them when he told her a portion of his history in the wax exhibit.
“You—you knew?” he stammered.
Marcus smiled, and it was a warm expression that spoke volumes of how deeply he cared for Paul. “I know everything. Always.”
Paul was silent for a long moment. Then he slowly turned his attention back to Georgina. In his eyes, she saw a shift. A determination that fanned the hope in her heart like nothing before. It was as if he had finally made a decision and there was nothing that would stop him now.
“Georgina,” he said softly, saying her name as an endearment like there was no one in the room but them. “Do you truly love me?”
She nodded without hesitation. “Yes. I am absolutely, without a doubt, in love with you, Paul Abbot.” Then she bit her lip. “But—but you have never said the same. You told me you cared for me, not loved me.”
She waited for him to say something, to admit his heart in return, but instead, he turned away from her to her father.
“Sir, I am not a fortune hunter. I may not have anything close to your annual income, but I have invested well and can keep your daughter more than comfortable. I would never ask for her dowry. In fact, I would insist you keep it. Or at least put it into an account that only she controls. My intentions are the best they can be.”
Georgina watched her father, but his face was impassive and she couldn’t read his reaction to Paul’s suggestion. His voice was very hard as he said, “Your intentions? How can you speak of me of your intentions when you have her in this club like a whore?”
Georgina flinched. “Don’t forget, Father, I came here. He didn’t ask me.”
Paul shot her a glance. “What your daughter says is true, and yet I understand your question of my intentions. After all, I may not have brought her here, but I most definitely went too far. Once I found her here, I should have had the strength to turn her away when she threw herself into my arms. But I didn’t. I-I am in love with Georgina, sir. And that made getting swept away far too easy.” He sighed. “But I did not claim her—I didn’t ruin her. So if you decide that I am not worthy of her hand, despite my feelings for her and hers for me, you needn’t worry that this story will leave this hall. I wouldn’t interfere in her future or ever do anything to bring her grief.”
She blinked at the tears that filled her eyes. “Except offer to walk away from me when I love you more than anything?”
“If that would give you the best chance at happiness, I would.” His voice cracked on the last two words and she could see his pain. It mirrored hers. And yet here they waited for her father’s approval. Because Paul Abbot was a decent man and he would not take what was not given freely.
Even if she tried to force her father’s hand, Paul would not.
She turned to her father with a long sigh. “Then I suppose you hold my fate, as always. What do you say, Father?”
He was quiet for a very long time. So long that she nearly broke into tears. He stared at Paul, he stared at her, and finally he asked, “You would marry this man if there were no impediments?”
She nodded immediately. “If Paul asked me, I would say yes with no hesitation and only joy in my heart.”
Her father’s eyes fluttered shut. “Oh, Georgina.”
She moved forward and took one of his clenched fists in her hand. The action forced her father to look at her and she prayed he could see her sincerity and Paul’s as she whispered, “I love you, Papa. And I have truly tried to make you happy, but there has been no man to tempt me in the four Seasons I have trod the London halls. And since I met this man…”
She released her father and stepped back to now take Paul’s hand. He allowed it and squeezed gently as she looked up into his impossibly handsome, wonderful face.
“Since I met this man I knew there would be no other for me,” she finished.
“And you, Abbot, would you marry her?”
Now Georgina held her breath once more. Paul could deny her in some twisted attempt to protect her, to provide her with a future she no longer desired. A future she knew now she would never take, even if it were offered to her on a silver platter by a duke of the highest order.
Paul smiled, his expression very soft. “Yes. With your permission, sir, I would make her my wife. With great pleasure and with no other motive than to make her happy for all the rest of our days.”
Her knees went weak at that agreement, not made reluctantly but with joy and hope on his stern face. She longed to kiss him, but didn’t. Not with her father already so very angry.
She forced herself to look to her father again, and he nodded. With a great sigh, he said, “Then you have my blessing, for I have only ever wanted my daughter to be happy. And I can see the only path to her happiness is the same path which leads to you.”
Georgina could no more control the cry of joy that burst from her lips than she could control the act of breathing. She flew at her father. “Truly?”
He nodded, and for a moment she saw hope for her reflected in his eyes. “Yes,” he repeated. Then he glared at Paul and motioned to the bed. “But no more of this until you are lawfully wed.”
Paul moved forward and took her hand. With the other, he offered a handshake to her father. “Of course, sir. I would not think of betraying your trust again.”
Her father hesitated, but then reached out and shook Paul’s hand. “Now Mr. Rivers and I will leave you two to finish fixing yourselves.” He glared at Paul again. “Quickly, you understand.”
Paul nodded. “Certainly, sir. We won’t be but a moment.”
Her father hesitated, but then turned and motioned Marcus to the door. “Come, sir. I have heard this club stocks some of the best whisky in the city. I think I have earned a glass, both to recover from my shock and to celebrate my daughter’s upcoming union.”
“I will buy you one myself,” Marcus said with a laugh, opening the door and gesturing Georgina’s father out before he gave a big wink to Georgina and Paul and shut them in alone again.
The moment they were gone, Paul turned on her. He grasped the front of her dress, which still half gaped after their near-love making. He tugged it shut
and began to button her as he glared down at her.
“Georgina Hickson, you lied to me,” he murmured. “And I think we need to discuss it.”
Paul stared down into Georgina’s beautiful, blue upturned eyes. They were filled with joy. The same joy he felt at the idea that this woman would soon be his wife. But her methods…those he did not approve of.
“What do you have to say for yourself?” he asked, trying to keep his tone firm when what he wanted to do was sweep her against him and kiss her silly as a celebration of their very happy news.
She dropped her lashes demurely. “I am sorry, Paul. I realize I put you in a terrible position.”
He stifled a groan as he thought of the “position” they had been in before they were interrupted. And very soon they would be there again, only this time with nothing stopping him from claiming her.
But of course she meant his position with her father.
“What I don’t understand is why you didn’t simply write to me, explain yourself. We could have designed a plan together.”
She hesitated. “I suppose I simply feared you would refuse me. Not because you didn’t care for me or want me—I knew you were too good a man to go so far with me if you didn’t feel something beyond mere lust. But because you are so proud and so decent that you wouldn’t agree to such subterfuge.”
“You are right, I would not have, and do not believe in such trickery.” He frowned. “Georgina, you could have done permanent damage to yourself, and if your father hadn’t bowed to your convincing, you could have destroyed any chance of us being together.”
She arched a brow. “Does that mean you would have approached him yourself, if I hadn’t pushed the issue?”
He hesitated. It was a good question. He’d been thinking of nothing but Georgina since the night they shared at Madame Tussaud’s, but he hadn’t the courage to think they could be happy together.
Not like she had.
“You must think me a coward,” he said.
She cupped his cheek, her skin impossibly soft on his. “Never.”
“Since my return from India I have been…cautious. Perhaps too cautious. But I tell you now, Georgina, I knew I loved you, and I think that eventually I would have tried to convince your father of my heart and my intentions. In my own time.”
She slid her hand from his cheek and wrapped both arms around his neck. “Are you very, very angry with me for rushing your schedule? For taking this situation into my own hands?”
He couldn’t continue to be severe with her. Not when she looked up at him with such joy and devotion. Not when she was suddenly and inexplicably his thanks to her wild scheming.
“I am not angry,” he admitted. “Because you have given me exactly what I have wanted since the very first moment you walked into the room at Annabelle and Marcus’s party two years ago.”
“Did you truly love me then?” she whispered.
He nodded. “Truly. I wanted to dismiss it, but the more I got to know you, the greater friends we somehow became, the more that feeling has grown, no matter how I tried to diminish it. I love you, Georgina. And I cannot tell you how happy I am in this moment.”
She smiled, her face lighting up as it hadn’t in the entire time he had known her. He realized that the weight of her time in Society had been lifted from her slender shoulders. And now she was left with only happiness and joy and a certainty in their future.
“But there is one more thing I must do before we join your father and Marcus,” he said.
She shook her head. “What is that?”
He dropped down on one knee and stared up at her. “Georgina Hickson, will you do me the great honor and equally intense pleasure of being my wife?”
“I have already agreed—” she began.
He shook his head. “No, we both told your father that if we were free to marry, we would. But I did not formally ask you if you would take my hand, if you would join my life, if you would accept what little I have to offer not just today, but for all the days we have left. Georgina, will you marry me?”
Tears had leapt into her eyes, but they were obviously tears of happiness. She smiled through them with all her love for him shining clear on her face.
“Yes, Paul Abbot. I will marry you. And I will endeavor not to drive you utterly mad for the rest of your life.”
He pushed back to his feet and drew her into his arms. “My love, I fully expect and look forward to being driven mad. Every day. Every blessed, perfect day.”
Then he dropped his mouth to hers and kissed her.
Epilogue
Two months later
Georgina ran her brush through her hair as she looked at herself in the mirror. She was, finally and forever, Mrs. Paul Abbot. If she had thought herself happy on the day he had proposed to her in the club, now she was ecstatic. So much had changed since that desperate afternoon.
The door to her new chamber opened, and in the mirror, she watched Paul step through, his gaze falling on her and his smile widening.
“My parents have departed?” she asked as she got to her feet and turned to face him.
She was wearing a very pretty, very sheer night shift under her robe, but she was feeling a little nervous to reveal it. After all, Paul had been nothing but gentlemanly since their engagement, so they had not touched in an intimate way, save a few stolen kisses, in two months. Though she did often catch him looking at her with a certain hungry look.
A hunger she echoed at night in her empty bed.
“At last, yes,” he said with a happy sigh. “With all their good wishes.”
She smiled. “You have proven yourself to them, Paul. All your attention to their concerns, the way you have addressed them all so carefully over the weeks, it made such a difference. This morning as we were riding over to the church, both of them waxed poetic about you. If you ever worried about garnering their approval, you have done that and even more.”
He nodded. “Yes, it seems so, though I know they both still hesitate about the club—not that I can blame them. Either way, I am pleased, for I never wanted them to look on me as the fortune hunter your father once accused me of being.”
She shook her head. “They don’t anymore. And I never have, and as your wife, I would say mine is the only opinion that will ever matter.”
“Been talking to Annabelle, have we?” he teased as he moved toward her slowly.
She laughed, though her nervousness was beginning to increase as he reached out to stroke his fingers across the exposed skin of her wrist.
“I do like it when you say the word wife,” he said, his voice getting rougher. “Won’t you say it again?”
She leaned in and whispered, “Wife.”
“Yes,” he groaned. “Wife. My wife. And now I would very much like to consummate this union at last.”
She blushed. Paul was usually very proper, but now there was a dark and dangerous look to him. One that made her thighs clench as she remembered the intense pleasure he had given her not so very long ago.
“I’ve been waiting for this,” she whispered as she finally dared to loosen her dressing gown. With hands shaking, she slid it away and tossed it aside to stand before him in the short, sheer gown beneath.
“Good God,” he groaned, not moving but just staring at her for a very long moment. “You are beautiful.”
She smiled. Paul always made her feel beautiful. And now he was going to love her with his body as he had been for weeks with his words and his precious gestures.
“Will you…will you…”
She trailed off, unable to ask the question that was on her lips. He stepped toward her and glided just one finger beneath the thin strap of her chemise.
“Will I?” he encouraged her.
She took a long breath. “Will you remove your clothing this time? The last two times you weren’t able, and I admit I’ve been very curious. Mother wasn’t helpful in that arena, although Serafina and Annabe
lle and Gemma have given me some good advice in the past few weeks.”
He laughed. “I’m certain that is true. And yes, Georgina, I will remove my clothing tonight. I want to feel my body pressed against yours. I want to touch you in every way and I want to allow you to touch me. In fact—”
He cut himself off and stepped back to remove his jacket, then loosened his cravat. Slowly, he unfastened the crisp white shirt beneath and slid it away until he stood before her in only his trousers.
She caught her breath. Paul had always had a certain wiry strength to him. She had felt the muscles beneath his clothes when they danced or she stole a moment to kiss him. But now…now she could see him half-naked, and he was better than she’d ever imagined.
He was a finely defined man, with lean muscle at his stomach, strong arms and perfectly formed shoulders. Well, one perfectly formed shoulder. The other was scarred terribly.
She stepped forward and hesitantly allowed her hand up to touch the flesh mangled long ago. He allowed it, watching her closely.
“Does it still hurt?” she whispered.
He nodded slowly. “Not the flesh, but the damage beneath occasionally aches. Not so that I cannot do what I wish, but there is discomfort.”
She met his eyes. “I am sorry for that. And so proud of your bravery in saving others.”
Now it was his turn to blush and dart his gaze away. “I am half-naked now, Georgina. It is time to remove that very pretty night shift.”
She smiled and stepped closer, letting her body just brush his. “Then I will be completely naked. It seems unfair.”
He put his hand beneath her gown straps and glided them down at the same time. “It seems perfect,” he retorted as the gown pooled at her feet and she stood before him in nothing more than her skin.
She had never been naked with him. She’d always had some tiny protection of her gown, as bunched and lifted as it had been. But she found she wasn’t awkward as he stared, his eyes lit up with fire. No, she felt nothing but powerful, beautiful, his.
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