Georgina hesitated but then decided she preferred the idea of being in her new chambers to standing in the hall with this foul creature.
She took a step inside and froze. Her mouth fell agape and she had to remind herself to close it.
“It is rather impressive, isn’t it?” Miss Gayle said. Georgina thought she detected a trace of condescension in the older woman’s words.
Real or imagined, it infused her spine with strength. Georgina turned to the woman with a small frown. “Miss Gayle, have I done something to offend you?”
The housekeeper’s eyes went wide for a moment. She shook her head. “Forgive me. I do not know what you are speaking of.”
Georgina gritted her teeth. She’d had enough of stern disapproval. The nurses at Middlesex Hospital. The Earl of Whitehaven. The Countess of Whitehaven. She’d not tolerate any more…particularly from a stranger who knew her not at all. “I should hope a woman of your courage and conviction could at least be forthright with me, Miss Gayle.”
Miss Gayle blinked back at her in what Georgina thought was surprise. “May I speak frankly?”
Georgina inclined her head. “I wish that you would.” She preferred honesty to the false veneer of aloof politeness worn by Adam’s mother and older brother.
“The staff is concerned,” Miss Gayle finally said.
Well, that makes all of us then.
Georgina waited for the woman to continue.
“There have been…” The maid fell silent.
“There have been…?” Georgina prodded gently.
“Rumors circulating quite freely. One of the maids has a cousin who is employed by the Earl of Whitehaven who mentioned that Mr. Markham had been forced to marry you.”
Georgina’s heart tightened. She clenched her fingers so tightly it would surely leave marks in the flesh of her palms. Adam’s staff was good and loyal. They cared for him and worried that she was an interloper who’d forced his hand.
She glanced away, her gaze colliding with the tall windows at the opposite end of the room. Hadn’t she though? Had Adam married her because he truly wanted to? Or had he been driven by a sense of obligation after she’d been relieved of her responsibilities at Middlesex?
The housekeeper continued, twisting the knife of guilt deeper. “It is also being said that you are the source of much contention between Mr. Markham and his family. Every member of the staff knows just how close he is with the countess and his brothers, and it is—”
“That will be all, Miss Gayle,” Adam said in frigid tones.
The housekeeper paled.
Georgina’s gaze swiveled to the front of the room. Adam stood framed in the doorway, the muscles in his arms tensed, the fabric of his jacket stretched tight over his skin.
“I—”
“That will be all,” he said.
Unrepentant Miss Gayle’s glared and, with an insolent curtsy, hurried from the room.
Georgina toyed with the fabric of her skirts, looking everywhere and anywhere but at him as he strode across the room toward her.
He rested his hands on her shoulders. “Look at me,” he said, his words a husky murmur.
She glanced up.
“I will never allow anyone to speak to you like that. Do you understand? You are my wife and deserving of respect. I will give Miss Gayle her references and send her—”
Georgina gasped. “No!” She couldn’t be responsible for another woman losing her work. Not when she still battled the horrors of being alone with nothing more than false references to her name. She’d wish that on no other woman. She tried again. “Please do not dismiss her. She cares for you.”
Adam raised her right hand to his mouth. He brushed his lips across her knuckles. A shiver of awareness coursed through her body.
“You are a good woman,” he said solemnly.
Her mind screeched a silent protest at his familiar words. How many times would he hurl that mocking statement at her? It only served as a reminder of her deceit.
She swirled away from him, ripping her hands free. Not for the first time that day, the urge to flee surged like a wave amidst a storm. Adam stood between her and the doorway, and he was looking at her with such gentle concern she wanted to cry and she hated that she wanted to cry because tears were a sign of weakness and…She needed to put some distance between them. Hurrying over to the long window, she pulled back the curtain and peered down into the bustling street below.
Georgina had traveled down a path that could not be undone, and because of it, he would be forever trapped in a marriage that, for him, was nothing more than an obligation. Her throat seized up.
“You should not have married me,” she whispered, laying her forehead against the pane.
“I married you because I wanted to, Georgina. I don’t give a damn about anyone’s opinions or expectations and neither should you.” A trace of annoyance underlined his words.
She laughed, shaking her head. “Oh, Adam, you belong to a different world than I do.” She glanced over her shoulder at him. “I have to care about others opinions and expectations. You do not. You—”
“Georgina, we now belong to the same world.” His jaw flexed as if he were trying to remain in control of his temper.
Oddly, she was not afraid. Adam would not hurt her.
Georgina, however, could hurt him a great deal. All it would take was a whisper of the truth about her lies and he’d toss her into the street. A spasm wracked her body. She had to hug herself to try in vain to stifle the growing shiver. She pictured herself alone in a cold Newgate cell while the guards violated her, while the rats gnawed at her. Bile climbed up her throat.
“Georgina?”
Adam’s voice came as if down a long, long hall—distant and faint in her ears.
He pressed his lips to the nape of her neck and the horror receded. She sucked in a deep breath.
Adam pulled her back against his chest and rocked her in a gentle rhythm. “Do you have nightmares?”
She nodded. All the time.
“They haunt me as well. I don’t think a night has passed that Fox and Hunter don’t pay a visit to my dreams.”
Oh God. Agony struck her heart like a thousand knives. She knew nightmares. Had lived with them her entire life. And because of her horrible, vile father, Adam’s life would never be the same.
Tears blurred her vision. She had to tell him. Now, before they consummated their union and Adam was forever bound to her, a woman he would soon loathe and revile.
She turned in his arms and raised her tear-filled gaze to his. “Adam, I-I n-need…” She took a deep breath and tried again. “I need to tell you about Fox.”
Adam pressed a finger to her lips. “Not now. Not on this day. They took so much from both of us. I’ll not allow them to ruin this day, too.”
Georgina took a step away from him. She threw her palms up. “No! I have to say this.”
Adam closed the distance between them. He framed her face between his hands—hands which had caressed and soothed her. “It doesn’t matter.”