When they finished, he enveloped her small hand in his, finding it much too cold. And she was trembling. “We must get dry.”
Teeth chattering, she nodded and allowed him to tow her into the house. “There will be tea and biscuits at least.”
“There should be more than that.” Georgie wrapped her arms around herself. “I’m so cold.”
“Well, it’s not the warmest day.” He was astonished she wasn’t having hysterics. Then again, no lady who could jump from a moving coach would have hysterics. “I’ll make a fire and fetch some blankets. You’ll have to get out of those clothes.”
“Y-y-es.” She turned her back to him.
It had been years since he’d been in this particular folly. The fireplace was massive compared to the rest of the oak-planked room, which was furnished with a table and chairs as well as the bench in front of the fireplace. He was glad the windows were already shuttered. A flint was in a cubbyhole next to the fireplace, and logs were already laid. Once the fire was started, he filled a kettle with water and searched for blankets. He finally found them in the wardrobe in the bedroom. By the time he returned, she was down to her shift. The thin linen clung to her narrow waist and nicely curved bottom. She reminded him of a goddess, and that was just from behind.
Her fingers shook as she hung her clothes over chairs.
“I’ll take care of those. You need to get warm.” He draped the wool blanket around her shoulders. He wanted to ask her if she knew who had abducted her, but that could wait until she was warm. “This should help.”
“Th-thank you.” She turned to him, and Gavin sucked in a breath. Her hair was half down and dripping water between her breasts. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Slowly he removed the remaining pins from her hair and put them on a small table. The mass of rich chestnut curls tumbled down past her waist.
Beloved.
The word clamored in his head. Before he could stop himself he wrapped his arms around her, and vowed to himself never to let her go. “When you jumped my heart . . . my heart dropped to my feet. I don’t know what I would have done if anything had . . . if you had died.” He buried his face in her hair. The fear of losing her still stuck in his gut. “My God, Georgie, I love you. I tried not to. I tried to be strong, but I love you, and I want you in my life for as long as we walk this earth.”
She cupped his cheeks with her still cold hands and searched his face. “I love you too. But it’s not a weakness. Loving someone can bring strength.”
“It didn’t for my father.” And now that he’d failed, it might not for him.
She wrapped her arms around him, and they stayed like that until she stopped shivering. “I think the water is hot. I’ll make tea, and you get out of your wet clothing.”
“I hope it’s not stale.”
Georgie glanced over her shoulder and grinned. “If this one is stocked like the others, there is fresh tea, milk, sugar, bread, and cheese.”
“That’s right.” He’d completely forgotten the new protocol. “The servants that are being trained.”
“Precisely.” She rummaged through the cabinets and found everything she needed as he stripped off his clothing and added it to the rest of hers spread over the four chairs, drying in front of the fireplace, before wrapping a blanket around himself. The room was warming nicely, but there was still a chill.
A few minutes later, Gavin and Georgie sat next to each other wrapped in blankets and holding cups of tea on an old German bench carved on the arms and back with images of animals.
She leaned against him as if they had been together for years. “I know most of the story, but tell me what happened when your mother died.”
He took a sip, then told her what he had not mentioned before. “So you see. I vowed I would never do what he did. I would never fall in love.”
Reaching out, Georgie caressed his cheek and turned his head to face her. “You won’t because you have seen what happens. And you have already shown yourself to be stronger than your father ever was. You lost your mother. Your mother”—tears shimmered in her eyes—“the most important woman in your life, but you did not allow that loss to destroy you.”
“I didn’t have a choice.” Gavin couldn’t keep the grim tone out of his voice.
Smiling, she kissed him lightly on his lips. “Of course you did. You could have copied you father’s behavior, but you did not. You held everyone up and carried on.”
He stared at her for a moment, unable to believe the love and trust in her eyes, and faith she had for him. “I never thought of it that way. I mean I know I carried on, but I never thought that I was stronger than him. Everyone always said how much I was like him. I needed to ensure that I—”
She placed a finger on his mouth silencing him. “I love you. And I know you are strong. Even if something was to happen to me—and I do not think it will. I come from a family of long-lived ladies—I know you will take care of our children and our holdings.”
“Our children?” Gavin felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth.
“Yes.” Georgie nodded. “Our children.”
“I should get down on one knee and propose properly.”
She rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “You tried that the first time. I liked your second proposal much better.”
What would have happened if he’d followed his instincts the first time and taken her into his arms? Would he have discovered, or be able to admit to himself that he loved her? “When and where do you want to marry? And please say that it will be soon.”
“Not as quickly as our friends have wed, but at St. George’s in two weeks. That will give my parents time to return to Town.”
“St. George’s?” Gavin wanted to groan. In fact, he probably had groaned.
“Yes.” She flashed him a quick smile. “My mother has always wanted one of us to have a wedding there. Meg got married at our family’s estate. Kit wed in Scotland. Who knows if or when my other two brothers will marry. They are both too young to think of taking a wife. And I can’t place the burden on my younger sister. Therefore, we shall say our vows at St. George’s to make my mother happy.” Her eyes acquired a wicked look. “But that does not mean we cannot anticipate our vows.”
Gavin’s jaw dropped, and he snapped it shut. “What do you know about”—he swallowed—“about that?”
“My sister, having a feeling the information would be helpful, became a font of useful information. I might be innocent, but I’m not ignorant.” Georgie frowned. “At least not entirely.”
“Let’s put that notion to a test, shall we?” Finally he’d make her his. Something he’d been dreaming of doing for months.
Leaning back, Georgie held up one hand. “First you must make me a promise. I have no desire to get with child and there not be a wedding.”
That gave him second thoughts. However, at this point there was little he wouldn’t swear to. “Anything.”
Her raised brow reminded him forcefully of her grandmother. “You may not do anything to put your life in danger before we are married.”
He drew her into his arms again. “You have my word.”