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“Well, I’m not waiting for backup,” Henry said, straightening his shoulders. “If Harrington is desperate enough to kidnap Lady Arlington off the street, there’s no telling what else he might do. I will try to convince him to release her, but he may respond better if he thinks I’m alone.”
Crenshaw gave him a resigned nod. “Fine. I’ll cover you as best I can until my men arrive.”
It wasn’t exactly a foolproof plan, but Henry’s only focus was getting Georgiana away from Tobias as quickly as possible.
Reggie let out a moan and dabbed a handkerchief across his brow.
“She’ll be all right, Reggie,” Henry said. “I promise.”
The man gave him remorseful look. “Please accept my apologies, Captain. I was an ass in Dover. I thought you were a bounder, but Georgie set me straight yesterday.” Henry cut a glance to the detective. As much as he wanted to hear this, it was hardly the place. But Reggie didn’t seem to notice. “And my God, my father! Forcing her to give you up to save the family! It’s positively medieval.”
At that Henry stilled. “What?” he asked quietly.
“All this time I thought she had chosen him,” Reggie continued, shaking his head. “That shewantedto be a viscountess. What a fool I was.”
“Reggie,” Henry said roughly. “Explain yourself.”
That finally got through to him, and his sapphire gaze snapped to Henry’s from across the carriage. “Father was up to his ears in debt, and the viscount offered to pay it off in exchange for her hand. I wish I had known. Georgie’s always kept so much to herself, but I should have asked. I suppose that’s why Father made sure she inherited those factories after the viscount finally had the decency to die, but it doesn’t really make up for essentially selling her off into a loveless marriage, does it?”
It took Henry a moment to realize Reggie was waiting for his reply. “Then…she didn’t love the viscount?” he asked dumbly. It felt like his head was full of sand.
Reggie gave him a pitying look. “Never.”
Henry turned toward the window as he sorted through the wave of disparate emotions crashing over him. “I knew when she married him that it wasn’t for love, but then I saw her.” His voice sounded hollow and wooden to his own ears. “Just after she had learned of his death in Scotland. She was on the floor, sobbing.”
Reggie was silent for a long moment. “I imagine those were tears of relief,” he finally said in a tone that left no room for doubt.
Then he had been wrong. All this time. How much they had both lost. It nearly made him ill to think of it.
“I thought…” Henry sighed. “I hadhopedshe was happy. If only for a little while.”
It wasn’t until the admission left him that he realized the truth of it, even when he had been swamped with jealousy. Henry cast a tentative glance at Reggie and found the man was practically beaming at him.
“Oh, Captain,” he said. “That is just what I wanted to hear.”
Chapter Nineteen
Georgiana stood in the corner of a large, empty room on the ground floor of the deserted factory she now owned, watching as Tobias appeared to unravel a little more with each passing minute. Strange to think the boy she had once happily built sandcastles with during shared summer holidays was the same haggard man now standing before her.
“Are you waiting for someone?” she asked after he checked his pocket watch yet again.
He gave a brief nod, but did not look at her. “And it appears they aren’t going to come. So I’ll just have to do this myself,” he muttered.
Georgiana’s throat tightened as she tried to swallow. “Do what?” she forced herself to ask as he turned to face her. For one brief moment something like regret flashed across his face, but then his jaw hardened once more.
“You should have listened. Then none of this would have had to happen.”
“Tobias—”
“No,” he said firmly. “I tried to warn you, but now it’s done. You knew what you were risking when you signed those papers. It’s your own fault.”
Georgiana inhaled a shaky breath as he approached. “You sound like you’re trying desperately to absolve yourself of something.”
“I don’t have a choice,” he insisted as he stalked toward her.
She shrank back. “Of course you do,” she said, her voice unnaturally high. “You always have a choice.”
But Tobias only shook his head as he reached into his coat. Amid the fear thrumming through her blood came the crush of regret as she thought of Henry and all that she never got to say. All that he would never know.
