Page 83 of Her Duke's Second Chance

Robert smiled. “Good. I am glad it is a treat. It will only make this night more memorable for you.”

“Oh, I doubt I will forget this dinner.” She grinned.

He inclined his head to the side with curiosity. “Would you care to expand on why that is?”

She chuckled. “It is rather mortifying, but I will tell you.”

“Please.”

“I grew up in a family headed by two irresponsible parents. That meant that if anything needed doing, I was the one who had to make sure it wasdone. As such, I had no time for daydreaming about ideal husbands or magical evenings. I never had any suitors come to call on me or invite me anywhere. Even you, my dear husband, treated our union as something of a transaction. So today is the first time that a suitor has gone all out for me.”

Robert’s mouth turned down. “I am the one who should be mortified. I punished you with my behavior for things that were not your fault.”

She frowned. “Punish? What do you mean?”

“I had come to believe that any woman who showed me any type of affection was immediately in danger of death. My mother died in childbirth and my first betrothed died in an accident. I was convinced that the only way to ensure it would not happen again was to distance myself. You were a casualty of that decision.”

Georgiana felt her heart melt at his painful explanation. It clearly was not easy for him to show her his vulnerable side. Nevertheless, she felt compelled to point out the obvious flaw in his reasoning.

“Are you saying that you somehow caused all those deaths?”

“Of course not. But one cannot turn a blind eye to recognizable patterns.”

“Unless one was seeing patterns where none exist.”

Robert raised an eyebrow. “Is this an argument? I do not wish to quarrel with you.”

Georgiana took a deep breath. “You are right. I apologize. I did not mean to trivialize your feelings. Selfishly perhaps, I wanted to feel as if the possibility of love between us was there, and I cannot see that happening if you fear that you might cause my death as a result.”

He blinked at her, clearly thrown off by her admission. “That is…honest.”

She shrugged. “Please excuse my bluntness. I was not taught much about airs and graces and the genteel ways in which a lady should speak.”

He leaned forward to look in her eyes. “You were too busy making sure there was food to eat.”

She huffed in amusement. “I suppose I was. Even if I was not…I do not think it was ever in my mother’s nature to help anyone.”

“What an unusual observation. Please, do elaborate?” He picked up his wine glass and drank from it heartily before resuming his meal.

“Well…she was very…” Georgiana waved her hands about, trying to think of the right word. “She…is…well, she thinks about what she wants and then expects she will get it. She is unaccustomed to making any kind of effort. Her father was a knight, and she was his only daughter. He doted on her. His greatest wish for her was that she marry a man with a title because that was what she deserved. I believe she expected everyone else to feel the same way, or at least act accordingly.”

“Hmm. That must have been exhausting for you.”

Georgiana laughed. “Perhaps. But I did not know any different. I think now, having had a year of not having to think of anyone but myself and my household, if I were to go back home, I might find her exhausting.”

“What of your father? Did he indulge her as well?”

“He was too busy gambling. They both enjoyed it immensely, so they understood each other.”

He reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “It sounds very lonely.”

She blinked away her sudden tears. She had not expected him to make that deduction. Georgiana swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded.

“Some…sometimes it was. But then,” she gave him a watery smile, “there was Daisy. She was such a sunny child; it was difficult to be unhappy around her.”

Robert’s hand stayed over hers as he sighed. “I am sorry. I did not mean to make you cry.”

“You did not. I am just being…mawkish with remembrance.”

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