She scoffed. “Some grown man. Your father sent for you and you came trotting down like a good little boy.”

“Stop it,” he snapped.

“Don’t pretend any of this is your idea. You are doing nothing but your father’s bidding.”

“I am doing you a favor!”

Georgie gasped.

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Nicholas said quickly.

“Oh, I know how you meant it.”

“Georgie—”

“Consider this a refusal,” she said, each word a little snip of fury.

“You’re saying no.” He didn’t ask it like a question. It was more of a statement of disbelief.

“Of course I’m saying no. How can you possibly think I would accept such an offer?”

“Because it would be the reasonable thing to do.”

“Because it would be the reasonable thing to do,” she scoffed. “Were you laughing at me?”

He grabbed her arm. “You know that we weren’t.”

“I can’t believe this,” she ground out, yanking herself from his grasp. “Do you understand—No, you couldn’t possibly understand what it feels like to be so utterly without choices.”

“You think not?”

“Oh, you think this”—she waved her arm wildly—“this counts as having no choice? Being ordered to marry me? At least you get to feel good about yourself.”

“I feel splendid right now, let me tell you.”

“You get to call yourself a hero, saving poor little ruined Georgiana Bridgerton. Whereas I—I get to decide between the man who ruined me and a man who pities me.”

“I don’t pity you.”

“But you don’t love me.”

He looked ready to tear his hair out. “Do you want me to?”

“No!”

“Then for the love of God, Georgie, what is the problem? I’m trying to help.”

She crossed her arms. “I am not a charity. I don’t want to be your good works.”

“Do you think I wanted to sacrifice my life for you?”

Oh, that stung.

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Nicholas said quickly.

Her brows rose. “That’s the second time you’ve had to make that statement in the past few minutes.”

He cursed under his breath, and she was shallow enough that she took pleasure in his discomfort.

“I hereby release you from all obligation,” she said in her most annoyingly supercilious voice. “You asked. I said no. You have done your duty.”

“It is not my duty,” he bit off. “It is my choice.”

“Even better. That means you will respect my choice. To say no.”

He took a breath. “You are not thinking clearly.”

“I’m not thinking clearly?” God help a man who told a woman she was not thinking clearly. Freddie Oakes had said the same thing in the carriage heading north to Gretna Green. If Georgie heard it one more time, she wasn’t sure she could answer to the consequences.

“Keep your voice down,” Nicholas hissed. He jerked his head toward Anthony and Benedict, who had halted their games and were now looking their way.

“Did you find more worms?” Georgie called out. She had no idea how she managed to sound so cheerful. She didn’t sound so cheerful when she was cheerful.

“No,” Anthony said, but he looked suspicious. “They’re not fun if they don’t bother anyone.”

“Right, well, carry on then.” She smiled so broadly her cheeks hurt.

“You’re going to injure yourself,” Nicholas muttered.

“Shut up and smile so they stop looking at us.”

“You look deranged.”

“I feel deranged,” she practically hissed. “Which should worry you.”

He held up his hands and took a step back, a motion so patronizing she nearly went for his throat.

“Aunt Georgie, why do you look like you’re going to strike Uncle Nicholas?”

Georgie froze, only then realizing she’d made a fist. “I’m not going to strike anyone,” she said to Benedict, who was regarding her with undisguised curiosity. “And he’s not your uncle.”

“He’s not?” Benedict looked from Nicholas to Georgie and back again. He opened his mouth, closed it, and then turned back to Georgie, this time with a slightly suspicious expression. “Are you sure?”

Georgie planted one of her hands on her chest. This had to be some sort of elaborate practical joke. Even Shakespeare could not have conceived of such a farce.

“Papa says we should call him Uncle Nicholas,” Benedict said, his little nose wrinkling. “I know Mummy told us we’re to mind you this morning, but I can’t go against my father.”

“Of course not,” Georgie said.

Meanwhile, Nicholas was standing off to the side, doing a terrible job at hiding his amusement.

“You must do as your father says,” she said to Benedict.

He nodded. “I think Uncle Nicholas should be my uncle.”

Georgie wanted to scream. Even the children were conspiring against her.

“Uncle George is Uncle Nicholas’s brother,” Benedict explained, “so it only makes sense that he’s our uncle too.”

“Uncle George is your uncle because he is married to Aunt Billie,” Georgie explained. “And Aunt Billie is your aunt because she is your father’s older sister.”

Benedict stared up at her with huge, unblinking eyes. “I know.”

“A person isn’t your uncle just because his brother is.”

Benedict considered this for about half a second. “But a person can be your uncle if his brother is.”

“It’s like squares and rectangles,” Anthony interjected, with all the authority of an oldest child. “All squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares.”

Benedict scratched his head. “What about circles?”

“What about circles?” Anthony countered.

Benedict looked up. “Aunt Georgie?”

She shook her head. This, she could not handle right now. No one should have to deal with an unwanted marriage proposal and geometry in the same morning.

“You don’t know anything about circles,” Anthony said.

Benedict crossed his arms. “Yes, I do.”

“If you did, you wouldn’t have asked about them, because they have nothing to do with—”

“Boys, stop,” Georgie ordered. “Now.”

“He does this all the time,” Benedict protested. “He thinks because he’s bigger than me—”

“I am bigger than you.”

“Not forever you’re not.”

“Says who?”

“Says me!”

“Stop!” Georgie yelled.

“I hate you,” Benedict seethed.

Anthony stuck out his tongue. “I hate you more.”

“Boys, stop this at once,” Nicholas said sternly.

God above, if they listened to Nicholas when they wouldn’t listen to her, Georgie was going to scream.

“He started it!” Benedict whined.

“I did not! You asked about circles!”