Benedict frowned. “Seb must have reached the end of his patience. He didn’t see you, did he?”

“No. I don’t think so.”

He took her hand and drew her inside. “Then stop worrying about it. Your unpleasant cousin is the very last person I want you to be thinking of tonight.” His smile made her anxiety ebb and her blood heat. “The only person you need to be concentrating on is me.”

He led her up the stairs and into his apartment; the key turned in the lock with a decisive click. Georgie glanced round, nervous again. This was it. The stage for her willing seduction. Only she had no idea how to begin.

“Why don’t you take off your cloak?” Benedict suggested. She did so, draping the heavy fabric over the chair and adding her reticule. He was only wearing a shirt and breeches; he looked comfortable and relaxed. He crossed to a sideboard and picked up a cut glass decanter. “Brandy?”

She nodded. A fortifying shot of liquor sounded just the thing to bolster her confidence. His fingers touched hers as he handed her the tumbler, and she took a tentative sip to quell the quivering that had started in her belly. If they did this, she would be his wife in truth. Their marriage would be consummated. Legal. Binding.

She jerked when he reached up and stroked her cheek. Brandy sloshed onto her wrist.

His mouth curved in an endearingly crooked smile. “Stop thinking, Georgie girl.” He raised her hand and licked the brandy from her skin, leaving a trail of heat in his wake. She shivered in anticipation, but to her surprise, he stepped away and slid open a drawer in his desk.

“First things first.” He withdrew a sheaf of banknotes and counted out fifty pounds onto the leather. “Here. Take it. I’ll pay back everything, including the five hundred from Newgate, as soon as I can. I won’t sleep with you if I’m taking your money.”

Georgie’s spirits plummeted. “What? No! You need that money. I know you do.”

He shook his head. There was a determined glint in his eye that said he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He left the cash on the desk and stepped back to her. “Let’s make one thing perfectly clear.” His gaze held hers, and her knees went weak at the intensity that burned in his eyes. “I am going to sleep with you for no other reason than because I am dying to do so.”

Georgie bit back a moan. An element of doubt had still persisted at the back of her mind, an ingrained mistrust of his motives that said this was all too good to be true. A man like him couldn’t possibly desire a woman like her. And yet the hoarse yearning in his voice was unmistakable.