Georgie nodded. “Which is precisely why I need to sever our association. If the circumstances of our marriage ever got out, the scandal would ruin my sister’s chances of making a good match. She and my mother would be spurned and disgraced.”

“And yourself,” he added gently.

“Oh, well, yes. Of course.”

If Wylde was going to blackmail her, she’d just given him the perfect opening. She waited with a grim sense of inevitability for him to demand a princely sum to keep quiet about the whole affair.

“Hmm,” he mused. “I see your dilemma. So, what now?”

Georgie hid a frown of surprise. Was he truly not going to ask her for money? She was no stranger to tough negotiating, but he was almost impossible to read. Time to lay all her cards on the table. Honesty in business dealings, however painful, was vital.

She cleared her throat and assumed a brisk tone. “I was hoping we could deal with this like sensible adults. You cannot wish to be married to me. And I do not want to be married to you. An immediate annulment is therefore in both our interests.”

“On what grounds? We’re both of sound mind.”

Georgie resisted the urge to snort. She’d doubted her own sanity almost daily during the past few weeks. “Josiah threatened to have me declared mentally incapacitated when I told him I’d married a sailor,” she admitted wryly. “But that won’t work. I have plenty of professional acquaintances who can attest to the fact that I’m competent.”

She stole a glance at Wylde’s chiseled profile. He really did have an extraordinarily nice jawline, now that it wasn’t covered in bristles. Looking at his lips made her own tingle. A wave of disbelief washed over her. She, Georgiana Caversteed, was married to this Adonis! It was such an improbable pairing, like some Greek god come down from Mount Olympus to dally with an unsuspecting mortal. She took another wistful glance at his outrageously tempting mouth. Things rarely went well for the mortals in those stories, though. They all ended up being turned into rocks, or trees, or got ripped apart by hunting dogs.

Still, maybe it was worth it. He really was mind numbingly handsome.

Georgie shook her head and forced herself to concentrate on the disaster at hand. “I had hoped our marriage could be terminated on the grounds of nonconsummation, but according to my research, that in itself is not sufficient for an annulment.” Heat rushed to her cheeks. “In fact, to gain an annulment the husband—ah, that is, you—would have to be declared impotent.”

A long, excruciating silence ensued. She didn’t dare look at Wylde’s face; she focused on the pale green swirls of the Aubusson rug instead. Was it possible for someone to burn up with mortification? She ignored the hellish flush creeping up her neck and stumbled on.