The marchioness, cheery as always, had appeared in the entryway without them noticing. Fiona panicked and jumped away from Giles, but he yanked her back by the waist and said, “Godmother.”
Just as Fiona had testified, the garment around her waist was tight as a drum. He could feel it through the thin fabric of her dress. He had placed his hands on her waist before, with all the dancing they’d done at parties, but it had never felt that stiff. Giles’s sister insisted corsets were nothing once you got used to them, but he felt a pang of sympathy for Fiona; it must hurt when you weren’t used to it.
“Your corset is tight,” he murmured.
“Lord Giles!” Fiona hissed.
“Sorry. Well, we’d better hurry, then, so you can be free of it as soon as possible. Let’s go.” Giles released her waist and offered his elbow. Fiona blushed a deep red but slid her pale hand through the gap in his arm. The ring on her finger caught the light, filling Giles’s heart with a strange sense of completeness. “Excuse us, Godmother. I’ll stay and chat with you next time.”
“Yes, and I look forward to it,” the marchioness said merrily. “Have a great time, Fiona. And don’t forget, you and I are having tea tomorrow.”
“Y-yes, my lady!” Fiona curtsied, her smile betraying her discomfort at the reminder that her questioning was slated for the next day.
Giles bowed to his godmother in turn and walked out the front door, pleased to see that Fiona and the marchioness had become fast friends. The servants bade them a cheerful farewell as they stepped into the carriage and set off for Roche’s gallery.
Rudolph’s punishment had been placed squarely on their shoulders. They planned to present Rudolph with his options, including the unexpected suggestion from Fiona, and let Rudolph himself make the decision. Once this matter was settled, the case would be closed—at least publicly.
“By the way,” Giles said in the carriage, “Rick warned me that I looked scary.”
“He did?”
He relayed the conversation to her. Fiona craned her neck dubiously, blinking several times as she scrutinized Giles’s face, then smiled softly. “You don’t look scary. Maybe it was the lighting?”
“Could be.”
“Oh! But wait a minute…” Fiona reached out to Giles and pressed her finger square between his eyebrows. “It’s all over now. Your boys up there can relax.”
Giles looked at her. “But Gordon is still—”
“They were going to let him off then and there, but you pled with the police to put him under probation at least until the season was over, and now he has a guard. You did more than enough.”
But Gordon had received no prison time, which Giles considered a failure on his part. His father thought it imprudent to wield his power as an earl to influence the judge, and the crown prince did not want that either. Giles wanted to do something, but he floundered and came up dissatisfied.
However…
“You’re right,” he murmured.
“I know.” Fiona’s smile came from her heart. Seeing it, he felt the tension between his eyebrows melt away. He closed his hand around the finger touching his forehead, then lowered it and laced his fingers with hers.
“We still can’t say our troubles are completely over, though,” Giles said.
“Yes. If there’s one thing that concerns me most, it’s Rudolph.”
“We’ve prepared everything we possibly could. Is there anything else?”
Giles was distracted by their laced fingers, but when he pressed the pink-cheeked Fiona for an answer, she steadied her breath and said, “While we’re talking…I’m worried my corset might rip.”
Giles paused. “I don’t think you need to worry about that.”
“P-please don’t laugh. You should be supportive and worry with me!”
“You’re laughing too, Fiona.”
“Forget about me! Oh, Lord Giles, I’d like to see you wear one.”
“A corset?”
“And I’ll tie it to the tightest setting!”
The carriage rang with laughter for the first time in a long while.