Misleading The Marquis

4 - Bane

She was not what he expected... in every way possible.

Now she stood outright dismissing him from her presence, while miserably swiping at the mess her face had become during his tirade.

The smallest corner of his chest felt a passing shadow of guilt.

It took guts to stare a man down while he was shouting at you, most especially if he was twice your size and had Bane's reputation for violence.

Then there was a flash of disappointment, as if she was taking something from him that he was not quite done with yet.

And what part was not he done with? The moranic uncle who insisted that Gina Marie had informed him that Bane knew who she was all along? The real Georgina Marie St. John smirking at his humiliation like a well pleased cat?

Or this Georgina Marie before him now, tight lipped and crying as if he was the one who'd broken her heart?

"Stupid girl!" he heard a woman wail, and he looked away from his bride's blotchy red face to see her aunt coming into the room, the rest of the family after her.

"What have you done now you little idiot?" the male cousin came in sourly, arms crossed over his chest.

He reached for Georgina Marie immediately, taking hold of her hair by the fistful and yanking her towards him. Bane flinched, but the girl didn't make a sound, only stared into her cousin's face with defiance.

He tried to remember if She'd ever hinted at Francis' cruelty in her letters then castigated himself immediately. She'd lied, and that was the end of it.

"So is he taking her or not?" the other Georgina Marie yawned as if the whole ordeal just was not entertaining enough for her yet.

"He must!" her uncle proclaimed, storming into the room after his family with what looked to be a thousand year old law text, "It says so right here, he has to take his property or pay food and lodging!"

"I'll see myself out," Bane grumbled, tossing just one more glance at his... wife where she stood between Francis and her uncle, chin up and eyes dead ahead. At least She'd stopped crying.

Guilt following him into the hall, Bane tamped it down and called for his man and his coat.

When at last the coat arrived, Bane realized he'd left the marriage certificate behind, on the Uncle's desk in plain view for anyone to destroy as evidence that he had been duped.

Turning angrily again to the study door, he swung it wide with a bang - freezing the occupants inside.

Georgina Marie was on the floor, the other two women having disappeared, the Uncle's arm raised to strike, and the cousin holding her by a wad of hair so tightly that he seemed to lift her off the floor.

"Enough!" Bane heard himself roar in anger, a flash of red coming across his vision as he reached for first the Uncle, then the cousin, sending each flying into opposite walls.

WIthout giving it much thought, he reached down and lifted Georgina Marie off of the floor and shoved her behind him in one swift movement.

"This is none of your business!" this from the cousin, he remembered the letters saying his name was Francis, "You said you didn't want her!"

"We will call the police! You must pay the dowry due us!" the Uncle blustered as he tried to collect himself from the floor where he'd landed, hit potbelly making that difficult indeed.

"Listen to me, pup," Bane grumbled, taking Francis by the nape of his neck, ignoring the boys' wimper, "I have seen a man hang for mistreating my horse - this is Lady Brisbane -"

"But you said -"

"- if I am willing to hang a man for whipping my horse, only imagine what I will do to the man who lays a hand on my wife."

The words came off of his tongue without forethought, that last one giving him an uncomfortable feeling in his chest.

Almost like that swelling of pride and determination that young boys get just before they go off to face a fight on the schoolyard that they will win or die trying.

"Then you admit she is yours!" Uncle Ernst was accusing, wagging that finger again. Bane was tempted to break it.

"You cannot have her!" Francis shouted, swiping at his bloodied nose as he stumbled out of Bane's grasp.

"By every law in this nation, this woman belongs to me," Bane spoke quietly now, almost in a deadly tone as his gaze went from the uncle to the cousin, "Am I understood?"

Neither man spoke, and finding himself more disgusted than usual by their cowardice, Bane turned to storm out.

Only he ran directly into Georgina Marie St. John, the one that belonged to him. She was staring at him, but not with fear and not with tears.

Her head was tilted to one side, her eyes large and bright as they studied him, more closely than he was comfortable with, to be sure.

"You heard me," he barked the order to mask his sudden discomfort, "Gather what you'll need, we're leaving - now!"