That pulled Steve up short, because of all the things they needed to talk about, he was fairly certain that Peggy apologizing to him wasn't one of them. She was tense, he could tell, and that made Steve tense up, too, with the sort of anticipation that left a pit in your stomach, a sinking certainty that everything was about to go horribly wrong.
He made a soft, protesting noise halfway through her explanation, but he didn't want to interrupt, not when it seemed like she needed to get this off her chest. Her cheeks had pinked up, and that curl had slipped free of her ear again; the moment she fell quiet, Steve set down his fork and shifted his chair closer, reaching out to carefully tuck it into place once more.
"Hey," he said gently, "I got a couple things to say to all that, all right? First thing is - you don't owe me an apology about keeping Buck's secrets for him. I don't like being kept out of the loop, but it's important for him to have people he trusts, and you're one of 'em. I wouldn't ask you to betray that." The curl was once again in place, but Steve didn't drop his hand. He kept his fingertips lightly pressed to her neck, while his thumb stroked smoothly along the edge of her cheek.
"Second," Steve said, "I am spending more time in the Capitol lately, so there are things I probably do need to know." His own mouth tightened, because that had gotten him into trouble more than once lately. He couldn't afford to be so ignorant of things going forward. "And I'm not saying you need to be the one to tell me, especially if it's someone else's secrets, but - use your best judgment, I guess. Or see if you can talk that other person into sharing." His tension lining his mouth went away, replaced with a soft, fond smile. "I think people will listen to you, they know you've got a good head on your shoulders."
A better head than most of them had, really, though the fact that Peggy continued to choose to spend time with Steve was, perhaps, a blow against her in the particular column of "good judgment."
Steve took a breath and caught Peggy's gaze with his own, intent and maybe the slightest bit pleading. "And third," he murmured, "absurd is exactly what those new rumors are, all right? They can't be fun to hear, I know, but - you know I've got eyes only for you, don't you?"
He didn't go into the fact that honestly, these rumors probably wouldn't hurt any of their reputations - if anything, it would only raise them in the esteem of your average Capitol citizen. If the story had been that Steve had beaten up a man for saying shitty things about Bucky - or worse, if Steve had failed to keep his mouth shut and revealed the fact that Victors were forced to prostitute themselves on Stane's command - that would have been far, far worse.
"I know it's asking a lot of you," Steve said softly, "but it should die down soon enough."