“Oh?”
A smile tipped one side of her mouth. “I’d hate to think all the blunt I spent on finishing school was wasted.”
“Bluntyouspent on finishing school?”
“No one else was about to.”
“How were you able to do that?”
“When I was a child, it amused Lydon and his cronies to give me betting money at the races.”
“And you won?”
She shrugged a modest shoulder. “More than some.”
Dev tried not to let his surprise show. Lady Beatrix was an altogether different sort of lady.
“And I saved it all.”
“For finishing school?”
“A portion of it.”
She hadn’t quite answered his question. If she yet remained in possession of a farthing, she certainly hadn’t spent it, considering the near penury of her living circumstances.
The lingering question must’ve shown on his face, for she continued. “The remaining nine hundred pounds was to have been spent on one shining season on the marriage mart.”
No mistaking the irony there.
Her one shining season hadn’t gone to plan.
“You didn’t marry.”
“No one wanted to shackle themselves to the Marquess of Lydon, not even through his daughter.”
“Surely, that wouldn’t have mattered.” Dev’s hands found themselves wanting to clench into Destroyers of Worlds.
“At the first ball of the season, the gentlemen ranked all the young ladies who had come out.”
It was the flatness of her voice that gave her away—that gave away the residual hurt.
Through dread, Dev asked, “What were you ranked?”
“Oh, they didn’t bother ranking me.”
It was worse than he thought.
But with that answer, she confirmed herwhyfor him—why she’d entered into their arrangement. “With the money from me, you’re providing yourself with a dowry.”
She didn’t deny it. “A chance at a good, solid future with a good, solid husband.”
Dev nodded, even as he privately thoughtgoodandsolidsounded like a dead boring way to slog through one’s days. But he supposed her life until now had provided a certain motivation toward uniformity.
Lady Beatrix St. Vincent wasn’t only clear-headed, intelligent, and pragmatic.
She wasstrong.
A bemused laugh issued from her mouth that was yet a little kiss-swollen. “Well, that’s the air clear between us, isn’t it.”
