“I wanted to do this properly.” He looked a bit embarrassed as he explained himself. “We haven’t been honest with everyone else, but we’ve always been honest with each other. If you’ll have me, wewouldn’t have to lie to anyone ever again.” Corbyn’s voice dropped to a whisper as he urged, “Try it on.”
Hannah’s fingers twitched as if to take it, but she held herself back. Was she really going to marry Mr. Corbyn? She’d never imagined herself in this position, but it didn’t seem so unthinkable now as it had before. He was a good man. He meant what he’d said about protecting her independence, and they could ensure that the marriage settlement made it binding.
If I say no, I might never see him again. The possibility made her heart ache. Hannah had grown used to having Corbyn around. She liked the way she felt when he was near, the sense that she could rely on him, and the way he’d opened up to her, even when she suspected it didn’t come easily to him. It was nice to have an ally.
Moreover, if Hannah refused his offer, she would be forcing him to wait months or years for the money that he needed to start his brewery. Even if he hadn’t shared his hopes with her, they must be important to him. This was his future livelihood. After all Mr. Corbyn had done for her, she didn’t feel right paying her debt in bits and pieces from whatever she might hope to make at Jane’s club. Not when she had the funds sitting in her dowry going unused, and she might get at them easily with an arrangement that could bring them both independence. Three thousand pounds wasn’t much to start a family on, but if they didn’t have children and they were both investing something into profitable businesses, they could live quite well on it.
Oh goodness. I’m actually going to agree.
Hannah nodded. Her fingers were shaking too badly to get the pendant free of its box, but Corbyn took it for her, brushing her hair off her neck as he moved behind her to do up the clasp. “Thank you,” he whispered. “I promise not to hurt you, Hannah.”
Hannah’s hand flew to the stone of its own accord. It was cooland heavy at her throat. She felt like a child playing dress up in her mother’s jewelry, imitating a role she’d seen someone else perform countless times before her. But this was real.
Her heart skipped into a frantic pace, and Hannah had the sudden urge to turn and run back upstairs to her room, where she would be safe from this terrifying feeling. She could still tear the pendant off her neck and tell Corbyn she’d changed her mind. It wasn’t too late. But then he bent his head to kiss the side of her neck, and the heat of his mouth made her shudder. As if he’d sensed her fears, Corbyn wrapped his hand around her waist and pulled her against his body, anchoring her in place as his lips wandered downward.
Stay, he seemed to be saying, overruling her nervous energy with desire.
Yes.A tiny whimper caught in Hannah’s throat. Even if her mind balked at this prospect like a skittish horse, her body was quick to betray her. He’d always been able to summon that reaction. Hannah twisted to face Corbyn so that they could kiss properly. With his hands sliding over her body, she couldn’t remember any of the objections that had seemed so important before.
Corbyn was prepared to give her everything she wanted. Independence. Access to her dowry. A home of her own. So long as she kept her wits about her, it could be the answer to her problems.
They’d done very well with a pretend engagement. Why not a pretend marriage?
Eighteen
The matter of the marriage settlement was resolved a few days later at the offices of Mr. Williams’s solicitor. He was a tiny man with wire spectacles by the name of Mr. Filby, who wasted the first ten minutes of their meeting questioning the makeup of the group that came before him.
“There’s really no need for Miss and Mrs. Williams to be here,” he explained patiently. “I can arrange everything the gentlemen require.”
“Mrs. Williams most certainly does need to be here,” said Mrs. Williams herself, with a menacing glare that encompassed both her husband and the solicitor. The former only sat sullenly in his chair, while the latter blushed and tidied some papers to avoid her gaze.
“And I’d prefer that Miss Williams hear the terms of her settlement for herself,” Silas added.
“Yes, well, if you’re sure…” Mr. Filby cleared his throat. “What about your father, Mr. Corbyn? Mr. Williams informed me that you don’t have your own solicitor, but surely your family must want to—”
“He won’t be leaving me any property,” Silas interrupted. “Myonly possession of any value is the prize money I earned during my naval service, so I don’t see why he should be needed.”
“But your inheritance,” Mr. Filby protested. “It really is necessary to establish the intentions of both fathers of the parties to the marriage settlement, or it leaves the door open to a dispute between the heirs once someone passes on.”
“I’ve been disinherited. Pretend he’s dead if you like.”
Poor Mr. Filby looked overset by this frank pronouncement, but unlike Silas, he was too well bred to give free rein to his reactions with anything so gauche as words. Only his eyes betrayed his shock.
“L-let’s get straight to business, shall we?” He fussed with the same papers that he’d just tidied.
Mr. Williams was curiously silent as his solicitor took them through the essentials. Whatever his wife had done to bring him into line seemed to be working, even if his beefy fists were clenched in a silent struggle. As Mrs. Williams had promised, the amount of Hannah’s dowry was provided for in her own settlement, so there could be no dispute about it. Silas informed the solicitor that he wanted the full amount reserved for Hannah’s sole use, although this provoked some debate from her mother about whether the funds should instead be settled on their future children.
“Miss Williams might wish to buy some property with the funds,” Silas explained, half to her mother and half to Mr. Filby. “We’ll need to keep the money accessible.”
“You understand it would be your property, Mr. Corbyn.” Mr. Filby forgot his timidity as he launched into an explanation. “Legally speaking, you become one person upon your marriage, and you would exercise Miss Williams’s rights for her.”
Silas wished there were some way to get the man to stop talking. He glanced at Hannah, trying to gauge whether this would be thething that sent her racing out the door, but she kept her gaze fixed on her hands. She’d been difficult to read since his proposal.
She’d barely agreed to marry him as it was. If Mr. Filby began undoing all the promises Silas had made to secure her consent, who knew what she might do?
“There must be some way to arrange it.” Silas fixed Mr. Filby with a stern look. “Isn’t that the point of settlements? Why can’t you provide that the property would be for her sole use as well?”
“I suppose.” The little man polished his glasses on his shirt sleeve. “It would certainly be far simpler if she were bringing the property with her into the marriage instead of planning for a hypothetical, but we could make a provision in the settlement that any property purchased with the funds from her dowry must also be for Miss Williams’s sole use during her lifetime.”
