“Your mother.I want her to be my wife.”
“And she never will be.She has no wish to marry you.”
The light in the study was airy and crisp.The large window let in the bright spring light from outdoors.It gave their conversation a falsely cheery atmosphere.
“And yet I hold the future of her estate, and thus that of her children, in my hands.If you do not persuade her to marry me, then I will call in the bailiffs, Miss Salisbury.And I will see the estate sold or that lame little brother of yours, George, in debtors’ prison.”
Anger flared within Beatrice.But she had to keep her calm.He couldn’t see how he rankled her.
“I can pay you one thousand pounds, Mr.Gordstone, towards the debt.And the rest by the end of the year.”
Beatrice had no idea how she would get such a sum, but she sensed that Gordstone would not be put off by anything other than the full ten thousand pounds promised very soon.
“You are not listening, Miss Salisbury.I will be paid now, in full, or I will take Eleanora as my wife.If the latter occurs, I will forgive the debt.I am prepared to be generous.”
She worked to remain calm.One thing was first in her mind.Her mother could not know of this ultimatum.Beatrice feared that she would sacrifice herself—and she could not stand to imagine her gentle mother married to this grasping man.
“You have always wanted her, have you, sir?”
He flinched at the question.“Yes,” he said, his tone flinty.“Your father and I met her on the same day.In London.All those years ago.She was a little songbird in her father’s drawing room.Iwanted to marry her.Butheasked her first.And she said yes.”
“You asked her anyway,” Beatrice said, relaying what her mother had told her many years ago.“Even after she accepted my father.But she rejected you.She didn’t want you.”
“Well, she will have me now.”
“No, she won’t,” said a deep voice from the doorway.Beatrice turned and saw, of course, Leith, her Thomas, standing there.“Mrs.Salisbury will never be forced to accept your hand.”
“Ah, the heroic marquess,” Mr.Gordstone said, his lip curling.“Ten thousand pounds, unfortunately, is a rather large sum even for a man of your rank.Especially to help a woman who is only his doxy.”
Leith’s eyes flashed at that descriptor.
“I could mistake this arrangement for nothing else,” Mr.Gordstone continued.“Your father said you had a whore’s nature, but even I did not know you werethisabandoned, Miss Salisbury.”
In an instant, Leith had him up against the wall.The man gagged, horribly, and Beatrice stood and ran around the desk.
“If you speak that way to the woman that I love again, I will rip out your throat.”
Mr.Gordstone’s eyes bulged.His face was turning a very alarming puce.
“I will make sure that you never draw another breath.I will take my chance being tried for murder in Lords—because I doubt my peers will convict me when they hear what a sniveling, blackmailingwormyou were.”
“Leith, let him go!”
Leith dropped the man roughly on the floor.“I will wire my solicitor for your money.And I will pay you to leave this family alone forever.Until my money arrives, keep to your rooms.If you bother anyone, I will beat you within an inch of your life.”
“You devil,” Mr.Gordstone choked out.
Leith kicked him in the ribs.The man moaned.
“Out!”
The man crawled to the door, then got to his knees, and finally stood.He cast one resentful look back at them—and fled.
Beatrice did not know whether to scold Leith or kiss him.She was not at all sure that she liked his interference.In fact, it rankled her.
But she also felt exhausted.And she could not be angry with the man who had made Mr.Gordstone pay for his perfidy and cruel words.
He turned towards her, his port wine eyes flashing, and she could not help it.She put her arms around him.And then, to her great surprise, she began to sob.
