"Nothing," he said firmly. "Mr. Thornton was merely speculating about arrangements that I have already refused to consider. The matter is closed."
"The matter is not closed if it concerns my family's future." Harriet took a step further into the room, her eyes fixed on Sebastian. "What arrangements? What have you refused?"
Sebastian's expression shuttered completely. "It doesn't matter."
"It matters to me."
"Lady Harriet…"
"Tell me, or I shall ask Mr. Thornton, and I suspect his version will be considerably less diplomatic than yours."
For a long moment, Sebastian said nothing. He stood by the window, his hands clasped behind his back, every line of his body radiating tension. When he finally spoke, his voice was carefully controlled.
"Six months ago, when the situation first became critical, I offered to forgive the debt entirely. Your mother refused."
Harriet stared at him. "You offered to forgive…" She broke off, struggling to process this information. "That's a fortune. Why would you do that?"
"Richard was my friend. I lent him the money to help him, not to profit from his family's misfortune."
"But you could have simply... let it go? Pretended the debt never existed?"
"I could have. I wanted to. But your mother would not allow it." Sebastian's voice softened slightly. "She said that an Fordshire pays her debts, and that she would not accept charity, not even from her son's closest friend."
Pride, Harriet thought. Her mother's damnable pride, which had apparently extended to refusing salvation when it was offered.
"So instead we face ruin," she said. "Because my mother was too proud to accept your generosity."
"It's not that simple. There are other creditors, other obligations. Even if I forgave my portion, it would not solve everything. It would merely... delay the inevitable."
"Then what was Mr. Thornton suggesting? What other 'arrangements' were you discussing?"
The silence that followed was beyond bearable. Sebastian's face had gone carefully blank again, and Mr. Thornton was suddenly very interested in his papers.
"Well?" Harriet demanded. "Someone speak, or I shall be forced to draw my own conclusions, and I assure you they will not be flattering."
"Mr. Thornton suggested," Sebastian said slowly, as though each word cost him something, "that a matrimony between a member of your family and a person of sufficient means might resolve the situation. The debts would be absorbed into the new household, the estate would be saved, and the creditors would be satisfied by the promise of eventual repayment."
Harriet felt the blood drain from her face. "A matrimony."
"Yes."
"Between a member of my family."
"Yes."
"And would this 'person of sufficient means' happen to be you?"
Sebastian said nothing. His silence was answer enough.
Harriet turned on Mr. Thornton with a fury that surprised even herself. "You suggested that I wed Lord Vane to pay off my family's debts? Like some medieval arrangement, trading a daughter for gold?"
"I suggested nothing of the kind, my lady." Mr. Thornton had the grace to look uncomfortable. "I merely pointed out that such arrangements have been made before, in similar circumstances, and that Lord Vane's position as the primary creditor made him a... logical candidate."
"A logical…" Harriet couldn't finish the sentence. She was too angry, too humiliated, too overwhelmed by the sheer audacity of what was being proposed.
"Lady Harriet." Sebastian's voice was quiet but firm. "I refused. The moment Mr. Thornton raised the possibility, I made it clear that I would not be party to any arrangement that treated you as a commodity. That is why I said the matter was closed."
Harriet turned to look at him. He was still standing by the window, his face half in shadow, but she could see the tension in his shoulders, the rigid set of his jaw.
