"You were protecting your family's honour. I understood your reasoning, even if I disagreed with your decision."
"Honour." Lady Fordshire laughed, a sound with little humour in it. "What good is honour if we lose everything else? No, I was foolish and proud, and we are all paying the price for it now."
Harriet had never heard her mother speak so frankly. Lady Fordshire had always been the picture of composure, the unshakeable matriarch who held the family together through every crisis. To see her admitting failure, acknowledging weakness was almost more unsettling than the financial situation itself.
"What's done is done," Harriet said. "The question is what we do now."
"Indeed it is." Lady Fordshire's eyes fixed on Sebastian with an intensity that made Harriet's stomach tighten. "Lord Vane,I understand that Mr. Thornton raised the possibility of... an arrangement. Between you and my daughter."
"Mama!"
"I also understand that you refused." Lady Fordshire continued as though Harriet had not spoken. "I would like to know why."
Sebastian's expression had gone very still. "Lady Fordshire, I'm not certain this is an appropriate…"
"I am asking you a direct question, Lord Vane. I would appreciate a direct answer."
The silence stretched, tight as a bowstring. Harriet could feel her heart pounding, though she couldn't have said why. Sebastian's refusal had been clear as he had explained his reasoning in the study, and again in the garden. There was nothing more to be said.
And yet.
"I refused," Sebastian said finally, each word careful and measured, "because Lady Harriet deserves better than a husband purchased with her family's desperation. Because such an arrangement would be a prison for us both, her bound by obligation, me knowing that she had never truly chosen me. Because…" He stopped, seeming to struggle with something. "Because I would not have her that way. Not for any price."
The words hung in the air, heavy with meaning that Harriet couldn't quite parse.I would not have her that way. As though there were other ways he might wish to have her. As though…
No. She was reading too much into it. Sebastian was simply being honourable, as he had been all along. There was nothing more to it than that.
"I see." Lady Fordshire's voice was thoughtful. "And if my daughter were to approach you willingly? If she were to propose the arrangement herself, not out of desperation, but out of... shall we say, rational consideration of her options?"
"Mama, stop." Harriet's voice was sharper than she intended. "I am not going to propose matrimony to Lord Vane. I am not going to propose matrimony to anyone. We will find another way."
"Will we? Because Mr. Thornton seems quite convinced that our options are limited."
"Then we will create new options. We will sell the London house, the jewelry, whatever it takes. We will negotiate with the creditors, find investors, take out loans…"
"With what collateral? Our good name?" Lady Fordshire shook her head. "I admire your determination, Harriet, but we must face reality. The estate is our only significant asset, and if we cannot pay what we owe, we will lose it. That is not pessimism; it is simple mathematics."
"Sebastian has offered to help. To review the accounts, to provide capital for negotiations…"
"Lord Vane has already given us more than we had any right to expect. To ask for more…"
"I have not asked. He offered."
"Even so." Lady Fordshire's gaze moved to Sebastian. "I will not have my family become a burden on your generosity, Lord Vane. You have done enough."
"Lady Fordshire…"
"Please." She held up a hand. "Let me finish. I understand that you feel an obligation to us, for Richard's sake. I understand that you are trying to help. But there are limits to what we can accept without compromising our integrity entirely."
Sebastian's jaw tightened. "With respect, Lady Fordshire, your integrity is not in question. The circumstances of your debt were not of your making, and your attempts to resolve it have been honourable. If I choose to help, and I do choose it, freely, that is my decision to make."
"But it is our decision whether to accept."
"Then let Lady Harriet make that decision. She is, I believe, of age and sound mind. Let her weigh the options and choose for herself, without pressure from either of us."
Lady Fordshire's eyebrows rose. "You would defer to my daughter's judgment?"
"I would defer to anyone's judgment before making choices on their behalf."
