"You're the woman I love," he said simply. "Whether you have nothing or Thirty five hundred pounds or a hundred thousand. You're still Clara."
"This certainly changes things," Lord Ashworth said, his mercenary mind already calculating. "Thirty five hundred pounds is a respectable dowry."
"It's not a dowry," Clara said sharply, finding her voice again. "It's my money, my inheritance, and no one else has any claim to it."
"Of course, of course," Lord Ashworth backpedaled. "I merely meant that it places you in a different social position."
"It places her exactly where she's always been, above the reach of social climbers and fortune hunters," Gabriel said, rising to his feet. "And since we're all being so wonderfully honest today, let me add that I shall instruct my solicitors to draw up matrimonial settlements that ensure Clara's inheritance remains entirely under her control, regardless of whether she decides to become my wife or not."
"That's highly irregular," Lady Agatha protested.
Clara stood, her composure still quite shaky, but her will unbent.
“I find myself in desperate need of a moment's private contemplation, and some fresh air to settle my nerves.”
"Clara…" Gabriel started, but she held up a hand.
"Please. This is too much to process all at once. My father's betrayal, the inheritance, your proposal in front of all these people…I just need a moment to breathe."
She fled the room before anyone could stop her, heading instinctively for the garden, for their rose, for the one thing that had remained constant through all the chaos.
CHAPTER 16
He found her exactly where he'd expected, standing before their rose, which had chosen this moment to bloom with what seemed like deliberate irony, pink and gold petals unfurling despite the lateness of the season.
"I told them all to leave," he said, approaching slowly, not wanting to startle her. "Well, Edmund helped by mentioning that he had documents suggesting Lord Ashworth might have been involved in some questionable financial dealings, which expedited their departure considerably."
"Was he?"
“One might safely venture to say so. He has a truly arduous genius for exposing the slightest speck of dust on the reputations of those who give me the greatest fatigue.”
Clara didn't turn around, but he saw her shoulders relax slightly. "Your aunt?"
"Threatened legal action, social ruin, and various other catastrophes before sweeping out in a cloud of purple indignation."
"And the Ashworths?"
"Gone, though young Thomas asked me to tell you he thought you were brilliant, and Penelope left you a note thatI'm afraid to open because her handwriting suggests either excitement or plans for some miscreant act.”
That drew a small laugh from Clara. "She's an interesting girl."
“She is, I daresay, a creature of sentiment unfortunately bound by the necessity of a purely mercenary family rather much like a certain acquaintance of mine, I believe.”
“I assure you, I am utterly devoid of such romantic notions.”
“Yet here you stand, amidst this most desolate of gardens, addressing a solitary rose, one which we ourselves grafted as mere children. I reason it is quite beyond dispute that you possess a decidedly romantic disposition.”
She finally turned to face him, and he could see tears tracking down her cheeks. "Thirty five hundred pounds, Gabriel. Do you understand what that means?"
"That you're wealthy enough to tell me to take my leave and live comfortably for the rest of your life without needing anyone's charity or employment?"
"That I could have been free years ago if my father hadn't lied. That I endured years of servitude, humiliation, desperation, all for nothing."
Gabriel moved closer, aching to touch her but respecting her need for space. "Not for nothing. It brought you back to me."
"That's a lovely sentiment, but…"
“I assure you, it is not a flight of sentiment, but the plain and unvarnished truth. If you'd had your inheritance, you would never have come here. We would never have found each other again. I'd still be dying slowly in my self-imposed prison, and you'd be... I don't know, probably wedded to some appropriate gentleman who didn't deserve you."
