“Well of course, I authorized repairs.”
She snorted.“You’ve never spent a penny on Ferndale, so don’t lie to me.Neither you, nor Papa, for as long as I’ve been alive.”
He opened his mouth to argue, and she added, “Besides I’ve met the people living there now—which they have for the last two years.”
He stared at her.She could see he was trying to come up with a story to placate her.Another set of lies he would expect her to tamely swallow.
But she wasn’t the naive fool she had been.
She made a dismissive gesture.“Don’t bother, Edgar.You’ve been lying to me all along, I know that now.Papa too, I have no doubt,” she added bitterly.“So there will be no more marriages to wealthy old men for me, no more marriages at all, in fact.From now on, brother dear, you and your debts are on your own.”
He drained his glass of brandy, poured himself another one, drank it down in one go and leaned back in his chair, eyeing her with a brooding expression.
“There’s no need to look so smug, sister dear.My problems are your problems.”
“Not any more.”
He gave a humorless laugh.“Believe that if you like.But I ask you— what do you intend to do?Because unless you marry Sir Henry Lester, you’ll be destitute.”
She frowned.
Edgar continued.“We are behind in the rent on this house—if we don’t pay up by the end of the month, we’ll be out in the street.And you needn’t look at me like that—I don’t have any money—not a bean.As you so rightly pointed out, all I have are debts.”
“What about my jewels?”she asked hopelessly, knowing better.
He huffed a laugh.“Sold ten minutes after you handed them over.”
She’d guessed as much.“Lord Hewitt left me a substantial sum—I know it is true because he told me.”It was her last hope.
Edgar shook his head.“By the time Hewitt breathed his last he had barely a penny to leave.And we—all right,Ithen—sold everything after his death, and if you’re thinking there’s money left over, I can assure you there isn’t, not so much as a groat.”
Her stomach sank.“You stripped him of everything?”
“Indeed.”Edgar inclined his head in ironic assent.“So you see, you haven’t a choice.It’s Sir Henry Lester or debtors’ prison.Think about it, my pretty sister—do you really want your next address to be ‘care of The Marshalsea’?”
She shuddered.She didn’t know much about The Marshalsea except that it was a notorious prison for debtors.“I won’t marry Sir Henry, and I won’t be going to The Marshalsea,” she told her brother.
He gave a cynical snort.“How are you going to support yourself then?Sell yourself in the streets?Because you haven’t a penny to your name and believe me, if you don’t marry Sir Henry, it will come to that.”
She could tell from his expression that he believed she still had no choice but to fall in with his plans.She didn’t know what she could do—yet—but she’d think of something.
She rose from her chair.“I suggest instead of concerning yourself with my future, you give some thought to how you will support yourself.For the first time in your life.”
He rose, and came toward her with an ugly look on his face.“Youwillmarry Sir Henry Lester, if I have to drag you to the altar!”
“You wouldn’t dare!And anyway, I would refuse!You cannot force me.Or trick me.I’m not a child any longer.”
“You said that about marrying Hewitt, remember?And yet you did, despite your little brainstorm.”He gave a nasty laugh.“So save your arguments, little sister—you’ll marry whoever I tell you to.”
Tessa stared at him, frustrated and angry.She did remember the arguments, and refusing to marry Lord Hewitt ...
She’d never understood how it happened.She had no memory of the wedding—the loss was the result of a brainstorm, the doctor had told her.But she was irrevocably married—they even showed her the marriage certificate with her own signature—shaky but definitely hers—and she’d had no choice but to accept it.
Edgar sat there smirking.
“You are despicable!And I still refuse.”
“How will you support yourself then?”Edgar sneered.“Become a courtesan?Sell your lush little body at Covent Garden?”She gasped, but he went on, his voice harsh, “Because that’s all you’re fit for.At least with marriage you’ll have security.”
