“I am not allowing that to happen,” she said, and her words were a vow.“I will find some way.”
The house party she had been invited to at Blackstone Manor, in hopes that she might land a husband, had not worked out.She’d been called away too quickly when her mother fell ill.But there must still be something she could do.
Johanna was the sister of an earl.An impoverished one, to be sure, but still an earl.Micah was only fifteen, too young to marry.He had the title, but not the responsibility.That lay within the hands of Mr.Jamieson Blash, her father’s third cousin and their closest living relative on her father’s side.He was Micah’s guardian and was responsible for sending the funds for them to live.Funds that had grown increasingly smaller before vanishing entirely during the winter.
“I am going to London,” she said with determination.“I am going to find Mr.Blash, and I am going to force him to help us.”
“I am going with you,” Rose said immediately.
“No.”Johanna shook her head firmly.“You cannot.Someone needs to stay here with the children and mother in case… in case…”
She could not make herself say the words.The idea that her mother might pass while Johanna was away, attempting to save her, was too terrible to contemplate.
Rose let out a long, reluctant breath.After a moment, she nodded, though it was clear she did not like it.
“I will stay here,” she said softly.“I will look after them.I’ll ensure your mother eats.”
“Good.”Johanna nodded, letting out her own sigh of relief.“Good.Thank you.”
Tears sprang to her eyes again as she and Rose hugged.The warmth of Rose’s embrace helped bolster her, making her even more determined.
Somehow, Johanna would save them.Her mother.Rose.Her siblings.
Whatever the means, she would find a way.
ChapterOne
Johanna
The air was rank.The thin dress she was wearing, the one she had arrived in London with, did nothing to help dispel the chill she felt.Or perhaps the chill was coming from within herself.
Neither of the two men beside her seemed to feel it.
She turned to Mr.Blash, her brother’s guardian.Not much taller than her, he was thin with narrow shoulders, but he did not bother using padding.His dark eyes were set deep within his face and topped with dark-grey brows that matched the dark-grey hair on the top of his head, which paled to a lighter grey around his temples.As usual, he was not smiling, but there was an air of anticipation around him.
Johanna supposed there was one around her, too, though hers was more of dread.
“Mr.Blash…” Her voice trailed off as he turned to look at her.There was something about the manner with which he appraised her that had unnerved her from the moment she’d appeared in his London office.Though he’d put her up in a room in a boarding house not far from him for the past few nights while he got things in order—out of his own pocket from the money he made as a solicitor, as he kept reminding her—and all proprieties had been observed, he always looked at her in a way that made her feel like cattle.“Is this truly the only way?”
Even though she’d asked before, she felt the need to hear the answer again, to help steel her nerves.
Her virginity was apparently worth more than enough money to save her family.Johanna could scarcely believe it, yet when Mr.Blash had explained it, it seemed simple enough.
One night, which would ruin all her future prospects but save her family from starving to death.Save her mother from starving to death.
Quick.Simple.Easy.
That was how he’d made it sound.
Now, beside this stage that she was expected to go on in a few moments, adjacent to a room full of the rumbling voices of men—some of them rough, some of them smooth but cruel, some of them laughing—it did not seem so simple.Nor easy.Hopefully, though, it would be quick.
“I’m sorry, my dear, but it truly is,” Mr.Blash said, putting his hand on her shoulder.His expression turned to one of sympathy, but his eyes remained hard and glittering in the dim light.“There is nothing else that will gather the money you need quickly enough if your mother’s situation is as dire as you made it sound.”
“It is.”The feel of her mother’s hand, nothing but skin and bones, flashed through her mind.
“Then this is the only way.One sale, and you will have enough money to buy food for everyone for the next year and pay me back what I have sent from my own income.”
That had been another surprise, an unpleasant one.Apparently, the money they’d received from the estate had not been from the estate at all, but from Mr.Blash.He’d been using his own funds to support their coffers.And her mother was still starving to death.
