Page 94 of A Very Bellamy Christmas

Chapter 19

“I will go right to the heart of the matter,” Andrew said. “Sarah’s father, Sir Jonathan, wanted me to marry his daughter.”

Miss Martin nodded, but didn’t speak.

“He offered to pay off my sizeable debts, but that was not what piqued my interest. Sir Jonathan also possesses a third share in a valuable stud. The stallion in question is magnificent and, quite frankly, beyond price. I was sorely tempted.” He smiled at her thinning lips. “You are thinking it is mercenary to contemplate marriage for stud rights?”

“Mercenary, not to mention slightly ironic.”

Andrew’s jaw sagged and he gave a startled laugh. “What a naughty thing to say! I highly approve of such comments, by the way.”

Her cheeks flooded with color. “It is mercenary, but that isn’t unusual among our class, is it?” she asked, evidently choosing to ignore his teasing. “Her father wanted you for your connections and the possibility that his daughter would be a duchess, so I suppose it would have been a good bargain on both sides.”

“For me it would have been. And for Sir Jonathan and his wife and their family.” He gave her a sardonic look. “It would have been an excellent bargain for everyone but Sarah.”

Stacia frowned. “Why wouldn’t—”

“Because Sarah was already in love with another man, but he was somebody her father did not approve of: a humble farmer.”

“Mr. Leary,” she said.

“Just so. In the weeks that I courted her I was increasingly aware that she was less than enthusiastic about my pursuit.” He smirked at her. “Other than you, Miss Martin, I’ve met very few women who have, er, spurned my attentions. I know it sounds arrogant, but—”

“It might be arrogant, but it is also the truth. I saw it with my own eyes.” Her look of irritated disgust told Andrew just how she felt about that. “So,” she went on, “that is how you knew she was in love with somebody else? Because she didn’t want you?”

“I guessed her interest might lie somewhere else, but I wasn’t sure until she told me so.”

Miss Martin’s eyebrows arched. “It is difficult to imagine initiating such a conversation.”

Andrew chuckled. “Fear is a great motivator.”

“Fear?”

“Yes. Fear that I might actually propose.”

“And would you have?”

It was Andrew’s turn to raise his eyebrows.

***

Stacia bit her lip. “I’m sorry, that was rather—”

He waved aside her apology. “Honestly? I am not sure what I would have done. Sarah is a charming, interesting woman, so it would not have been a hardship. It would have made my cousin very happy, which might have convinced him to release my inheritance a few years early. And then there was the added incentive of King’s Falcon—the stud,” he explained at her querying look. “She said her father would not sanction the match with her farmer because of his hope that I would marry her. I confessed that I had no interest marrying a woman who was in love with another man.” A pained look flickered briefly across his handsome face, but he shrugged it aside and said, “When I gave her my word that I would not propose—and that I’d find a subtle way to discourage her father’s interest—she told me something else, something that made her situation dire, indeed.”

“She was with ch-child.” Her stammering irked her, and she cleared her throat and said more firmly, “It was the farmer’s child.”

“Not only that, but she was several months along. Even if her father did find another candidate to replace me, her condition was soon going to become obvious.” He gave her a wry smile. “And then she asked me for a favor. Can you guess what it was?”

“She asked you to help her make sure that nobody else would marry her—to destroy her reputation. And so you sacrificed your reputation so she could marry the man she loved.” Stacia chewed the inside of her cheek as she remembered the disgust she’d subjected him to. “I’m sorry, my lord.”

He gave a bark of laughter. “Oh, don’t make me a hero, Miss Martin. I am fairly certain that her father would have relented about her choice of husband when he discovered the truth. I did not save her, I just put an end to her father’s plans sooner rather than later.”

Stacia shook her head. “It is far more likely that he would have found a man willing to marry her and accept another man’s child. How valuable is Sir Jonathan’s stud right?”

He blinked. “Er—”

“I know you said it was priceless but humor me and put a price on it.”