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“He impersonated me and forged my signature.” Shelby released a frustrated huff and scraped a hand through his dark blond hair. “He used my name and character to obtain a thousand-pound loan from a card sharp, which came due the fifteenth. The henchmen came round to collect yesterday. My butler promptly penned me a message.”
“Good Lord.” Roxina’s blood ran cold before she flushed with heat. “Mitchel is selfish and untrustworthy but to betray you in such a fashion…”
She spread her hands.
“I am truly sorry, Shelby.”
A thousand pounds.
A veritable fortune.
Could Shelby afford to pay the loan?
The consequences, if he couldn’t, might be dire.
He quirked a hawkish dark blond eyebrow. “I don’t suppose he has any funds or valuables at the house?”
She laughed; the sound almost hysterical to her ears.
“If he had, don’t you think I would’ve used them to pay the baker? Butcher? Grocer?” She gestured toward her gown. “Perhaps splurged and bought a couple of yards of fabric to make a new gown? This travesty was my mother’s, Shelby, and she’s been dead for a decade. I’ve remade this rag four times, and no one here isn’t aware of my reduced circumstances.”
If it weren’t for the earnings from the Ladies of Opportunity’s betting book, she’d have starved long ago.
On the verge of tears, she swallowed and blinked rapidly.
I shall not cry in front of him.
Not him.
Shelby Tellinger, who had befriended the monster who tormented Roxina her entire life. Since the moment she came into the world and stripped her fourteen-year-old half-brother of his only child status, he’d put every effort into making her life miserable to pay for robbing him of that prestigious position.
Shelby sank onto the sofa and crossed one long leg over the other. Drumming his fingertips on the brocade arm, he contemplated her with such intensity that Roxina fidgeted and then stood.
“Well, if that is all, I shall excuse myself.” And make straight for her bed. Although, how she would sleep with the news Shelby just imparted, she couldn’t fathom.
“That is not all, Roxina.”
Of course, it wasn’t.
“He’s mortgaged your house to the hilt. I purchased the loan six years ago so you wouldn’t be evicted.”
Oh, my God.
It cannot be true.
But Roxina knew, deep in her soul, Shelby spoke the truth.
Her head spun, and she extended a hand to grasp hold of something so she wouldn’t crumple to the floor in a hysterical heap. She had a smattering of pride left, and to let Shelby Tellinger see her come undone—she couldn’t bear it.
Shelby shot to his feet and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Far gentler than she believed him capable of being, he guided her to the sofa.
“Sit down, Roxina. You’ve had a terrible shock.”
She licked her lower lip, afraid she might cast up her accounts. “You bought the mortgage?”
Six years ago?
Wasn’t that about the time he and Mitchel had become friends?
