Page 14 of The Baron Takes a Bet
Holly stared at him, and he could see her resolve to break.
“It would only be temporary, until the tree can be removed and the roof repaired. Though how I’m to find the money to pay someone…”
“I’ll cover the cost,” Gavin said. When she seemed on the verge of protesting yet again, he added, “As a loan.”
“A…a loan?” she repeated. He nodded. She took a moment to think this over, and then sighed in resignation. “Very well,then. A loan. One that my family will pay back immediately upon turning this farm back into a profitable one. I promise.”
“We’ll have Mr. Armstrong draw up papers if you like.”
“Yes.”
“Then you will come to Kingston House?”
She gave him a stiff nod.
“Oh, thank goodness,” Katrina said, taking off like a shot down the hallway before suddenly reappearing. “May we leave now?”
“Er, I suppose,” Holly said, and her sister disappeared again. Now alone, she crossed her arms, less a belligerent pose than a defensive one, as if she was covering and protecting her heart. “I hope you don’t think I’m ungrateful. It’s just that I’ve been the sole protector of this house and my family for several years now, and every time someone has offered to help, it has come with a price.”
He frowned, curious. He didn’t like the sound of that, but it resonated with him. He himself did not like to ask for help, simply because he had learned at a young age that he could never rely on anyone else.
“How so?”
Holly let out a humorless huff of breath.
“If it isn’t the local gentry trying to get me to sell off our lands, it’s someone else paying only half price for our livestock.” Her gaze fell to the floor. “I was never taught how to run a profitable farm. I had to learn all my mistakes on my own. Turn after turn, it seems I can never manage to get ahead.” She sighed, her eyes lifting to meet his. “Ever decision I make always turns out to be the wrong one.”
Gavin was surprised that she would confess something so personal.
“Surely not every decision?”
Holly shrugged.
“Nearly. It was my idea to pay off our family debts as soon as possible. To do so, I had to sell half our livestock to our neighbor, Mr. Granger. He promised to sell them back to me once I could turn a profit with what we had, but I never could, and he eventually had to sell them. Then a harsh winter followed by a wet summer drove our wheat to rot, and I had to sell off the rest of our stock to get by. The house has been falling apart for ages and every chance I have to better our situation…” she said quickly, the words tumbling out as if she had been holding them in for years and was relieved to finally have them released. “Well… it never works.”
Holly shook her head, looking embarrassed that she’d spoken so frankly.
“I beg your pardon. I shouldn’t have bored you with such personal issues.” She forced a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I won’t make you wait long. We will be ready to leave in a few minutes. Excuse me,” she said, moving past him, but Gavin’s hand came up as she reached him, and he gently placed his fingers on her forearm.
She froze, and for a moment, so did he. A shot of electricity seemed to zap between them, and just as quickly as he had reached for her, he dropped his hand. It was a moment before he spoke.
“Bad luck isn’t something you should blame yourself for,” he said, his tone low.
She nodded jerkily and disappeared into the hallway, leaving Gavin alone. Moving his thumb over the pads of his fingers, he wondered if she had felt that strange galvanic current, too.
Chapter Five
Though Holly feltuneasy moving into Kingston House full-time, she had to admit the comfort of a home being run efficiently by a proper staff was enough to make her never want to leave. She no longer had to rise every hour, on the hour, to maintain the fires so that she and her siblings wouldn’t freeze in their sleep, as she had at Felton Manor. After only a week at Kingston House, Holly felt surprisingly relaxed. The nervous strain that had become a permanent pain in her shoulders had lightened, and she felt far more rested than she had been in months, if not years.
Except for the constant arguments she was having with Jasper.
Her brother had been close to furious when he learned they were to be staying at Kingston House. He thought he should have a say in where his family lived. His pride was hurt, Holly knew it, but she hardly had time to console him over it. Unlike her brother, she had to do what was in the family’s best interest, not just act for her own benefit.
“Best interest?” he had countered their first night at Kingston House. Jasper had found her in her bedchambers. “Have you lost your mind? Taking charity from this bloke?”
“We don’t have much of a choice, in case you didn’t notice. And don’t act as though we haven’t been taking charity already,what with John paying your way through Eton. Plus, who do you think has been paying our bills, keeping our creditors away?”
Jasper’s brow scrunched together.
