Page 4 of Felicity Cabot Sells Her Soul
Casually, he reached for a drawer, and the sound of it sliding open frayed her threadbare nerves. A leather folio slapped upon the desk, which he opened and oriented toward her to reveal a tidy stack of papers. He slid a pen and inkwell across the desk and flipped through the pages contained within the folio.
“Sign here,” he said, tapping at the bottom of a page.
The very existence of these documents was another affront. That they had been prepared for her signature already, no doubt well in advance of her visit. Her humiliating defeat, written out well before she had known to expect it. Her fingers twitched. “What am I signing?”
“Does it matter?”
Felicity swallowed the strangled sound that caught in her throat. “It’s never wise to place one’s mark upon a document without having read it.”
“But does it matter?” he asked again. “You’ve come here to ask me for money. Would you have, if you had any other choice?”
A tense silence stretched out between them as she seethed. “You alwayswant what you can’t have, don’t you, Ian? You always have towin.”
“I have grown rather accustomed to it, yes,” he said. “So I’ll ask you again. Does itmatterwhat is in this document? You’re going to sign it anyway. Because if you do not…”
If she didn’t, her life and livelihood would crumble, and Nellie—Nellie would go to prison. A debt so large could not easily be satisfied, and Nellie was entering the twilight of her life. She wouldn’t survive Marshalsea.
He was right, however loath she was to admit to it. It didn’t matter what was in the document he’d placed before her. She picked up the pen. “I hate you for this,” she hissed as she dipped the nib into the inkwell and scrawled her name upon the paper.
“I could have simply sent you on your way,” Ian said smoothly, as if entirely unbothered by her enmity. “I should think that the fact that I did not is deserving of some amount of respect.”
“It isn’t.” She laid the pen down and thrust out her hand. “The money.”
Ian chuckled. “I don’t keep such a sum on my person.”
“A bank draft will do.”
“I’m not giving you that, either. When I invest my money, I do so with care. Your friend’s debts will be paid as promised. I’ll see to it myself tomorrow morning.” He closed the folio once again, sliding it further toward her. “Take this with you. You may read it at your leisure this evening.”
“I thought it didn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t. You’ve already put your mark to it. But my expectations are outlined within, and I will expect you to know them.”
Her chin notched up. “Perhaps I’ll simply burn it if I object to it.”
“Perhaps your friend will spend the remainder of her life in Marshalsea and the doors of your precious school will close forever.”
With a sour sound, Felicity snatched up the folio, infuriated all over again. “I agree to nothing until Nellie’s debts are paid.”
“I thought as much, which is why you are permitted to leave this evening.”
“Permitted!” she choked. “Permitted!”
“And I will expect you back here no later than ten in the morning.”
“I couldn’t possibly. The school—”
“Has but two pupils in residence. Surely there is someone to mind them for a few hours. There are no lessons over the holiday, are there?”
“No, but—”
“No later than ten, then.” As if to convey that he considered any furtherdiscussion closed, he turned his attention back to an abandoned stack of documents that had been shoved to the corner of his massive desk.
“I can’t stay through the night. Ever,” Felicity ground out between the clench of her teeth.
“You can,” Ian said blandly, though he didn’t bother to look up at her. “And you will.”
“Ican’t.” It was dangerous enough for her to have agreed to this Faustian bargain. Dangerous for the school. She might have agreed to make herself his mistress, but if she should ever be caught leaving his home—she would be ruined. The school would be ruined. Everything she had worked for would go up in a puff of smoke. Discretion was beyond critical. “I can allow for an hour at a time at most.”
