Page 45 of The Gentleman's Seduction
“I care too much for her, Harris. That’s exactly why she must go. The longer she stays here, the more I destroy her future. I’ve already ruined the poor girl, but I can’t change that. However, if I send her home, she still might be able to find a husband.” He knew the chances were unlikely, if word about her arrangement with him had spread as far as he feared, but there were men out there willing to take a pretty bride even if she wasn’t a virgin.
“I…” Harris cleared his throat and continued. “I don’t suppose marriage is possible?”
“No,” he answered. “Her father and I have a dark history, and it is not something I could ever overcome. Not even for her.”
“Ahhh…” Harris’s disappointment was obvious, but he spoke no further on the matter, for which Martin was relieved. Her departure was going to hurt all of them.
“I will see to it that Miss Hartwell is packed.” The man turned to leave.
“Harris. Make sure she takes all of her clothes, and see to it her horse is transferred to her family’s stables.” He paused a moment, wondering what else he could possibly do, aside from the impossible. “And she is to take all the books she wants.”
“Yes. Of course, sir.”
Martin sank into a study chair as Harris left, trying to ignore the battle of emotions raging inside him. It felt as though his world was coming down around him. There was a stillness inside him, one that felt like frozen despair, heavy as lead. He feared it would drown him.
I fell in love with her. The daughter of my most hated enemy.
Misery the likes of which he’d never experienced before took hold of him. He’d believed he’d become dead to pain since his parents died, but he’d been so damnably wrong. It was as though a gray light of gloom cast its deathless shadow over him. Martin covered his face with his hands, pressing hard against his eyes lest any tears betray the rending of his heart.
15
Livvy didn’t speak as Mellie silently packed her valise with her new clothes, nor did she speak when her books were packed in a trunk. Words simply wouldn’t come. It felt more like a funeral than a farewell she was experiencing.
When it came time to leave, Mellie made no effort to hide her tears. As Livvy walked down the stairs and accepted her cloak from a waiting footman, she whispered a thank-you to him. His face was downcast as he said goodbye, clearly upset. She understood how he felt. In the last few weeks she’d come to view this townhouse as her home and her life with Martin as her future. When she got to the coach waiting for her outside, she pulled her hood up to hide her face.
I will not cry, I will not.
To her credit, she kept her vow, not even as the coach pulled up in front of her father’s townhouse. She went inside, no longer caring about her valises or trunks. Her father rushed out of the study and froze when he saw her. It had been almost a month since she’d left, but he looked somehow ancient.
“Livvy? You’re back.”
She nodded stiffly.
Her father rushed to embrace her. “You never should’ve gone.”
“We would’ve lost our home, Papa.”
He gazed down at her, his eyes full of conflicting emotions. “I know, but you aren’t the one who should have taken that burden upon your shoulders.” He rubbed her arms, his face lined with worry. “Did he hurt you?”
Now she could feel them, the burn of treacherous tears. “No, Papa. He was kind. More than kind.” She waved at their only servant, who was carrying in the valises and the trunk. “But he sent me home, and so here I am.”
“Why don’t you go upstairs and rest? We’ll have dinner in a few hours.” Her father gave her another gentle hug, as though she was incredibly fragile.
“Thank you, Papa.” She headed up to her room and closed the door, then threw herself on the bed and buried her face in the bedding. Hot tears came, but she made no sound. She was numb.
Why had he sent her away? They’d been so happy, so wonderfully happy. What had gone wrong? It must’ve been something to do with his sister and her visit. Perhaps Helen had learned that Livvy was living with Martin as his mistress and demanded he send her away once she learned who her father was? Martin and his sister were twins, and those bonds ran deep. He would do anything for his twin.
Including send me away.
It was for the best, she knew. She could not have stayed with Martin for long. She would’ve felt caged in like a bird, no friends, no social acceptance. She would be limited to a world of shadows and midnight Cyprian balls with other kept women. At least this way she might in time have a quiet life as a spinster with a few understanding ladies who would still call her friend after word of her ruination had been replaced by other scandals.
Livvy drifted to sleep for a while, dreaming fitfully of the elephant on the icy Thames and shared kisses in his library. She awoke to the sound of arguing outside her room. She jerked up, trying to clear her head of the fog of sleep as she listened to the voices.
“Where is she?” a man’s cold voice demanded.
“You will not take her, do you hear?” Her father’s shout was desperate.
“I will. You owe me, Hartwell, and she’s the payment I want. I know you’ve whored her out before. Now you can give her to me.”
