Page 5 of The Gentleman's Seduction
After a moment, her father appeared and just as quickly disappeared into the drawing room. Howell stood with his back to the door like a sentry. Livvy abandoned her hiding place and rushed down the stairs. When Howell saw her, she held a finger to her lips. He nodded and stepped aside for her. She pressed her ear to the door, listening to the voices.
“As I said last evening, Mr. Hartwell, I now have a debt of four thousand pounds with your name on the vowels. I want you and your wife to vacate this home by tomorrow, and I will sell it by Christmas to discharge the debt you owe me. I understand this house is still partially owned by Drummonds?”
“Yes.” Her father’s reply was soft, broken.
“I will buy out the bank’s interest and sell the house then,” Banks said, his words calm and even. Without emotion.
Livvy knew she had to intervene. Surely this man had some shred of decency and mercy within him. She flung open the drawing room door and burst inside.
“Please!” she exclaimed as she faced the man who stood by the fireplace. He was taller than she’d realized, so much that he dwarfed her when she approached him. His piercing blue eyes glow in the firelight.
“Please,” she repeated more softly, her heart now hammering. “Give my father time to pay back what he owes. It’s almost Christmas…” She feared her plea fell on deaf ears as Banks continued to stare at her. His broad shoulders and fine clothes spoke of his wealth. He didn’t need their money, surely. She felt very young and foolish standing before him in a gown that was two years old, the hem let out twice and the color faded from too much wear. It hadn’t bothered her before, but now? Now she felt very silly when facing a handsome, well-dressed man like Mr. Banks.
His eyes lingered upon her, sweeping from her face down to her slippers and back up, and she swore she could almost feel invisible hands touching her.
“Hartwell, who is thisenchantingcreature?” His lips, once pursed in a tight line, now softened into a slow, seductive smile.
“This is my daughter, Lavinia.”
“Livvy,” she corrected automatically, and a wave of heat enveloped her face.
“Daughter…” Banks murmured the word as he rested one hand on the marble fireplace. “This quite changes things.”
Hope blossomed inside her, and she started to smile.
“Then you will give me time to pay you back?” Her father stepped close to her as he spoke to Mr. Banks, putting one hand on her shoulder.
Banks’s gaze settled on her, then slid to her father. “No.”
“But—”
Livvy was cut off as he continued. “I have decided to accept another form of repayment allowing you to keep your house.”
Her father’s fingers dug into her shoulder. “No. Anything but that,” he growled. “Take the house.”
“Anything but what?” Livvy demanded. She couldn’t understand why her father was upset.
“You, my dear,” Banks said smugly. “He means anything butyou.”
She tried to battle her bewilderment. “Me? But how can I repay you?” Did he mean that if she were to marry soon she could convince her husband to pay her father’s debt?
“Delightfully innocent. How charming.” Banks’s tone was laced with sardonic amusement that made her bristle.
“Take the house, Banks. You cannot have her. She has marriage prospects and a good life ahead of her.” Her father stepped between her and Banks.
Banks drummed his fingers on the mantel and faced the fire once again. “I could wreck those prospects. My reach is wider than you realize.”
“Yes, I’m now aware. You’re William Banks’s son, aren’t you?” her father asked.
“At last you make the connection.”
Livvy didn’t understand, she glanced between them, confused.
“Who is William Banks?” For a moment she thought neither her father or Mr. Banks would answer her.
“He was a man who owed your father money. Your father cast us out of our home. My mother died that night, just minutes after he left us ruined. He took her from me, and now justice has seen fit to give me the chance to return the favor and take something from him, which would be you, my dear.”
His words left her stunned and she her gaze darted between her father who looked stricken with grief, and the cold, impassionate man, Mr. Banks. Livvy studied his handsome profile, and only then did she understand what he suggested. He wantedher, not any money from a future husband. And there was only one reason a man in his situation would want her when it was clear he did not intend to marry her.
