Page 78 of An Earl Like You
Eliza let out her breath. It felt strange to be here again, where she had once been so at home. In just a few weeks her sense of home had shifted, from her father’s large elegant mansion to Hugh’s house in St. James’s Square, smaller and darker and desperately in need of renovation.
What choice did I have?echoed his voice in her mind.Go to prison or court the girl.He’d been forced to it, but he’d done it so gentlemanly. She remembered the soft brush of his hand against hers; the way he looked at her when he said he wanted to kiss her. He had waited for her encouragement at every turn. She wondered wildly what he would have done if she’d ever said no, turned him away and discouraged his attention.
A tear leaked from her eye. Hugh would have accepted it. She couldn’t believe anything else, not after the way he tried so hard to shield his sister from heartbreak. Even more, the way he had tried to keep things from her. He had every reason to hate her father; a petty man would have told her everything the day after they were married, when there was nothing she could have done but despise both of them. Hugh, though... Hugh was kind and decent and passionate and he did fall in love with her. And she believed him.
A crunch of wheels on gravel sounded outside. She swiped at her eyes, not wanting to face her father as a teary-eyed mess. Within minutes the door burst open and Papa strode in, still wearing his greatcoat and hat with a deep scowl on his face.
“Eliza. What’s wrong?” he demanded. “Why are you here?”
She backed away from the hands he reached out to lay on her shoulders. “I’m not ill,” she said. “I discovered what you did.”
“What?” Still frowning in concern, he took hold of her chin. “You look pale.”
“I know,” she repeated. “I know what you did.”
His face went frighteningly still. She had never seen him look that way. “What did Hastings tell you?” he asked in a soft ominous voice.
No. It was not right to start with Hugh. She raised her chin. “Is it true you bought all of Hugh’s debts so he would have no choice but to marry me?”
“Rubbish,” said her father with scorn. “Who told you such a thing?”
“But I found the promissory notes,” she replied. “I know you did it.”
Papa paused, his expression inscrutable. “I did buy some of Hastings’s debts. As speculation, nothing more.”
“When?” She saw him hesitate again. “When did you buy them, Papa? Before he came to call upon you here that first time? If you won’t tell me, I shall call on every one of his creditors and ask them.”
His fingers drummed against his thigh. “Before.”
“Why?”
He sighed. “I took a chance, Lilibeth. He seemed a good fellow, and I thought, if he got to know you and you got to know him, you might take a liking to him.”
“And what about his choice?” she exclaimed.
Papa threw up one hand, looking irked. “He had a choice! I never said hemustmarry you—never,” he repeated firmly. “We... negotiated terms. If you turned him down, that would be that. In fact, he bargained for a sum of money in the event his suit was rejected. Hardly an innocent victim, if you ask me.”
“What did he ask?” Eliza’s heart felt hard and heavy, as if it would tear loose inside her chest.
“He wanted compensation if you turned him down. Ten thousand pounds, he demanded. Hefty compensation for a few calls, don’t you think?”
Eliza couldn’t breathe for a moment, and then realized why Hugh had wanted that.Edith.Mr. Benwick had been courting Edith and Hugh had needed a dowry for her, and quickly. Her knees almost gave out as she understood what her husband had done, not for himself but for his family. “It was no more than you deserved,” she retorted to her father.
He sighed impatiently. “Of course! I expected it—I respected it. But don’t let him tell you I forced him to everything.”
She shook her head. “Papa. You know better. You bought all his debts and threatened to put the bailiffs on him. You coerced him, regardless of his feelings or interest. What if he’d been courting another lady?”
“I made certain he was not.”
She stared at her parent, once more at a loss for words. “Papa.”
He scowled again, the irate expression he got when someone refused to recognize the logic of his position. “All I wanted was for you to have a look at someone. For someone—some highborn, decent fellow—to take a close look at you. I knew he’d see your worth, just as I thought you might take a fancy to him. You turned away all the chaps who came to call when you had your Season—”
“Because they only wanted your money!” she cried, aghast. “Most of them couldn’t even remember my name!”
He waved it off. “And Hastings did. You told me just a few days ago that he made you happy.Veryhappy, you told me,” he added as she gaped at him. “You might not approve of my methods, but I was right.” He shrugged. “I think my speculation paid off handsomely.”
Eliza could only stare in dumbfounded shock. “You told him he must court me properly,” she whispered. “That he must win my heart, and never ever tell me that you’d manipulated him into doing it.”
