“Defending her.”
“Do you know what you have done?” Cooper’s volume rose with each rapid-fire word. “You have beggared my family! Cassandra won’t be able to marry! No one will have her now! No one except thatvulture, at half the price he offered before. And I’ll have to accept! How do I give that news to her?! How am I to—and Caroline—” he choked. Turning red, he shouted, “What am I to say to Caroline?! Everything is gone! No one wants our designs! Not even the Earl, andyousaid he would! I’m out of options!” He sank down onto the chair, head in his hands, shaking. “I put every promise I ever made in your hands, and you took away mylast option.”
His words fell on Seth’s shoulders like iron chains, greased by his own self-loathing and an unending stream ofnever-should-haves. He never should have placed them in that position to begin with. Never should have drank the ale. Never should have taken her into that room, kissed her at all, touched her at all, talked to herat all, but he hadn’t been able to control himself.
No.
He hadn’twantedto. Caught up with Cassandra, he let a lifetime ofdiscipline evaporate. And even now, he had the overwhelming urge to find her and hold her.
She must be so frightened.
When he thought he would win, it was all too easy to promise her he would do anything to take care of her. To remove the heavy burden of responsibility from her shoulders and place it on his own. To be everything she needed.
Right now, Cassandra Cooper needed the safety of her family.My family, Seth thought. Family who took him in and treated him as one of their own. Given to him freely, effortlessly. Loved him when they had no obligation to do so.
To their detriment.
Guilt pierced him far worse than a knife ever could at seeing Cooper broken and helpless. His best friend. Made a lord too early and a parent to his siblings. The noblest and hardest working man he knew. Cooper didn’t deserve this. Seth betrayed his trust and threw away months of hard work and every resource the Cooper family had left.
He had to make it right.
There was only one thing to do.
“You’re not out of options.”
Cooper scoffed.
“Lord Bolderwood… doesn’t wantthisrifle.” As his tongue tied, Seth swallowed and placed his own shaking hands under the table. “He wants thenextrifle.”
Cooper turned to him, voice and eyes cold. “Explain.”
“The Earl… wants us to work for him.” Seth set his shoulders. “He’s offered employment.”
“If he wanted to employus, he would have askedus. What does he want?” Cooper scowled. “You, clearly.”
“Whatever it is, we’ll do it together.”
“Another convenient save from Captain Reeves.” Cooper sank topluck the pages from the ground and placed them back on the top of the stack. “He doesn’t have a use for me. Who am I to the Secretary at War?”
“You’re the man who put a telescope on a rifle,” Seth said. “The cartridges were your idea. I may have designed the rifle, butyouinvented the system.”
“But that’s all inyourhead now, and we don’t have a patent. You can replicate it without me, easily.”
“I won’t profit off of your ideas. We’re partners. Think on it. A project spear-headed by a viscount with influence in the House of Lords will carry weight in higher circles. Wherever I go the word ‘bastard’ will follow. My mind might be a steel trap, but yours is open. You’re better with people than I am. Lord Bolderwood will see it that way.”
The corner of Cooper’s lip lifted briefly, then fell as if he didn’t have the strength to keep it up.
“Work with me,” Seth implored. “Whatever he’s planning, it will be large scale. He’s too ambitious for it to be anything less. I’m willing to bet that Mr. Sanderson is in on it, as well.”
Lord Bolderwood brought him to Cooper House, so there must have been a plan in the beginning. Seth considered the deliberate questions Mr. Sanderson asked, how quickly he became their shadow after they approached him, and the clandestine meetings with the Earl withThe Bibleopen to the telescope.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not in any position to make bets.” Cooper sighed.
“No, you’re not.” Seth took in a steadying breath. “But I’m in a position to negotiate.”
Cooper studied him, face trained in the expression he always wore asViscount Lincolnshire.“If you offer yourself to Lord Bolderwood, he will never let you go.”
Seth sat firm. “I’m aware of that.”
