“I read it in a book once and found it humorous.”
When the corners of her lips twitched ever so slightly, Stephen came to understand that she was having a bit of enjoyment at his expense. Something that might have rankled, were he not relieved to see that she was capable of indulging in idle pursuits of amusement.
As the son of a very strict, very serious mother, he wouldn’t wish such a somber upbringing on another child. Certainly not one of his own. He also liked the way Abigail’s freckles appeared to dance across her nose when she was struggling not to laugh.
“As I said to begin with, you may call me Stephen. My peers often refer to me as Lord Brunswick, or merely Brunswick. But that will change to Lancaster when my father leaves this earth and I inherit his title. Which is what has brought me here. The earl is not well, Abigail.” A fact that might have troubled Stephen more, had his back not borne the scars of his father’s ill temper. “His dying wish is for me to return to England with my long-lost fiancée.”
Abigail’s freckles stopped dancing. “Can you tell him you couldn’t find me?”
“But Ididfind you,” he pointed out, not unkindly. “And so will the private investigator he’s hired.”
“Your father has hired a private investigator?”
“The best that money can buy.”
“Surely I’m notthatimportant.” Her shoulders slumped beneath the voluminous folds of his coat as she muttered, “I couldn’t even convince Dr. Bard to allow me into Columbia College Medical School.”
Stephen didn’t have the foggiest idea who Dr. Bard was, but he did know that he didn’t like the blackguard. He didn’t likeanyonecapable of putting such sadness into those big, beautiful green eyes. Reaching across the table, he took her hand and gently squeezed. “You’re the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Hanover, betrothed to be married to the future Earl of Lancaster. I can assure you that in London, you are very important.”And hang Dr. Bard if he believes otherwise.
“But not here.” Sliding her hand out from under his, she tucked it back into her lap. “Here, where nobility does not matter, I am no one of consequence. I rather think I would like to keep it that way.”
“There is a contract, Abigail.”
Her mouth settled into a mulish line. “Idid not sign it.”
“Neither did I, but that doesn’t negate its existence. Unless you have ten thousand pounds—”
“Ten thousand pounds?” Her eyes went as wide as their tea saucers. “What need would I have for such a sum?”
Stephen would have preferred this part be left out of it. It wasn’t proper conversation for a lady. And it also made him feel vaguely ill, as he sometimes did when he went on a winning streak at the races and celebrated with a bit too much champagne. But Abigail struck him as a logical sort. The type of person who, when faced with a broken object, preferred to take it apart and examine every single piece to determine why it hadstopped working, as opposed to merely tossing it in the rubbish bin and buying a replacement.
“That was what my father paid yours.”
“For what?” she said blankly.
Stephen sighed. “For his son to marry the daughter of a duke.”
He could practicallyseethe wheels in her clever mind spinning. When they stopped on the answer, he watched as the blood drained from her cheeks a second time... and tasted the bitter bubbles of champagne in the back of his throat.
“My father sold me to you. When I was no more than a child. When I was still aninfant. As if I were a horse or a loaf of bread!”
“I don’t know if I’d say a loaf ofbread—”
“Ten thousand pounds?”
“Yes.”
“That is a small fortune.”
“Yes,” he acknowledged, as there was no point in lying. Ten thousand poundswasa fortune. For most. For him, courtesy of several wise investments, it was a mere pittance. “It is.”
“My understanding is that the bride’s family pays the dowry, not the other way around.”
“It appears that while your fatherwasa duke, he required money to shore up some gambling debts he had accrued. While my father had money, but no ties to a dukedom. It was a perfect arrangement for them both.”
“But not for us,” she burst out. “We had no say in the matter!”
Speak for yourself, he thought silently as his gaze wandered from her arching cheekbones (now flushed a pleasing pink), to her delectably full lips, to the creamy white of her breasts exposed in the shape of a half-moon above the bodice of her gown.
