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“Absolutely not,” Louisa said harshly. “I will not hear the rest of your proposition, and I demand that you leave at once.”
Louisa stood up and began making her way back inside the house, but Stephen called after her. “Miss Louisa,” he said with a certain amount of warning in his voice, “I think you should very much like to hear the rest of what I have to say. When else will you receive a generous, selfless offer like this again? And what will become of you if you truly refuse me?”
Louisa’s blood positively boiled in her veins as she stopped midway back to the house. She balled up her fists and bit her tongue to stop herself from turning back to Stephen and yelling at him for his behaviour.But if you do not hear him out,Louisa rationed with herself,how will you ever care for Mama and Papa? How will you live? What will this wretched man do to ruin you further if you refuse?
The last thing Louisa wanted to do right now was return to that bench, and yet she knew she must. And so she pushed aside what little pride she had left and stormed back to where Stephen sat and sat down again. She did not, however, give him the pleasure of looking at him.
“Continue. There must be something that you are going to ask of me in return,” Louisa said gruffly, looking straight ahead and focusing intently on the marigolds that were swaying in the wind.
“Good girl,” Stephen practically growled in a way that made Louisa’s skin crawl. “Of course, there is, my kindness does not come for free. However, my request is rather simple ... all you must do is ruin that fellow who you have recently become acquainted with ... Isaac Quince.”
The sound of Isaac’s name in Stephen’s mouth was so alarming that it made her look to him in shock. But that only pleased Stephen more, for that was the reaction that he had been hoping for. “Does that surprise you?” Stephen said, stroking the ends of his hair with one of his hands. “I should think it would not, for you have only known Isaac for such a short time that there cannot be any emotions attached to your relationship ... or can there?”
Louisa turned away from Stephen and grabbed the arm of the bench, tightly. She could not believe that not only did this revolting man want her to marry him, but he also wanted to take down the one person in Louisa’s life who had seen through her family’s reputation. Their acquaintance had been so wonderful and romantic that Louisa had often felt that it was rather like a dream ... and now, of course, it was about to turn into a nightmare.
“No,” Louisa lied through her teeth, “of course I do not have an emotional attachment to Isaac. What is it that you need me to do?”
“When Mr Quince comes to purchase the house, I need you to stall for me,” Stephen explained. “You must draw out the process for as long as possible to try and drive up the price. I know that Isaac has a great deal of interest in this property, and I plan to take advantage of that. I want to make it expensive enough to stop some of Mr Quince’s other investment plans and waste his time as much as possible.”
“Then,” Stephen went on, “when you have driven up the price as much as you can, you will have to publicly accuse Isaac of not paying. At that time, you and I shall announce our happy engagement, as this will welcome you back into society and give your accusation more credibility. I shall arrange the paperwork and make sure that there are banking records to support your claim so that no one will even think to question you. Now ... what do you say to that?”
Louisa couldn’t help herself. She could feel her laughter at the preposterousness of his proposition building inside of her, and before she could contain herself, she laughed in his face. Immediately, she knew that she had made a poor choice, for Stephen’s brow knit together, and he looked as though he might explode.
“Why ... are you ... laughing ...” Stephen growled, and Louisa fought to compose herself.
“There is absolutely nothing comedic about anything that you have just said, Mr Strandmere,” Louisa responded, dabbing the corners of her eyes with the handkerchief she always kept up her sleeve. “However, I find that the combination of my own exhaustion, the incredible stress that I am under, and the utter ridiculousness of your proposition have all come together to make me feel ... rather hysterical!”
“Then I demand that you control yourself this minute!” Stephen ordered, standing up and shouting at the young woman. “I will not tolerate this type of mockery in my presence, especially when I am trying to save you from the brink ofruin!”
Louisa stopped laughing – and even breathing, for a moment – and looked at Stephen with her eyes unblinking. She found it nearly impossible to wrap her head around the fact that the one person who it seemed her reputation might hinge upon washim.
Louisa cleared her throat. “So this is why you wished to speak to me alone, isn’t it?” she asked, her voice calm and level. “You knew that was my mother here, she would not stand for a moment of your nonsense, but you knew that I would have to hear it, as I understand the direness of my life’s situation. You were also aware that you hold enough power in our community that as soon as you came to offer me this option, I would have almost no choice but to accept you, lest you decide to punish me for denying you.”
Stephen, still standing and remaining furious, responded, “You are far more intelligent than you appear at first, Miss Louisa. But do not let my flattery of you go to your head, for you must remember that you will only ever be as good as your runaway sister has allowed you to be.”
Louisa did not entirely understand what Stephen was trying to say there, but he seemed to want to just bring up Evelyn at every chance he got to remind Louisa of her place, or lack thereof at the moment, in society. She knew that she could not answer him right now, for her head was swimming, and her father was likely already waiting for her to help him dress for the day. And so, she decided to stall.
“I will need some time to think about it, Mr Strandmere,” Louisa said finally, looking up at him defiantly.
Stephen rubbed his hands together, as though that alone had been the answer that he was looking for. “Splendid. I will give you time to think, but only twenty-four hours – no more, no less. I expect to see you in person at my estate tomorrow morning at half-past eight. Good day to you, Miss Louisa.”
Stephen walked down the family’s laneway to his waiting carriage without a second glance back at Louisa. When she saw that his carriage had driven out of sight, she stood up, bent down, and undid her boot, and with all the force she could muster, she threw it after him with an anguished cry. It landed a good distance from her, and the force of the shout caused a flock of birds that had nested in a nearby tree to take flight.
Take that, Stephen Strandmere,Louisa thought as she watched the birds fly into the early morning sun.When we meet again, I shall be far better prepared for your cruelty, no matter what I decide.
