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A cruel smile wrapped around Stephen’s lips, and Louisa knew that she had to get the upper hand in this conversation; otherwise, she would be left to flounder in his cruel smugness. “Can we be seated?” she half-asked, half-demanded. “I wish to discuss the terms of my acceptance with you.”
“Your acceptance!” Stephen said, mockingly shocked. “I can hardly believe it! Louisa Pelham, accepting my …”
“Would you sit DOWN.” Stephen was so unaccustomed to being ordered and interrupted that he simply went and took a seat. Louisa was very pleased with having barked at him in that way, for she did not believe anyone in his life had ever done that to him before.
“I will have you know,” Stephen said, re-crossing his legs atop the table, “that when you are my wife, I will never tolerate being spoken to like that. If you continue to be this ... head-strong, then we shall have far greater problems than I originally thought.”
Louisa sat down in her chair ever-so-gracefully and knitted her hands together in her lap. “But if you did not wish to marry me for my personality, Mr Standmere,” she cooed condescendingly, “why ever did you want to marry me in the first place?”
Stephen had no witty response, and so he simply narrowed his eyes at her and picked up his pipe once again. Louisa seized this brief moment of silence to stake her claim. “I shall agree to the conditions that you have set forth,” she stated strongly, “but you must promise me that after we do what you want to Mr Quince that we never see him again.”
Stephen whipped his head around to look Louisa in the eyes. “I cannot promise you that,” Stephen said. “The majority of this plan’s purpose is to ruin Mr Quince and then watch as his world comes crumbling down around him. I shall take no joy in this if we do not remain in his part of society so that we might continue to perpetuate rumours about his misdeeds. You are not in a position to be asking for anything, Miss Louisa, and so I am going to say a very firm no to that.”
Louisa took in a deep breath. “What is it about Mr Quince that has made you feel such hatred towards him?” she asked boldly. “Why do you feel compelled to ruin the life of a man who has so recently lost his father and is just beginning his foray into society?”
Stephen tut-tutted Louisa and shook his head as though she should have known better. “Some things, Miss Louisa,” he responded, wiping his sooty hand upon his fine jacket, “are not yours to wonder. And that is one of them.”
Louisa might have been defeated, but it was not in her nature to be, and so she pressed on. “Mr Strandmere. I understand that you are quite used to having every person in your life bow to meet your expectations, but I simply will not do that. I will go along with your plan, but you must either tell me why you have such a disagreement with Mr Quince, or you must promise me zero contact with Mr Quince after this is finished. Your choice,” she finished, crossing her arms in front of her chest and staring back at him defiantly.
The upper corner of Stephen’s lip began twitching, and for a moment, Louisa thought that she was about to be struck. However, it seemed that Stephen had made the intelligent decision and instead said, “Fine. There will be no contact with Mr Quince after we have completed what I have asked for. That actually works out quite nicely, for then you shall never have any opportunity to try and explain away your behaviour when I am not looking.”
Louisa had thought of that, but in the end, she thought it was better to have Isaac hate her than to endanger his life or her family’s any further than she already had. She knew that the burden with Stephen was hers to bear and hers alone, and so from here on out, she had to be certain of every move she made.
“Then we have a deal, Mr. Strandmere?” she asked, rising to take her leave of him as soon as they were finished.
“So long as you do not do anything to try and deceive me, for that would be averyfoolish error, then yes, we are set to begin our enterprise, Miss Louisa.” Stephen rose from his chair as well and extended his hand, asking for hers to kiss. Louisa reluctantly presented it, and when he placed his lips upon her hand, they were surprisingly soft and not unpleasant as she had feared. However, when she tried to draw her hand away, Stephen gripped it tightly and said, “Oh no, you aren’t leaving yet. We have to discuss how we’re going to forge ahead with the first step of our plan that starts ... right now.”
