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“I had everything planned out. I forged a letter in Roth’s hand, saying he decided to elope with another. And I hoped in your heartbreak you would wed Pembroke instead. He is just as rich and just as influential. He would have convinced you to change your mind.”
“Why let me leave for the house party at all?”
Birch waved a dismissive hand. “If you promised yourself to Roth, you weren’t likely to break said promise. But if you thought he ran off, perhaps in your grief, you’d marry another. And I didn’t want you to feel forced. I didn’t need to make an enemy of you. Otherwise it would be easier to just kidnap you. I am not a villain.”
Lavinia shook her head in disbelief, trying to ignore the large gaps in Birch’s logic. She would have found out about the false nature of the letter. Especially since she wasn’t truly betrothed to Roth before the kidnapping. But then, Birch didn’t know that.
“Well, your plan didn’t work out. And your thugs hurt Lavinia,” Sebastian growled and took a menacing step. “And for that, you’ll pay.”
“I am not the villain!” Birch cried again. “They were never supposed to touch anyone else!”
Lavinia placed a hand on Sebastian’s chest. There was no need for violence. There’d been enough of that. Debtors’ prison would have to be punishment enough for Birch.
“I am not versed in things like this. But I had to do something! Only old Birch croaked the day of Pembroke’s arrival, and we couldn’t leave. And everything went wrong.” He covered his face with his hands. “Now I am ruined!”
Lavinia and Sebastian exchanged a confused look. What now? This entire thing hadn’t gone as planned at all.
The solicitor, who still stood by the desk, suddenly started rummaging through his papers. “I suppose this now belongs to you.” He held out a piece of paper toward Sebastian.
“What is this?” Sebastian looked at the paper as if it was diseased.
The solicitor cleared his throat. “Lady Lavinia’s dowry.”
A high-pitched sob left Lord Birch’s lips. Lavinia threw a concerned gaze toward her guardian. She shook her head from utter befuddlement and looked to Sebastian as if he could explain the situation to her, but he just shrugged.
Finally, Lavinia turned toward the solicitor. “But I don’t have a dowry.”
The solicitor blinked. “Yes, you do. Under threat from The Duke of Kensington, Lord Birch had left you a small, but lucrative, estate. He couldn’t sell it or gamble it away until you turned one and twenty or until you married, but then the estate would transfer to your husband.”
Sebastian shook his head. “I do not need that.”
Lord Birch raised his head, hope glinting in his greedy eyes.
Lavinia jumped and took the paper in her hand. “I need it. It’s mine… I never had anything that was mine before.”
“Well, technically, you had it for a long time,” the solicitor noted.
Lavinia studied the paper in awe. She had a small but lucrative estate. All hers.
But as much as she wanted to have something of hers, as much as she wished she could enter this marriage with Sebastian having something to offer, she knew she couldn’t keep it. “Can I give it to someone else?” Lavinia asked the solicitor.
“It is your husband’s to do as he pleases.”
Sebastian squeezed her waist. “You can do whatever you want with it.”
“I want to give it to Lady Matilda Birch. Please, can you arrange that?” She handed the paper back to the solicitor, then turned toward Lord Birch. “Where is she?”
He just shook his head. “She left right after the funeral. I know not where.”
Lavinia let out a breath of despair. Why did everything have to be so difficult?
“We’ll find her,” Sebastian said against Lavinia’s hair.
* * *
While the estate was rewritten as a gift for Matilda, Lord Birch collected his belongings, hoping to run away from the law. Sebastian didn’t try to stop him. Instead, he helped Lavinia pack her things.
Once everything was taken care of, Lavinia and Sebastian descended the stairs, hand in hand. They had invited the servants to follow her into the Roth household and were just about to leave when there was a knock at the door.
