CHAPTER THREE #4
Harriet had never heard her mother speak so frankly.
Lady Fordshire had always been the picture of composure, the unshakeable matriarch who held the family together through every crisis.
To see her admitting failure, acknowledging weakness was almost more unsettling than the financial situation itself.
"What's done is done," Harriet said. "The question is what we do now."
"Indeed it is." Lady Fordshire's eyes fixed on Sebastian with an intensity that made Harriet's stomach tighten. "Lord Vane, I understand that Mr. Thornton raised the possibility of... an arrangement. Between you and my daughter."
"Mama!"
"I also understand that you refused." Lady Fordshire continued as though Harriet had not spoken. "I would like to know why."
Sebastian's expression had gone very still. "Lady Fordshire, I'm not certain this is an appropriate…"
"I am asking you a direct question, Lord Vane. I would appreciate a direct answer."
The silence stretched, tight as a bowstring. Harriet could feel her heart pounding, though she couldn't have said why. Sebastian's refusal had been clear as he had explained his reasoning in the study, and again in the garden. There was nothing more to be said.
And yet.
"I refused," Sebastian said finally, each word careful and measured, "because Lady Harriet deserves better than a husband purchased with her family's desperation.
Because such an arrangement would be a prison for us both, her bound by obligation, me knowing that she had never truly chosen me.
Because…" He stopped, seeming to struggle with something.
"Because I would not have her that way. Not for any price. "
The words hung in the air, heavy with meaning that Harriet couldn't quite parse. I would not have her that way. As though there were other ways he might wish to have her. As though…
No. She was reading too much into it. Sebastian was simply being honourable, as he had been all along. There was nothing more to it than that.
"I see." Lady Fordshire's voice was thoughtful. "And if my daughter were to approach you willingly? If she were to propose the arrangement herself, not out of desperation, but out of... shall we say, rational consideration of her options?"
"Mama, stop." Harriet's voice was sharper than she intended. "I am not going to propose matrimony to Lord Vane. I am not going to propose matrimony to anyone. We will find another way."
"Will we? Because Mr. Thornton seems quite convinced that our options are limited."
"Then we will create new options. We will sell the London house, the jewelry, whatever it takes. We will negotiate with the creditors, find investors, take out loans…"
"With what collateral? Our good name?" Lady Fordshire shook her head. "I admire your determination, Harriet, but we must face reality. The estate is our only significant asset, and if we cannot pay what we owe, we will lose it. That is not pessimism; it is simple mathematics."
"Sebastian has offered to help. To review the accounts, to provide capital for negotiations…"
"Lord Vane has already given us more than we had any right to expect. To ask for more…"
"I have not asked. He offered."
"Even so." Lady Fordshire's gaze moved to Sebastian. "I will not have my family become a burden on your generosity, Lord Vane. You have done enough."
"Lady Fordshire…"
"Please." She held up a hand. "Let me finish. I understand that you feel an obligation to us, for Richard's sake. I understand that you are trying to help. But there are limits to what we can accept without compromising our integrity entirely."
Sebastian's jaw tightened. "With respect, Lady Fordshire, your integrity is not in question. The circumstances of your debt were not of your making, and your attempts to resolve it have been honourable. If I choose to help, and I do choose it, freely, that is my decision to make."
"But it is our decision whether to accept."
"Then let Lady Harriet make that decision. She is, I believe, of age and sound mind. Let her weigh the options and choose for herself, without pressure from either of us."
Lady Fordshire's eyebrows rose. "You would defer to my daughter's judgment?"
"I would defer to anyone's judgment before making choices on their behalf."
It was, Harriet thought, the most direct challenge anyone had ever issued to her mother. Lady Fordshire was accustomed to managing things, her household, her family, her entire world. To be told to step back and let someone else decide was clearly unexpected.
But after a moment, Lady Fordshire's lips curved in something that might have been approval.
"Very well," she said. "Harriet, you will review the options with Lord Vane and Mr. Thornton. You will make whatever decision you believe is best for this family. I will support you, whatever you choose."
"Mama…"
"I mean it. You are not a child anymore, however much I might wish otherwise.
This is your future at stake, and you deserve a voice in determining it.
" Lady Fordshire rose, moving stiffly but with dignity.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe I need to rest. The excitement of the day has quite worn me out. "
She departed before Harriet could respond, leaving an uncomfortable silence in her wake.
"That was unexpected," Harriet said finally.
"Your mother is a remarkable woman."
"She's manipulating us. You realise that."
Sebastian's lips twitched. "I had considered the possibility."
"She wants us to wed. She's been angling toward it all day, probably since before I arrived. All this talk of respecting my choices…it's just another tactic."
"Perhaps. Or perhaps she genuinely believes you should have a voice in your own future." Sebastian set down his teacup and rose, moving to stand by the window. "The question is: what do you want, Lady Harriet?"
"I don't know." The admission cost her something, but it was true. "I don't know what I want. I only know what I don't want, and that is to be forced into anything…matrimony, poverty, any of it."
"Then start there. What can we rule out?"
"Matrimony to a stranger. I won't do it, not even to save the estate."
"Agreed. What else?"
"Matrimony to you." Harriet saw him stiffen slightly and hurried on. "Not because…I mean, it’s not that you're…" She was making a hash of this. "It's the principle of the thing. Entering into matrimony to pay off debts is wrong, regardless of who the groom might be."
"I understand." Sebastian's voice was carefully neutral. "What else?"
"Selling Fordshire Park. Not unless there's truly no other option. This is my home. It was Richard's home. I can't just... surrender it."
"Then we find another way." Sebastian turned to face her, his expression determined.
"Tomorrow, I'll review the accounts with Mr. Thornton.
I'll look for assets he might have missed, opportunities he hasn't considered.
Meanwhile, you should speak with the tenants, the local merchants, anyone who might have information about the estate's potential that isn't reflected in the ledgers. "
"You think there might be something?"
"I think your family has owned this land for generations. There may be resources that have been forgotten or overlooked. Old mines, timber rights, water access…any number of things that could generate income if properly exploited."
It was more hope than Harriet had felt since arriving. Slim hope, perhaps, but hope nonetheless.
"Thank you," she said. "For not giving up on us."
"I made a promise to Richard, a long time ago. To look after his family if anything should happen to him." Sebastian's voice was quiet. "I intend to keep it."
Richard again, Harriet thought. But somehow, this time, the invocation of her brother's name didn't sting quite as much.
Perhaps because Sebastian had been honest about his motivations.
Perhaps because she was beginning to understand that his devotion to Richard's memory was not a slight against her, but simply. .. who he was.
"I should go," Sebastian said. "It's been a long day, and I suspect tomorrow will be longer. I'll see you at dinner?"
"Of course." Harriet rose as well, propriety demanding that she escort him to the door, or at least offer. "Sebastian…Lord Vane…"
"Sebastian is fine." He smiled, and it transformed his face in a way that still caught her off guard. "I believe we've shared enough bedchambers and family crises to dispense with formalities."
"Sebastian, then." The name felt strange on her tongue extremely too intimate and too familiar. But not unpleasant. "Thank you. For everything you've done today. For everything you're doing. I know I haven't always been... gracious... in receiving your help."
"You've been exactly as gracious as the situation warranted." Sebastian moved toward the door, then paused. "Lady Harriet…Harriet, for what it's worth, I don't believe your situation is hopeless. Difficult, yes. Complicated, certainly. But not hopeless."
"What makes you so sure?"
"Because you haven't given up. And in my experience, that makes all the difference."
He was gone before she could respond, leaving Harriet alone in the drawing room with the ghosts of the past and the uncertain promise of the future.