The Secret Rose (7 page)

He knew his size was intimidating. Scores of brave men had lost their courage when challenged by him. But not her. She held her ground, glaring at him with a look that defied the smallness of her stature.

“No. I am expecting my cousin at any moment. I intend to sell the ships in order to keep my home, Mr. Cambridge. And nothing you can say will change my mind.”

“You are wrong, Miss Langdon. I know just the words to change your mind.”

She shook her head. “Keeping Fallen Oaks is too important to me. I will do anything to keep it. Even sell the ships.”

Ethan couldn’t help it. He reached out his arm and closed the door, then braced his palm against the wood at the side of her head and pinned her against the wall.

A riot of burnt copper curls cascaded around her shoulders, brushing against his skin, burning him wherever they touched. Her eyes opened wide when he leaned closer. This was the first sign of fear he’d seen from her.

Without dropping his gaze from hers, he whispered in a voice just loud enough to be heard, soft enough to be menacing, “Fallen Oaks is not for sale.”

Her eyes opened wider, and with a startled gasp she twisted to the side, ducking under his arm. “You don’t know that. My cousin is the only one who can make that decision.”

“Fallen Oaks is not for sale, Miss Langdon. Not at any price.”

She shook her head. “How do you know it is not?”

Ethan reached in his pocket and took out a folded piece of paper. “This is the deed to Fallen Oaks. It is mine.”

“Yours! How did you get it?”

Ethan shrugged his shoulders. “Let us just say that your cousin was most eager to complete the sale of a property he had never seen and to which he wasn’t especially partial.”

“You stole my home from me?”

“I didn’t steal it. I offered him what he considered a fair price, after he found out how much it would cost to repair Fallen Oaks and provide for the tenants and the convent.”

Her mouth shaped a disbelieving O while her eyes blazed with anger. “How dare you! You knew how desperate I was to keep Fallen Oaks. You stole my home from me on purpose.”

“No. I intended to bargain with you. Fallen Oaks for the jewels I thought you had.”

She held deathly still, her eyes glaring with enough intensity to strike a lesser man dead. “Would to God I had never laid eyes on you. Or on your brother.”

She spun away from him, her hands clenched at her side, her cheeks a brilliant crimson against the pale complexion of her face. Back and forth across the room she stormed, her fragile body a tinderbox ready to explode. “How else do you intend to plague me? Is it not enough that your brother left me ruined?”

“Stephen did not leave you ruined, Miss Langdon.”

“You think not? Do you think I have not heard the speculation bantered about London as to what kind of creature I must be to make someone of Stephen’s easygoing, amiable nature bolt rather than take me for a wife? Do you think I have not heard the rumors your mother spreads about me wherever she goes, defending Stephen with the most flattering lies and making me seem a truly abhorrent ogre? And now you have taken my home. Will you and your family not be satisfied until I am left with nothing?”

“Silence!” Ethan felt the fire blaze in his cheeks, and from the step she took backward, he knew that same fire flared in his eyes. “I won the deed to your home honestly. It is your cousin’s fault he was not wise enough to quit before he lost everything.”

“I hope that thought allows you to sleep well at night.”

“I had no choice. I knew how desperate you were to keep Fallen Oaks. I thought I could bargain with you for the jewels if I had the deed.”

“You thought I would keep jewels that did not belong to me? What kind of person do you think I am?”

“Desperate enough to sell your ships to keep Fallen Oaks, knowing that without the profits from their cargoes, you will be destitute in a matter of a few years.”

“What do you care?”

Her words took him aback. “Damned if I know,” he answered. “If Stephen would have done the honorable thing and stayed at your side, I would not have had to do it.”

“But he did not.”

“No. Tell me what happened the night he left. Did you have an argument? A fight? Did he leave because of something that happened? Because of something you said, or did?”

“Stop!”

Her anger stopped him. There was so much hidden here. So much she refused to reveal.

“I do not want to discuss Stephen. I only want to know how this will all end,” she demanded, her cheeks still a fiery red.

“I don’t know, Miss Langdon. Why don’t you tell me what you see as the solution?”

She lifted her chin, the steely determination evident. When she was ready, she faced him, the indomitable look in her eyes giving evidence of her resolve.

“Mr. Cambridge,” she said. “You were correct earlier when you said we each have what the other wants. You have the title to Fallen Oaks, which I want, and I have the title to my father’s fleet of ships, which you want. May I suggest we reach an agreement?”

He raised his brows ever so slightly but said nothing.

She faced him with shoulders raised and chin lifted. “I propose my ships in exchange for Fallen Oaks.”

Bloody hell.
Did she realize what she was saying?

“And if I refuse your offer?”

She smiled as if she knew he would not. To save Stephen’s inheritance, he could not.

She shrugged her shoulders. “Then I will use my dowry to find a husband and be content to take what I cherish with me and make a new home. You can keep Fallen Oaks, and whomever I marry will have my ships.”

She was bluffing. If marriage had been her goal, she would have gone back into Society long ago.

Ethan stared at the determined look on her face. But what if she was serious?

A wave of unease washed over him. He would call her bluff. “You have this husband chosen?”

“Although your mother has worked quite diligently to ruin what little of my reputation Stephen left intact, I am confident I can find at least one man in England who would offer for me. Or at least who wants my ships as badly as you.”

He caught and held her eyes, his eyebrows arching even higher, daring her to give him a name.

“The Earl of Longsbey came to speak with my father shortly before Father died, expressing a desire to wed me.”

Ethan took a harsh breath. “He’s an old man!”

“Perhaps I see that as a blessing. At least an old man will be content to stay home with a new wife.”

Her remark hit home. He knew his resolve wavered, if only for a moment, and wondered if she noticed.

He had to stop her from going any further. “Let’s say I accept your offer and give you Fallen Oaks in exchange for your ships. What do you intend to do when you run out of operating capital and no longer have a fleet of ships to help with the expenses? What do you intend to use for a dowry if I own your ships?”

“That will be my concern.”

“You will be destitute and alone.”

“I am alone now.”

She stared at him, the concentrated glare in her emerald-green eyes as penetrating as a rapier. Ethan swore she could see right through him.

“What is so bloody important here that you would give up everything to keep it?”

“That is my concern, and only mine.”

Ethan looked around. It was a wonderful home, roomy and well kept, brimming with a welcoming feeling he envied. But the house could not hold such importance that she would want to give up the ships to keep it. If she did indeed have the jewels, she might have had a chance at survival. But he believed her when she declared she knew nothing of them. There had to be something more.

“I extend my offer for the final time, Mr. Cambridge. Fallen Oaks in exchange for my ships.”

Ethan stared at the hopeful expression on her face and had to turn away. An exchange would be the easy answer—for him. He would have what he needed to save the Burnhaven inheritance for Stephen. And Abigail Langdon would have Fallen Oaks. And in the end she would lose everything.

But he was desperate for her ships, especially the
Abigail Rose
. If he did not accept her offer, there was no chance he could get a contract for a shipment of China tea. There was no way he could hold off Stephen’s creditors past spring. A cold shiver raced up and down his spine. He would have lost it all. He would have failed.

He thought of all the reasons he should hand over the deed to Fallen Oaks and take her ships.

And all the reasons he could not.

He tried to reject the only option that would benefit them both, but something deep inside him would not let him dismiss it. He could not take her ships and leave her unprotected. Lesser men had been forced to do more to save their inheritance. This sacrifice would not be too great if he could save what his father had worked so hard to build.

Ethan turned slowly to face her, unable to mask his resolve. He had made up his mind. He would not go back on his decision now. “I have decided to accept your offer, Miss Langdon.”

“You will give me the deed for Fallen Oaks in exchange for the ships?”

“No. I will agree to marry you.”

Abigail felt the floor ripple beneath her feet. She opened her mouth to say something, to tell him she would never accept his offer of marriage, but no words would come.

A slow, lazy smile lifted the corners of his lips, his perfect white teeth forming a mocking expression against the darkened bronze of his skin. “What’s the matter? Fallen Oaks is not worth such a sacrifice?”

“You cannot be serious,” she whispered on a gasp.

“Oh, but I am. Completely serious.”

“Why?”

“Why do I want to marry you?” He walked to the sideboard and lifted a decanter and poured some brandy into a glass. “I don’t.”

“Then why? Nothing under God’s heaven is demanding that we marry.”

“Isn’t it?” He lifted the glass to his mouth. “How do you expect me to sit by and watch you struggle to keep Fallen Oaks, while I get rich sailing your ships? And what are my chances of making one full run to China without finding out on my return that you are betrothed to the lecherous Earl of Longsbey, and he demands I turn over your ships to him as part of your dowry?”

“I will sign a note saying the ships are yours for as long as you want.”

“What court in all of England do you suppose will uphold such a piece of paper?”

Her stomach flipped. Every nerve in her body screamed to tell him he was demanding too much. She shook her head back and forth in denial.

Her intense study of the man escalated as she watched for some sign that his words were a joke. But she saw no indication that he intended to take them back. Only deep regret that he’d had to make such an offer in the first place.

“Make up your mind, Abigail. Marry me, and Fallen Oaks will always be yours.”

She turned away from the confident smile on his face. He was blackmailing her with everything she held dear. He knew she had no choice if she wanted to keep Fallen Oaks.

She pressed her forehead against the pane of glass overlooking the barren garden. She was more afraid than she’d ever been in her life.

Every reason she could not marry him flashed before her, each one more frightening than the last. How could she chance him finding out about Stephen? How could she chance him finding out that he’d married a murderer?

The earth shifted beneath her. She was in jeopardy of losing everything that was important to her. Fallen Oaks. The convent. And yet…she could lose more if she married him. She could lose her life.

She shook her head. The risk was too great. There was nothing she could do to save herself or Fallen Oaks. No way she could ever marry him and expect he would never find out what she’d done.

The clock chimed the quarter hour, then the half, before she could force herself to speak. She said the only word she could. “No,” she whispered, looking at the snow-covered ground beyond the frosty windowpanes. “I will have to find another way.”

There was a long silence. “That is your final decision?”

Her voice faltered the first time she tried to speak and sounded only a little stronger the second. “Yes.”

“Very well. I will escort you to your town house in London myself yet this afternoon and have your belongings sent to you by the end of the week.”

She spun around to face him. She couldn’t find the air to speak. “You would force me out of my home today? You would make me leave without even a month, a week, or a day to say goodbye?”

“I see no reason to stay,” he said, touching the back of the sofa as if testing the quality of what he now owned. “Believe me. Leaving today is for the best. The longer you wait, the harder it will be.”

She was frantic. She had to get to the convent. “But I cannot leave today. There are matters that need taken care of. Matters that—”

He held up his hand to stop her. “Just leave a list before you go, and I will take care of everything for you.”

Her heart pounded so hard she feared it would leap from her chest. He couldn’t do this to her. She needed time. How could she get to the convent?

“You cannot do this, Mr. Cambridge. You cannot force me to leave without giving me time to even pack my belongings.”

“I assure you, Miss Langdon, I am not doing this to be cruel, but Fallen Oaks is now mine. Since there is no longer the possibility of acquiring your ships to help pay Stephen’s creditors, I will have to make other arrangements. Time is now of the essence. As I said before, my intent was not to purchase Fallen Oaks because I was in need of a country estate, but because I wanted it to barter for the jewels I thought you had. Since that is no longer a possibility, I will have to get back to the ships I do have as soon as possible. That doesn’t leave me much time to board up the house, inform your tenants they will have to find other places to live, and close the convent.”

Her mind screamed a thousand denials while she struggled to breathe. “You cannot close the convent. You cannot!”

“I’m sorry, Miss Langdon, but I cannot afford the upkeep on the convent without the income from the ships. I wish I could, but it is just not possible. I’m sure the good sisters will have no trouble finding another abbey in need of their excellent services.”