Chapter 20

CHAPTER TWENTY

“ J osiah,” Reuben growled, glaring from his brother to Ambrose. “You cannot let this scoundrel marry your daughter! Not after all of this!”

Back to his calm, collected himself, Ambrose curled his hand and lifted it to inspect his fingernails. “You will sit down and listen,” he commanded, not even bothering to look at the man.

“Sit down, brother,” Josiah murmured, grabbing Reuben’s arm firmly despite his inebriation.

“Lord Gerville,” Ambrose began, turning first to the jilted man, “I owe you an apology. You were an innocent victim in all of this. Barbara never would have hurt you. But she does not love you. Now that she is not required to marry you, she will not.”

Kenneth looked at him with both hurt and confusion. “I know not what you mean. I never forced her,” he replied gravely.

“No, but I did,” Ambrose admitted, and then he began to tell the truth that had brought them all to this very moment.

The moment he stopped talking, Kenneth turned on his heel and left, not saying a word. Though Ambrose did notice the fury and pain on the man’s face, and he regretted the part he had played in putting those emotions there.

Reuben and Josiah both waited until Kenneth left before they spoke.

“I knew Barbara had been helping me,” Josiah said in a shaky voice as he shook his head, “but I had no idea of the extent of it.”

Ambrose wanted to call him a liar, a coward, but he only said, “It was your debt that led to this, Lord Mauntell.”

Josiah winced, as if struck upside the head, and then nodded. “So it was,” he admitted weakly. “I will repay it solely by myself. I do not know how, but I swear I’ll do it. Just don’t make Barbara marry you.”

“I am not making her do anything,” Ambrose replied, an edge to his voice for the first time. “We want to marry each other. We were just too blind to see it before.”

Josiah nodded at this but still looked ashamed, and Ambrose regained his composure.

“I have a friend who dabbles in helping people with problems like yours,” he went on. “With your financial problems, I mean. He can help you pay off your debt, perhaps even earn some of your lost money back. But by accepting this, you are swearing off relying on Barbara for good. She has spent too long taking care of you, of this house. Allow someone—allow me to take care of her from now on.”

“Josiah, no,” Reuben snarled, stepping toward them, “you cannot let this mongrel marry Barbara.”

“Enough, brother,” Josiah said quietly but only looked at Ambrose. “Take care of her,” he pled.

Ambrose squared his shoulders as he lifted his chin. “I swear to it,” he replied solemnly.

“Go then,” Josiah sighed, waving a hand toward him. “Go be with my daughter. Love her. Care for her. And if she is willing, let her come see me one last time, so I may beg her forgiveness in person.”

“You will see her at our wedding,” Ambrose promised, then took his leave.