Captain Jones's Temptation - Audrey Harrison Page 0,73
trying not to send a curse in response, Esther looked calm and self-assured when Mr. Boyd entered the room. He seemed struck by her demeanour and smiled at her.
“Miss Hardy, it is good to see you again.”
“Is it? Please take a seat.” Esther’s tone was unwelcoming. Sitting down, she offered no refreshments, or encouragement to speak.
“I shall get straight to the point. I hope I made my feelings clear in my letter.”
“Your offer of my marrying you or facing ruination if I refused?” Esther asked.
“I would not put it in quite such brutal terms.” Mr. Boyd was a little perturbed that Esther seemed different from the time he had seen her at the graveside. She was more confident and sure of herself. Not how she had been described by Sophie. “When I saw you again, it brought home to me most spectacularly what I had lost in not being able to marry you. I had to make this approach.”
“An approach I could have perhaps understood,” Esther admitted. “But what you offered was nothing more than a threat.”
“I apologise. It was not meant in such a way.”
“So if I say no to your renewed proposal, you will accept my decision and not speak of my parentage to the wider Sidmouth society?”
“Ah, well, I hope it won’t come to that.”
“I shall take that as a yes, then.” Esther was fuming inside. The arrogance of the man was incredible. “How did you get Sophie to agree to give you my address?”
“Since seeing you, Sophie and I have become even closer than we have been. I have always been in communication with her, but we both see the advantage of a union between us.”
Esther stood suddenly and moved behind the sofa she had been sitting on. She needed to put some space between them. She had never felt as angry in her life. “You have come to some arrangement over seeing me married, yet again, haven’t you? Tell me, would Sophie be moving in here if we were to marry?”
“As she is your only living relative, I do not think it would be an unreasonable assumption to make. Do you? You always got on well with your grandmother.”
“Until I found out she was trying to sell me off to the highest bidder!” Esther said. She gripped the back of the sofa, knuckles whitening. “I cannot believe that I have been reluctant to make her homeless out of some misguided family loyalty on my part, and she repays me in this way!”
“Make her homeless?” For the first time, Mr. Boyd did not look quite as confident as he had been.
“Yes, I was going to do it after I had refused your kind offer of marriage.” The words were filled with heavy sarcasm.
Mr. Boyd stood. “I would think very carefully before you refuse my proposal. Are you sure you can afford to turn me down?”
“I am afraid she has no choice other than to turn you down,” Samuel said, walking nonchalantly into the room. He approached Esther and kissed her on the cheek, taking one of her hands in his and wrapping his free arm around her waist. “You see, Mr. Boyd, what you failed to ask in all of this was if she was free to accept an offer of marriage. I am afraid you arrived too late. Meet my future wife.”
Esther had been expecting the words. Samuel had said he would probably announce they were already engaged, but she still wanted to cry at the fact that he did not mean the words she’d longed to hear.
“Forgive my disbelief, but I do not recall seeing an announcement in any of the newspapers.”
“And why would I want to announce to the world that I am to marry, when my betrothed has relatives such as her grandmother waiting to pounce on any opportunity that she could take advantage of? The less that woman knows the better,” Samuel said.
“You are going to be head of a girls’ school? I think you are doing it too brown trying to convince me of this farce.”
“Not at all. Events have made my Esther reconsider what she is to do in the future, and we have decided that we are going to open up our home to orphans so that we can have a real impact on their lives.”
Esther choked on an exclamation of surprise. That hadn’t been something they had talked about!
“And when is to be the wedding of you two philanthropists?”