gardens altogether.
There would be no hope of helping women like Eli’s mother. No lessening the chances of the same tragedy befalling children, helpless babies, like Eli had once been.
He put his books away. Without Olive, nothing else mattered.
No matter what life threw at her, she didn’t just climb back in the saddle. She adapted, she raced ahead, she beat Fate at its own game.
Every time she heard “Ladies don’t do...” she went out and did it. She’d trained the most infamous horse in all of England.
Eli would have to do the impossible, too.
He had to deal with his father.
Swiftly, he retrieved his hat and coat, and strode out of the front door and into the bracing air.
Father would be awake at this hour. As far as Eli knew, the marquess never slept. He was too busy plotting revenge against all perceived wrongs.
It was no way to live.
Eli chose Olive. Even if he could never convince her to marry him, even if all they could ever be was lovers, even if all they had was one more night, his answer did not change. He chose her.
He chose love.
Despite the early hour, the castle doors were wide open. The staff bustled about the interior, stoking fires, arranging the refreshment table, attending to guests.
Eli walked past them. He headed up the marble stairs, his pace never flagging despite the knowledge that he was walking into war.
The Marquess of Milbotham’s lair was the true enemy territory.
Eli rapped on the door.
It was wrenched open at once, almost breathlessly so, as though the London under-butler had perched at the threshold for an entire week without sleep, just in case Eli chanced to call.
Well, here he was.
The marquess turned from the window as though he’d been expecting this meeting. He probably had. The Harper farm was visible in the distance. The marquess would have seen Eli step outside and plotted his next move accordingly.
Father’s eyes glittered. He rubbed his narrow hands together, his crafty smile resembling that of a scarecrow.
“Tell me you’ve accomplished it.”
Ah. He had not been preparing to strike. He had been preparing for victory. It had never occurred to the marquess that his wishes would not be obeyed.
“No,” Eli said.
The word echoed in the stone chamber, simple and clear.
Father’s hands slashed through the air. “Why are you dragging your feet? This is a simple mission, Elijah. If you’re not persuasive enough to win the hand of a long-in-the-tooth spinster, just humiliate her some other way, so we can go home and celebrate.”
“No,” Eli said again. Louder. Clearer.
“Don’t tell me.” The marquess shook clawed hands at the heavens. “You’ve fallen in love with the impudent chit whose heart you’re supposed to break.”
“I won’t do it,” Eli said.
“You will,” said his father, “if you care about your pretty flowers.”
“It’s not about beauty,” Eli burst out. “It’s about the cures chemists can create using the properties of certain plants. It’s about saving lives. It’s about—”
“It’s about time you realize none of that is going to happen.” Father’s smile was rapacious. Wolfish and sharp. “If you disobey me, you will become as poisonous as hemlock. There will be no more physic gardens. No more precious research. Not a single soul will work with you, for fear of losing their own livelihoods. There will be no cure.”
Eli clenched his teeth. “Before I left, you promised you wouldn’t do that.”
“Did I?” The marquess lifted a shoulder. “I give, and I take away. The choice is yours.”
“I gave you my answer.” Eli repeated it louder this time, drawing the word out for emphasis. “No.”
Servants fled the room as if fearing an apocalypse.
“I see.” The marquess steepled his long fingers, tapping them together rhythmically. “If you embarrass that hoyden and her father as instructed, I will dissolve your responsibilities to my farm and to me, and fund botany research for the rest of your life, if that is how you wish to spend the family money. I’ll sign a legal contract to that effect.”
Eli opened his mouth.
The marquess cut him off. “However. If you deny me in this matter, you will be disinherited completely. As of this moment, you will have no home to return to, no allowance to spend, and no friends or colleagues left in London. It will be as though you were never born. As though you had died along with your mother rather than lived to disappoint me.”
Eli kept his fists stiff at his sides. “You disgust me.”
“Then we have something in common after all.” The marquess smirked.