The Blackmailed Bride. Mandy Goff

said nothing. She couldn’t give him the words he wanted to hear, but she refused to make the moment worse by saying something to needlessly hurt him.

      When she didn’t answer, Marcus eyed her. “You will stay away from him,” he said, resolved.

      “What if I love him?” she asked in a whisper.

      The horror on his face stung. “Do you?”

      She vacillated between honesty and the lie that would perhaps, in some small way, make her brother more reasonable.

      She opted for honesty. “No, I don’t.”

      His relief was palpable.

      “That doesn’t change anything, though.” As soon as she spoke the words, Marcus’s face fell back into its stern mask.

      “You know my feelings on the matter,” he said, striding to the door of the study. “I trust you’ll make the right decision. Good night.”

      As the door swung shut behind him, she said, “Don’t trust me too much,” knowing he wouldn’t be able to hear her.

      “You would be my second if I required it, would you not?” Marcus asked Nick the next morning after Olivia had left the dining room. The trio had plans to return to London later in the day, and while Olivia had been subdued at breakfast, he didn’t credit her absence with anything other than a desire to relax before they left.

      But his friend’s odd question had him wondering.

      “Whom are we planning on dueling?” Nick asked.

      “Julian Finley. Perhaps you remember him.” Marcus raised an eyebrow. He knew well that Nick had not forgotten the rogue.

      Nick grumbled in response. “When would you like me to have your pistols ready?” He was only partially joking.

      In spite of the obvious stress, Marcus couldn’t suppress a grin. “Don’t you wish to know why I would challenge him?”

      “Since it’s Finley, I can only imagine what new dastardly business he is up to. But also, since it’s him, I don’t have any doubt your claim is valid.”

      “He wants to marry Olivia,” Marcus answered, as though Nick had indeed asked the question. Nick laughed.

      “I’m serious,” Marcus said.

      Nick had to force himself to stop chuckling. “What did he say when you told him no?”

      Marcus shrugged. “What you would expect from him. He ranted and finally stormed out of the house.”

      “At least Gibbons didn’t have to throw him out.” Nick allowed himself a moment of silent amusement, envisioning the scene.

      Marcus flashed an immediate smile in response, but he quickly sobered.

      Why was Marcus so despondent? “You know you made the right decision,” Nick assured him. “There’d be no inducement that would convince me to let Finley pay suit to any woman under my protection.”

      “I know that.” Marcus scrubbed his hand over his face.

      “What’s the problem then?” Nick asked. “Finley has asked, and you have refused. There should be no more to say on the subject.”

      Marcus laughed, but it held no amusement. “You make the mistake of thinking Finley would abide by my decision. He has not. Instead, he has approached Olivia directly with his suit.”

      Something seized in Nick’s gut. Anger, certainly, was there. Including the ne’er-do-wells he’d met while in France, Nick couldn’t think of many in his acquaintance he had a lower opinion of than Finley. But another emotion tumbled with his rage, fighting for precedence. One that was harder to name. Or perhaps he merely didn’t want to identify it.

      “Well, has he desisted at her refusal?” Nick asked.

      Marcus said nothing for several moments. Nick stared at the mantel clock and tried to convince himself he wasn’t personally interested in what Olivia had to say. Other than for the sake of his friend, of course.

      “She has not refused him,” Nick said for Marcus. The nod of acknowledgment from his friend was unnecessary.

      It was inconceivable. Nick couldn’t reconcile the headstrong, viscount-disabling woman he’d met with someone naive enough to fall for Finley’s guiles.

      “Did you explain your position on the matter to her?” Nick asked.

      Marcus nodded again. “For my life, I can’t understand why she won’t listen to me. But, as I’m sure you’ll agree, I can’t allow the two of them to wed. It would be disastrous.”

      A large understatement.

      “He’s a snake in the grass,” Nick agreed.

      And Nick knew both he and Marcus were thinking about an earlier incident involving Finley. When the three of them had been away at school, Finley had seduced a professor’s daughter. When everyone discovered she was with child, Finley refused to marry the young woman, even though the protection of his name was the one thing that would save her from public ruin.

      Finley’s father had been prepared, those years ago, to force his son’s hand. Unfortunately for the young girl and her child, the elder baron died in his sleep before he could do so.

      An attack of the heart, they said.

      And no amount of persuasion from the professor or tearful pleas from his daughter could change Finley’s mind. He’d left the woman, alone and ruined, and didn’t appear to feel the slightest pang of remorse.

      No, Olivia couldn’t be allowed to wed someone who would treat a woman so callously, who would most likely not be faithful to his marriage vows, who enjoyed spirits and questionable amusements far too much.

      “I attempted to remove her to London after Finley broached the subject of their marrying. I’d hoped the distance would hinder him,” Marcus said into the silence.

      “But he followed you instead,” Nick finished. “That was why you agreed so quickly to leave London when you learned that he had called upon Olivia there.”

      A curt nod was Marcus’s reply.

      “Why is he so willing to garner your displeasure? I can’t believe he loves her—simply because I don’t believe him capable of the emotion.”

      “I have to agree,” Marcus said. “My guess is Olivia’s dowry is the reason for the dogged pursuit. My sister has much to recommend her, of course, but I’ve heard Finley’s been liberal with the funds his father left for him.”

      Money. Of course that would be the baron’s motivation. But what about Olivia? What reason would she have to want to marry him?

      “What foolishness has possessed her?” Nick ranted aloud. “Why would she want to be married to a wastrel of a man who will eventually break her heart?” Nick knew his fury was out of place. Why should he care if Lady Olivia was determined to ruin the rest of her life? But he did care. More than he was going to admit.

      “Olivia and Finley have known each other for years,” Marcus explained. “After our mother…” He paused for a moment. “Once mother passed away, Finley was very attentive to her. More so than I was, I’m ashamed to admit.”