She’d even assisted the local schoolmaster in teaching some of the female children whose parents couldn’t afford to send them to school. Mr. Wilson had been kind enough to allow her the use of a separate room to teach the girls, and she did it without expectation of any payment. She believed in education for both boys and girls, and if she could offer her help, she would teach without charge.
“Master, you have a visitor,” the footman announced.
Jereym stood up, excitement clear in his eyes as he told the footman to show their visitor in. A tall man entered the drawing room a moment later. He was fair-haired, slender, and rather delicate for a man, but in a way that would make him rather attractive to some ladies.
Her brother puffed up with pride as he shook the man’s hand. “Simon, welcome. Please let me introduce you to my wife, Prudence, and my sister, Sabrina. Prudence, Sabrina, this is Simon Booker.”
“Welcome, Mr. Booker,” Prudence purred. “Do come in. We were just about to have some tea.” She reached for the silver bell beside her chair and rang it a little overzealously. Under other circumstances, Sabrina would have laughed, but not right then.
“Thank you for the warm welcome.” He sat down beside Sabrina on the settee, and she tried to scoot away from him. Her brother shot her a glare.
“Miss Talleyrand, your brother spoke highly of you, but he failed to tell me of your beauty.” Mr. Booker spoke with an eagerness that made her uneasy. The look in his eyes was unsettling, as though he were examining a horse he was anxious to buy. It was a possessive look that made her stomach turn.
“Oh, thank you.” Sabrina, wildly uncomfortable, still did not wish to be rude to this man. She was not the sort of woman to be ungracious, even when facing something detestable.
“I know it heartens a lady greatly to hear her looks spoken so highly of,” Mr. Booker said with a proud smile.
Sabrina fisted her skirts, nearly shredding the threadbare satin. He was admitting to giving her compliments just to put her in a good mood?
“So, Simon, how long will you be in this part of the country?” her brother asked.
“A few days, and then I must return to London.” But his gaze slid meaningfully to Sabrina, and she could picture her brother and this man at his club in London planning this very interaction.
“Oh, heavens, I just realized, I must tell our cook something very important about this evening’s meal.” Sabrina jumped to her feet, causing her brother and Mr. Booker to rise as well.
“I’m sure whatever it is, it’s not important at all,” Jereym said firmly.
“Oh, but it is. I shall return shortly. Please excuse me.” She ducked into the corridor and caught her breath at a sudden rush of panic at leaving. She’d thought for a moment her brother might try to stop her, but he hadn’t.
Sabrina rushed out of the house then and into the gardens behind the cottage as fast as she could without breaking into a run. There was no way she was going to sit there and endure more of that. Yes, that was the right word for the torture that visit would have been. She’d only made it halfway through the garden before she heard someone running after her. She turned and saw it was Mr. Booker.
“Drat,” she muttered as she slowed enough to let him catch up with her.
“Miss Talleyrand, I hope you don’t mind me joining you. It will give us a chance to get better acquainted if we are to . . .” He suddenly stopped speaking.
She stopped walking altogether. “If we are to what, sir?” she asked quietly.
“Well, you must be aware of my reason for being here. I am in need of a wife, and your brother assured me you would be most willing, given your financial situation.”
Sabrina closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Mr. Booker, we may indeed be facing difficulties, but I’m not prepared to marry you—or frankly anyone. Please understand I mean it as no insult. I simply don’t wish to marry.”
She actually would have loved to be married, but to a man who adored her for who she was and whom she felt the same way toward.
“Oh, I do understand. But I require an heir to continue my line, and you will do quite well giving me one.”
An heir? Was he serious? Surely not.
She tried to keep her temper reined in. “Sir, I’m not a broodmare.” She was not a woman prone to shouting or getting openly upset, but this man seemed to know just what to say to provoke her.
His face reddened. “I disagree. The most important thing a lady can offer is her breeding abilities.”
“I’m not a creature to breed, sir. That is the end of it.” She said this with such finality she hoped she truly had put an end to the matter.
Instead, the last of Mr. Booker’s civility vanished. “You will be my wife. You will bear me an heir; or else I will call in your brother’s debts. He owes me quite a lot of money, you see.”
For a moment, she simply stared at him, stunned. He was going to blackmail her?
“I do see, and he is the one indebted to you, not me.”
Mr. Booker grasped her arm tightly when she tried to walk away. “You are the form of payment I expect,” he warned. “I tried to be polite, but you are proving that you don’t deserve my best behavior.” He jerked her toward him and slammed his mouth over hers.
Sabrina froze for a heartbeat, then shoved him back and swung a balled fist. She hit him square in the jaw hard enough that he let go of her.
“Why, you little—”
Sabrina ran before she could hear what else he said. She sprinted into the woods behind the cottage. He didn’t come after her, but she didn’t dare stop running.
When she finally stopped, her lungs were burning, her eyes were blurry with tears, and her hair was streaming down in wild waves. She sagged against a tree and sank to the ground, shaking. Had she truly just been accosted by that man?
Sabrina waited at least an hour before making the walk back home, and she deeply regretted it when she did. Her brother was waiting for her.
“Where the devil have you been?” he snapped. “Mr. Booker waited for you for more than an hour, and when you didn’t return, he left here furious.”
“As he should. That man—for he is no gentleman—accosted me, Jereym. Against my wishes.”
Her brother looked momentarily uncertain before his gaze hardened. He’d once been such a handsome man, but living on the edge had made him age in the last few years.
“You have no idea of the position you have put me in. My wishes are what matter here, and they are to be obeyed. I owe that man quite a large sum of money. Now that he has seen you, he has made up his mind that he wants you. If I give you to him, I’ll settle my debts completely.”
Sabrina’s mouth ran dry as she stared at her brother in horror. “No, no, Jereym! You cannot force me to marry him.”
“I absolutely can. You have no choice. A doctor will be here tomorrow morning to inspect the state of your maidenhead, as per Mr. Booker’s request.”
“My maidenhead . . .” Words failed Sabrina. The man wanted her to be a virgin?
“Yes. He insisted he will only marry a virgin. I have assured him that you are untouched, but he insisted that a doctor confirm it. So tomorrow morning you will present yourself for inspection.”
“Father would never have done this to me,” Sabrina said quietly. “Never.” She was torn between rage and despair that her own brother would sell her like this.