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“I don’t say it was justified,” Dawson said. “Merely that I didn’t know what else to do.”

Conor took a seat at the table. His heart was heavy. The truth was that although it was an inconvenience to lose the money that had been taken from him, it would not hurt him much over the long term. He wouldn’t be able to give Henry the share of the club he had hoped to this month, but perhaps next month he could manage it.

“Please,” Dawson said. “Please don’t summon the law. I’ll pay you back every cent.”

“You can’t pay me back,” Conor said absently. He was still thinking about Henry. “You just said that you couldn’t. You already gave the money to Lord Farnsworth.

“If you summon the police, it will be the end of me,” Dawson said. “Stealing from an Earl…they’ll throw the book at me, My Lord. They’ll take everything I own. They’ll lock me away.”

“And you didn’t think of that before you acted?” Conor asked.

“My Lord, I’m begging you,” Dawson said. “I have a daughter to think of. Her mother is gone. Without me, she’ll be alone in the world. She doesn’t know how to fend for herself. I’m all she has. I deserve to be punished, yes, but my Astrid has done nothing wrong.”

Conor rubbed his temples. He wished, at times like this, that the rumors about him were true. He wished that hewascold and unfeeling, that he could bring himself to call the law on this man and to let someone else deal with him.

If he stole from me, he might steal from his other clients. Maybe heshouldbe locked up, or at the very least, have his practice taken away from him.

But Conor couldn’t bring himself to do it.

The man was a father. He had been trying to protect his daughter.

“Perhaps we can work something out,” he said.

“Yes,” Dawson said, desperation etched across his face. “I’ll do anything. I’ll give you anything.”

“You don’t have anything that I need,” Conor said.

“I do,” Dawson countered.

“What, then?”

“You’re going to have trouble finding a wife,” Dawson said. “I’ve heard the rumors that are circulating about you, My Lord. About the way you are with women.”

“Those rumors aren’t true,” Conor said shortly.

“I didn’t think they were. They didn’t make sense, not alongside tales of your coldness. And I see the way you are. You aren’t charming. You don’t have the character that would be necessary to seduce women.”

“You steal from me, and you insult me.”

“It’s not an insult, My Lord,” Dawson said quickly. “It takes a special kind of arrogance and posturing to swindle a woman like that, and you don’t have it. I’m saying…I’m saying you’re honest. But I’m also saying that most people don’t believe that of you.”

“Where are you going with this?”

“I have a daughter.”

“So you’ve mentioned.”

“She’s twenty-one years old,” Dawson said. “She’s ready to marry.”

Conor blinked. “You’re offering me your daughter’s hand?”

“All that matters to me is that she’s well cared for,” Dawson said. “In the hands of an earl, she would never want for anything.

His daughter. Conor had never imagined an offer like this.

He got to his feet and collected their glasses. “This calls for another scotch,” he said. “You and I have much to talk about.”

Chapter 5