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The moment he did, shock knocked Andrew back in his chair as he stared down at the papers before him.

Nay, not just any papers. Deeds of unentailed lands he’d won… and lost.

His ears hummed, and he remained frozen.

Not just deeds.

It wasallthe money and property Huntly had won from him years and years earlier when, with his previous desire for revenge against Rutland, he’d attempted to use Justina to hurt the marquess. It was also the money and land Andrew desperately needed to cover his debts and establish his future. Only… the euphoria lifted as he was reminded from the hard life he’d lived that nothing was free. “You’re offering me my funds and properties back?” he asked carefully.

“If you do the right thing,” Rutland said bluntly.

And there it was. Just like that, the bubble of eagerness at what that represented burst. Andrew wanted his funds back desperately, but not this way and not at Marcia’s expense. “You are bribing me to marry her?” he asked coldly. Andrew shoved the papers back towards his brother-in-law. “Alas, I must decline.”

Huntly’s brows shot up. With surprise?

No doubt.

No doubt they’d expected Andrew would sell his very soul for the monies to fund his wastrel ways.

Hell, he was surprised with himself.

It appeared, however, that there was some honor still left within him.

“Ah, but do not think of it as a bribe,” Rutland said slowly. “It isn’t that at all.”

“If it isn’t that, then what is it, Rutland?” he asked.

“They are the funds that will be available to you so that you can make both of your lives right. This isn’t just about the young lady. It is as much about you getting yourself on a path of respectability and honor… and it will also ensure that Miss Gray does not suffer.”

A path of respectability and honor. They were oddly tempting possibilities.

They were novel traits at which his late father—God rot his soul—would have loudly guffawed. But Andrew had found he’d begun to tire of his clubs of late.

It was one of the reasons he’d agreed to help Marcia.

That ennui.

That need for change.

Anything different.

Or that was what he’d told himself.

But with this, his brothers-in-law presented him with the opportunity to not just put himself first but, instead, to put another person, a woman whom he cared about and one whom he’d ultimately ruined. In marrying her, there’d be funds to ensure she was comfortable and safe and secure, and money enough to cover Andrew’s debts and… more. Invest as his friends Wakefield and Rothesby did.

That, however, requires you to offer to marry Marcia,a voice taunted.

She wouldn’t be so foolish as to agree.

But what if she was?

What if she said yes?

Doing so would allow her the freedom she wanted in life. It would get her out of her household, which she’d been yearning to do, and by her own admission, she’d already loved and lost, so risk to her heart wouldn’t be a danger.

Andrew continued to sit there, silently debating with himself. “I will speak to the young lady later this morning. I do not suspect she will say yes.”

The ghost of a smile played at the corners of Huntly’s mouth. “Oh, I rather suspect she will, Andrew.”