Page 94 of A Cinderella to Redeem the Earl

The words struck like blows. She had never heard him speak so harshly.

‘Do not look at me like that, Pamela. I cannot afford to let it go. Am I to be ruined to save him?’

How had she been looking at him? ‘How can him not paying his debt land you in ruin?’

‘How do you think I came up with such a large sum of money?’

‘From the club?’

‘Please. Do you think I would go behind my partners’ backs and lend money that had already been refused?’

She frowned. ‘You borrowed it?’

‘Exactly.’

She sat down. ‘Oh, my good Lord. Is it a really large sum of money?’

‘Some might call it a king’s ransom. Forgiving would leave me horrendously in debt.’

Her stomach fell away. ‘Why would you do such a thing?’

‘He asked me.’

She frowned. ‘There is no possible way he asked you for such an enormous amount of money.’

‘He was in debt already. He owed money all over town. He thought it would be better to consolidate his debt. He begged me to help him. The young fool needs to learn a lesson.’

The vengeful note in his voice sent a spike of fear down her spine. ‘I think he has learned his lesson. And surely you knew when he borrowed the money that it was far more than he could ever repay.’

Eyes cold as ice, he shrugged. ‘He said he could. I took him at his word.’

For the first time in a long time, he was shutting her out. Hiding something. And she did not like this version of Damian one bit.

‘You want to hurt him.’ The words shot out of her mouth before she could think about them. They were instinctive. A sense that he was doing this on purpose.

She waited for his scathing outburst at her accusation.

And waited.

He merely looked bored. ‘What do you think gives you the right to take me to task about a matter of honour?’

The remark cut deep as she realised that he was implying she had no honour so therefore how could she judge.

She glared at him. ‘I know the difference between right and wrong.’

‘Do you? I wonder. I hope you will excuse me, I have a meeting at my club.’

He got up and walked out of the room with the dog trailing behind him.

She paced across the room and stared out of the window, down into the street. She heard the front door close. Watched him saunter down the street without a care in the world. Her head hurt. But worse than that, her heart hurt.

Damian, who she knew as kind and generous, was showing not a scrap of mercy to poor young Mr Long.

Why on earth would Damian have let himself get into debt for the sake of someone else? There must be some reason he had loaned such vast sums of money.

On the other hand, Damian had given him time to pay when he could have asked for it back immediately. But apparently now he would wait no longer. Men were strange creatures with regard to their honour and vowels and all that nonsense.

Perhaps Mr Long could borrow it elsewhere and pay Damian back.