Page 17 of The Truth About Lord Stoneville

“Ah, right. Your fiancé.” He kept forgetting about that. It was hard to imagine any woman sailing off across the ocean to hunt down her fiancé. No female would ever do such a thing forhim.

Not that he’d want her to. That would mean someone cared for him more than was wise, given his character.

“Tell me about this Nathan,” he remarked, an edge in his voice. “Why was it so deuced important to come yourself instead of sending someone from your father’s company?”

“I told you—Papa’s money is tied up in the estate. Mytrustees refused to do anything about Nathan, saying he was probably just busy negotiating the deal. And I couldn’t afford to send anyone else.”

“They could have sailed on the same company ship that you did. It wouldn’t have cost any more.”

“Yes, but once they were here, they would need money to live on while looking for him. Freddy and I are . . . more used to living on little.”

“You can say that again,” Freddy mumbled.

She glared at him.

“Well, it’s true,” the chap said stoutly. “When we were young, my uncle had a hard time feeding us all. At least until Nathan came along and joined up with Uncle Adam. Then things got better.”

“Though he’s only thirty, Nathan is brilliant with money,” Maria said with pride. “Papa had the practical knowledge of shipbuilding, but Nathan knew how to make it work.”

Oliver began to understand. “So your father offered his only daughter to Hyatt as a wife.”

“It’s not like that,” she protested. “Nathan and I were already friends when Papa talked of us marrying. Since Papa had no son to pass his half on to, he said that once we married, he would leave his half to Nathan. Papa didn’t force him to agree to me as a wife. He merely—”

“Sweetened the pot,” Oliver said tersely.

A troubled frown touched her lovely brow. “It’s not that cold-blooded.”

“Isn’t it? Hyatt gains the rest of the company, and yougain a husband. It’s a common practice here, as well.” And one that sickened him.

“It isn’t . . . Papa didn’t . . . Oh, how I can explain it to you? You see everything so cynically.”

“Or perhaps,” he said softly, “you don’t see it cynically enough. Tell me, my dear, if Hyatt is so eager to marry, why hasn’t he done so before now?”

She colored. “Because Papa insisted that he spend some years learning how to run the company before the wedding took place.”

“And he didn’t squawk at that?”

“He wanted to gain Papa’s blessing, that’s all.”

The more he heard about this “betrothal,” the more it angered him. “If I were in love with a woman, I’d waste no time in securing her, father or no father.”

“Yes, but you don’t live by the rules, do you?” she snapped.

She had him there. “What happens if Hyatt doesn’t marry you?”

“Then he can buy my half from me. If he chooses not to, Papa’s trustees will find a buyer to sell to. Either way, I will receive the proceeds.”

“So it’s very much to his advantage to marry you, isn’t it?” For some reason, it infuriated him to think of her being bartered off. That never turned out well.

A shadow passed over her face. “I don’t see what this has to do with anything.”

“I find it interesting that you and I share similar situations. Your father tried to force his will on you frombeyond the grave, while my grandmother is trying to do it on this side of the grave. And neither wants to give us any choice.”

She swallowed. “You don’t understand, that’s all.”

“I understand better than you think.”

“Your situation is different.” Her eyes narrowed. “Though I’m not sure I entirely grasp it.”