Page 55 of A Debt Inherited

“Mrs Younge encourages the attachment. I preserve it. You would make certain no one interrupts it before it becomes lawful.”

“To Gretna Green.”

“To marriage.”

“That is a long journey. What would you require?”

“A little money at first,” Wickham said. “Travel, lodging, appearances. A man who can arrange a carriage on short notice.”

Kerr looked at him. “You ask me to assist in carrying off a gentleman’s sister.”

Wickham smiled. “That is a rather harsh description.”

Kerr ignored him. “If she refuses?”

“She will not.”

“If Darcy comes?”

“He must first know where to come.”

Kerr let that answer sit between them. The plan had not honesty, but it had shape. “What is her fortune?”

Wickham smiled. “Thirty thousand pounds.”

Kerr blinked. Thirty thousand pounds did not make the scheme cleaner. It made refusal dearer.

“I will go to Ramsgate.”

“I thought you might.”

“But understand me. I am not your servant or your dupe.”

“Of course not.”

“If this fails through vanity, drink, or carelessness, I leave you to Roark.”

Wickham bowed slightly. “Then I shall be sober, modest, and exact.”

Kerr moved to the door.

“Kerr.”

He stopped.

“You have not asked what share I offer.”

“No, I have not.” Kerr looked back. “Send word when Mrs Younge expects you.”

Wickham’s smile did not alter, yet something in it sharpened. “You are a hard man to buy.”

Kerr inclined his head. “I am not for sale.”

For a moment, the rain at the window seemed the only sound in the room.

“Believe that,” Wickham said, “if it preserves your view of yourself.”

PART THREE