Page 79 of The Language of Love

“Leave us.”

“But Mr. Bowman—”

“Will this take longer than five minutes?” Henry asked Annis.

She shook her head.

“Give us five minutes and then return,” he ordered. “Go!” he barked when Ford hesitated.

At any other time, Annis would have smiled to see the normally regal maid bolt like a rabbit. But when she looked at Henry’s face, all laughter drained away.

“We have five minutes,” he reminded her.

“What I did with you today, while encouraging Mr. Norburg’s suit, was wrong and unkind—to both of you.”

He merely raised one brow.

“There is nothing I can say that will excuse it. However, I may be able to explain part of my, er, motivation.”

“Oh?”

She looked away, unable to bear the weight of his harsh gaze. “I accepted Mr. Norburg’s suit because he is r-rich.” She swallowed convulsively. “I know it is morally reprehensible, but—” Annis chewed her lip, wishing she were anywhere else in the world right then.

“But?”

She forced herself to look at him. “I needed money to pay a rather large, urgent debt.”

Surprise flickered across his face. “What sort of debt?”

“It is a—well, actually, it is a private matter, my lord.”

Both his eyebrows shot up.

Her face boiled with shame as she imagined how her request must sound.

Annis took a deep breath and said, “I know this is irregular, my lord, and I also know you did not know of the debt until now. I will release you from our betrothal.” She laced her hands in her lap and waited.

“Is that what you want? To be released?”

“No, my lord. That is not what I want.” She had to bite her lip to keep from spilling the entire sordid, pathetic story to him.

“So that is why you were going to marry Norburg, to get money to pay a debt?”

She nodded.

“Did he know about the debt?”

She shook her head miserably. “Not yet.”

He stared at her; his expression unreadable. Annis wanted to crawl under the settee, but she held his gaze.

“How much?”

“I’m s-sorry?”

“How much do you need?”

“Eleven-thousand-one-hundred-and-seventy-two pounds.”