Chapter 2

“Of course, it’s only natural you gave it to your…protector.” Matthias barely managed to keep the fury out of his voice.

Isabella waved her hand around the room. “Do I look like a woman who simply gives awaygifts I’ve received? Even if I don’t know what to do with them? If Esmond wasn’t able to compensate me properly, then he wasn’t going to have it.”

“You’re a very practical woman,” Matthias observed.

Preening at the pseudo-compliment, Isabella went on. “I knew then that Esmond’s pockets were not as deep as they’d once been. I found new friends and haven’t seen him since.” Her lips pursed into a pretty pout. “He was more enraged that I would not give him the ring than he was that I wished to sever our acquaintance. Charles had to escort him out.”

Matthias knew he was expected to say something about Esmond’s foolishness for preferring a cold piece of metal over Isabella’s charms, but he couldn’t be bothered. His only concerned was that she had the ring and she was likely willing to sell. “I would be happy to compensate you for the ring.”

“It has great sentimental value to me.”

Impatience was getting the better of him. He was not accustomed to having to play games to get what he wanted, and he wanted another piece of his father’s globe. “It’s already been well-established that you have a price, Miss Greene.”

Isabella blinked and put a hand to her throat in a manner that Matthias suspected was designed to draw attention to her ample bosom. “You resemble your father, but you are not much like him.”

Matthias couldn’t tell whether that was meant to be a compliment or insult, and didn’t care. “Your price, Miss Greene.”

Isabella promptly named a price that would keep a family of four comfortable for a year—servants and all.

“Done,” Matthias said, standing. “I will send a servant to complete the exchange.”

Obviously regretting not naming a higher price, Isabella reluctantly rose as well.

With little more than a nod, Matthias made his way to the entry hall. She shouldn’t feel too forlorn, he thought as he took his hat and gloves from the butler. It was likely the greatest return for her time that she would ever see.

By the end of the day, he would have another piece of the puzzle and would be that much closer to finally putting to rest at least someof the rumors that constantly swirled around him.

* * * *

“Here…be careful, now.”

“There.”

“Now you may sit, brother.”

Nicholas Rexford followed his sisters’ instructions without making the slightest effort to remove the blindfold that shielded the sitting room from his eyes. “And this is where you all run away, I suppose.”

There were giggles he recognized as coming from his two younger sisters and then the eldest announced, “Very well, Lucy, let him see.”

Nick tried to imagine what the blindfold would reveal but could hardly believe what he saw when it finally fell away. He struggled for words as overwhelming delight warred with concern and even anger.

Although he knew his sisters expected him to say something, he couldn’t find words as he stared at the cabinet he had not seen since he was a boy. A cabinet that had been designed by their talented mother in her youth and that her doting father had had made for her. Theirfather had sold it off to pay his “debts of honor” when Nicholas was eleven. It had held their mother’s favorite books and Nick had fond memories of her selecting one from its shelves to read to them.

They had all thought it lost forever, but here it was. How had his sisters found and procured it? And at what cost?

As if reading his mind, Charlotte spoke up quickly. “Not to worry, brother. Although no expense is too great for your birthday gift, no one was forced to make any impossible sacrifice.”

Nick relaxed somewhat. As Viscount Leighton, he was, by all rights, the head of the family, but old habits died hard and as the eldest, Charlotte’s words still held a great deal of weight

“Shall I tell him how we found it, Charlotte?” Violet asked, but didn’t wait for a reply before continuing. “Last week, just two days after we arrived, when Lottie and I were taking our walk, it began to rain. There was an open house, so we went inside, and what do you think? There was an auction. We didn’t mean to buy anything, but then there was Mamma’s cabinet! Of course we had to bid.”

Nick knew that Violet, who was big-hearted but not practical, would naturally outbid anyone in an effort to recover their mother’s cabinet, and this worried him greatly. They could barely afford this Season in London and had to watch every penny—money spent on a birthday gift for him meant less money for necessities.