Free Cut to the Quick by Kate Ross Page A

from him out of pride. I know it’s not proper for the girl to let her feelings show, when the man hasn’t declared his. But really, it’s mainly that I don’t want to make a bad situation worse. He’d feel so guilty if he knew. He’s kind, Mr. Kestrel. He’d hate to feel he was hurting me.
    “I fell in love with him the day he asked me to marry him. He made such a mess of it, you can’t think. How could he help it? Imagine proposing to a girl you’d never met before, because her father was threatening to do something bad to your family if you didn’t! My heart went out to him. When he said he couldn’t tell me what hold Papa had over his family, I said I’d try to find out myself, and I’d do everything I could to convince Papa to give it up. And he said, 'Do you think you can?’ with such a look of hope in his eyes! There was nothing he wanted so much as to be spared having to marry me. And all the time I was thinking, If only you really wanted me for your wife, how happy I should be!
    “I told him I’d become engaged to him, in order to placate Papa for the time being. But I’m determined to find out how he’s threatening the Fontclairs, and to stop him somehow. But what if I fail, Mr. Kestrel? The wedding is only a few weeks away. What if I haven’t been able to make Papa see reason by then? If I marry Mr.
    Fontclair, he'll be saddled with a wife he never wanted, one he— he's probably ashamed of. But if I don’t marry him, he’ll be miserable, too. He pleaded with me to accept him; he said I had the honour of his family in my hands. So it seems that, whether I marry him or not, I can only make him unhappy. And that’s hard, Mr. Kestrel—that’s very hard!—when his happiness means more to me than anything in the world!”
    There was a long pause. Julian faced facts. He was not going to be dragged into other people’s business. He was going to plunge in headfirst. “What are we going to do about this tangle?”
    “We?” she echoed hopefully.
    “I thought I’d apply for the position of knight-errant. References available upon request.”
    “You are kind.”
    “Let’s just say I’m intrigued—also a little appalled. Miss Craddock, I think you’re right: the first thing to do is find out what hold your father has over the Fontclairs. At least then you’ll be able to gauge how badly he could harm them if the marriage doesn’t come off. And if he really is ashamed to let you know what he’s about, perhaps he’ll be driven to drop the whole business, once you’ve caught him out.”
    “That’s very sensible, Mr. Kestrel, and I agree with you. But I’ve tried to find out, and no one will tell me.”
    “Then we’ll have to find out without being told.” He pondered. “Do you know why your father was dismissed from the Fontclairs’ service?”
    “I didn’t know he was dismissed. All he told me was that he worked at Bellegarde for a few years, then went to London. Do you think that’s why he’s so bitter against the Fontclairs?”
    “I think it might have something to do with it. The little I’ve heard suggests he had a falling out with Lady Tarleton.”
    “Is that important, do you think?”
    “Well, there are two possibilities. Either your father acquired some power over the Fontclairs years ago, when he was in their service, or it came to him recently. Tell me, did he have any contact with the Fontclairs after he left Bellegarde? Might they have given him money, or some other kind of assistance?”
    “Oh, no, I don’t think so. When he first came to London, he was very poor, and he had to work hard for a long time before he had the money to go into business for himself.”
    “Then it isn’t likely he had any power over the Fontclairs in those days.” Probably, Julian reflected, they had not given him another thought after he left Bellegarde. That fit with Guy’s account of how bewildered they all were when Craddock turned up again. Or was his return really a