“I thought that Remington with the mother-of-pearl handle you have strapped to your thigh could serve as chaperone,” he drawled against her ear.
She bit back her own wolfish grin and lifted a shoulder. “As long as we’re both aware of the possible risks...to you.”
“Oh, I am very aware that you are very dangerous.” His eyes were glittering with hungry intensity. “Luz Alana, I want to offer you a business partnership,” he finally said, surprising her. “A way for you to get situated in Scotland and access my many distribution networks in Europe and beyond. I would like to assist you in gaining access to your inheritance as well.”
“My inheritance?” she asked, perplexed. “How can you help with that?”
“Simple. We get married.”
If he had not been holding her up, Luz would’ve crumbled to the ground.
“Is this a joke?” she asked, suddenly very angry. Had she misjudged this man completely? Because Evan Sinclair so far had proved to be many things, but she did not think him cruel.
“On the contrary.” And he did not sound at all like he was joking. In fact, she had not seen him look more intent. “I assure you I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life,” he told her, and even through the barrage of emotions and thoughts whirling through her brain, she believed him.
“I don’t understand.” Or at least she couldn’t possibly be understanding correctly. “We only met each other yesterday.”
Had it really only been one day?
“And in that time, we’ve both learned that we are running out of time to sort our particular situations,” he said, confusing her further. “You have to obtain control of your inheritance, and a, uh, complication has come to light in my own affairs.”
“What kind of complication?” she asked as she watched something like fury flash through his face.
“The land where I have my distillery is under my father’s control.” She could see it was costing him to maintain his temper. “I can only get the Braeburn out of my father’s hands if I get married.” His tone was even enough, but this clearly meant a great deal to Evan. From what he’d told her at the Fourniers’, she knew the distillery was more than just a business enterprise for him.
“But won’t it pass to you when you’re duke?” Something she couldn’t quite identify passed over his face, but he only shook his head.
“I can’t count on anything when it comes to my father, and while the distillery should be rightfully mine...” Any trace of humor and lightness evaporated almost instantly. His entire demeanor transformed whenever he talked about his father. “He won’t let me have it until I force his hand. He’s in a fair amount of financial trouble, and I can’t risk him selling it out from under me. If I have to get married to save my business, that’s what I’ll do. I thought you might feel the same.”
Luz felt as though she had floated away, that she was observing herself having this utterly mad conversation from three feet above.
“Why aren’t you in financial trouble if your father is?” She’d heard of many aristocrats who had descended into ruin in the past fifty years. It wasn’t as easy to amass those fortunes now that they didn’t have free labor across the Atlantic.
“My business has nothing to do with my father or the holdings of the dukedom.” There was something that sounded very much like pride in his voice. “I am not...” he paused, pursing his lips, and for a second she thought he would stop talking entirely “...I was not meant to be the heir apparent. My brother Iain was the oldest, and when he died it passed to me.” He cleared his throat again as if the conversation made him uncomfortable. It almost seemed as if he wasn’t at ease discussing his own standing in his family line. “The distillery is the only reliable source of revenue in all of my father’s holdings, and he doesn’t want to give me the control.”
“I’m sorry about your brother,” she said sincerely. He nodded tersely, his jaw clenching for a moment, and when he finally spoke his voice was unwavering.
“Thank you.”
His gaze flickered away from her, and she noticed him take in a sharp breath. Luz was familiar with that particular gesture. That moment when grief cuts through you unexpectedly and the pain feels so fresh, the wound so deep, you can hardly get air in your lungs. This man had experienced too much loss in his life, and in that, at least, they had a kinship.
“If he has the dukedom and the land, why can’t he liquidate that to ease his financial burdens?”
The question seemed to lighten his mood, and he offered her an appreciative smile before answering. “Very good, Luz Alana,” he said. His praise wrapping around her like a velvet embrace. “He can’t touch most of it. You see, my grandfather, my father’s father, was—well, I wouldn’t call him an abolitionist, but he was supportive of the cause. When he could no longer finance his efforts with his allowance, he began to sell some of the dukedom’s holdings. My great-grandfather was enraged by this and decided to put most of the assets of the duchy in trust. The Duke of Annan can live in the residences, and his duchess can wear the jewels, but anything my father could easily liquidate is locked up tightly.”
“Your great-grandfather punished his own son because he was supporting the abolitionists.” Luz said it out loud, in an effort to absorb that level of malice.
“He did,” Evan said in that same terse, overly contained tone he used whenever his father was the topic of conversation. “My father resents it enormously. Even if he can still borrow against the holdings, which he has.” A bitter laugh escaped his lips, and Luz shivered at what she saw on his face. “He still hates that he can’t do what he pleases because his own father hadsomemorals.”
“What exactly do you have in mind?” She could hardly believe she was considering this.
“We marry, I make your trustee redundant and pass the control of your inheritance to you. As a married man, I can demand that my father honor my mother’s wishes and pass the ownership of the Braeburn to me. I’d be happy to give you a divorce once it’s all settled.”
That last bit should not sting as much as it did.
“You get what you want, and I get what I want. It’s the perfect solution.”
“You speak like marriage is easily reversible.” She knew that the laws had changed when it came to women’s property, but divorce was entirely different.
