“George.” The vicar raised a hand to silence him. “Let us speak about this in a civilized manner. We are not savages.” He turned to Alex. “About this bargain…am I to understand that my son owes you money? A sum he lost to you at the gambling tables in France?”

“He does, sir.”

“And that the sum exceeds ten thousand pounds?”

Alex inclined his head.

The vicar’s eyes were suddenly weary. “You and I must come to terms then. We honor our debts in this household.”

“I told you, it’s nothing to do with you,” George said to his father. “I already negotiated a way to pay it back.”

“I know all about the way you arranged to pay your debt,” the vicar returned with uncharacteristic venom. “By sacrificing the life of an honorable young woman.”

“It was only an introduction. Henrietta wasn’t obliged to marry him.”

“That poor girl deserved better from you.”

George snorted. “That poor girl is three times as devious as I am, and twice as devious as Archer. If you can’t see that—”

“Enough, George. I won’t hear you justify your sin. All I require from you—”

“All you require is perfection. That I meet your unmeetable standards.”

“Not that you meet them, only that you aspire to them. The same thing I would ask of any of my congregation.”

“I’m not your congregation,” George said. “I’m your son.”

“Enough,” the vicar said again. “I won’t have us repeat this old argument in company.” He removed his spectacles. “Mr. Archer, I’m in no position to scold you when my own son is the architect of your transgression, but I must say that—”

“There’s nothing George has done that I didn’t intend him to do,” Alex said. “When I met him in Marseilles, I saw that he was a man with no head for cards—or for liquor. I took advantage of both in order to achieve my ends. It was badly done of me. I’ve come today to beg your pardon for it.”

“To beg my pardon?” The vicar blinked.

“And to forgive the debt.” Alex felt Laura squeeze his hand. No doubt she thought it was a heroic gesture. To give up ten thousand pounds—a king’s ransom.

Alex knew better.

There had never been any chance that George would actually pay the sum. Alex had only continued to play against him because he knew there was another sort of compensation to be had. A chance to meet and marry an heiress. To win for himself what Justin Thornhill had somehow managed to gain—a wife of fortune and property.

But that was all over now.

“You don’t owe me anything,” he said. “Neither of you do.”

“You’re forgiving the whole ten thousand pounds?” George’s hand gripped the mantel until his knuckles turned white. “Are you in earnest?”

“Dead earnest.”