“Small!?” the little man burst out. “If you could have seen the stricken look on that poor girl’s face, it would have broken your heart as it did mine. And such a pretty girl. Her face is going to haunt me the rest of my days.”

Having said so and apparently believing it, Dudley scurried off down the street once more, refusing to speak more of it. Vincent let him go this time and turned a scowl on the house in question.

The property belonged to him now. He’d called in a considerable number of favors to coerce the previous owner to ignore his verbal commitment with George Ascot and sell him the deed instead. Ascot had had a gentlemen’s agreement with that previous owner, had paid him a very large portion down on the town house and agreed to pay off the balance within a few years. There still being a mortgage, he was not yet in possession of the deed.

Vincent had bought the deed and sent a demand for the balance from Ascot to be paid immediately. He was well aware that Ascot wasn’t in the country to receive the demand or arrange to borrow elsewhere to pay it, thus he would lose the house and everything he had put into it—and only find out about it upon his return, when it was too late to salvage his investment.

It had been a well-aimed blow at Ascot’s finances, as well as his reputation, since it wouldn’t go over well with his creditors that he had been evicted from his residence. Vincent certainly hadn’t expected to lose his valuable secretary over the matter, though.

A pretty girl, eh? She must be the daughter. No other female in that house would be so affected by the eviction, to wear a “stricken” look, since Ascot only had one female in his family, a daughter who had just reached marriageable age. His wife had passed on years ago. There was also a young son.

Vincent found himself approaching the door to the house, just out of curiosity, he assured himself. But after knocking and waiting several long minutes, with snow continuing to collect on the shoulders of his greatcoat, he concluded that curiosity was a silly thing by all accounts, and his own didn’t need to be satisfied.

He turned to leave. The door opened. Pretty? The girl standing there haloed in the soft light behind her took his breath away. This was who he had evicted into the snow-covered streets? This exquisitely beautiful, forlorn creature? Bloody hell.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

LARISSA ASCOT STOOD IN THE OPEN DOORWAY STARING at the large form before her, but she wasn’t really seeing anything. Snow was blowing in her face, but she didn’t really notice that either, or even feel the cold.