“My father is of the belief, and . . .” Hugh stopped speaking, and he let out a weary, resigned breath. “And he may be right,” he finally continued, as if he was only just accepting it himself, “that Freddie will never marry. I’d always thought he might, even though . . .” Again, his words trailed off.

“Hugh?” Sarah said softly, after nearly a minute had passed.

He turned and looked at her, then his expression hardened. “It doesn’t matter what I thought,” he said dismissively. “All that matters is what my father thought, and that he is convinced that I must be the one to provide an heir for the next generation. When Winstead nearly killed me . . .” He shrugged, letting Sarah and Daniel come to their own conclusions.

“But he didn’t kill you,” Sarah said. “So you can still . . .”

No one spoke.

“Er, you can, can’t you?” she finally asked. This was no time to be missish and demure.

He chuckled grimly. “I have no reason to suppose otherwise, although I will confess to not having assured my father to that fact.”

“Well, don’t you think you should have done?” she demanded. “He would have let Daniel alone, and—”

“My father,” Hugh cut in sharply, “does not easily let go of vengeance.”

“Indeed,” Daniel said.

“I still don’t understand,” Sarah said. What did any of this have to do with how Hugh brought Daniel back from Italy?

“If you want to marry him,” Daniel said to her, “I will not stand in your way. I like Hugh. I have always liked Hugh, even when we met on that damned dueling field. But I will not permit you to marry him without knowing the truth.”

“What truth?” Sarah demanded. She was so bloody sick of them talking around the issue when she didn’t even know what the issue was.

Daniel stared at her for a long moment, then turned his attention to Hugh. “Tell her how you convinced your father,” he said in a clipped voice.

She looked at Hugh. He was staring at some point over her shoulder. It was like she wasn’t even there.

“Tell her.”

“My father loves nothing so much as the Ramsgate title,” Hugh said in a strange monotone. “I am nothing but a means to an end, but he believes I am his only means, and thus I am invaluable.”

“What does that mean?” she asked.

He turned back to her, blinking as if he was bringing her into focus. “Don’t you understand?” he said softly. “When it comes to my father, the only thing with which I have to bargain is myself.”

Sarah’s uneasiness began to grow.

“I drew up a contract,” Hugh said to her, “explaining exactly what would happen if your cousin met with any harm.”

Sarah’s gaze slid to Daniel, then back to Hugh. “What?” she said, the dread in her voice threatening to drag the very breath from her body. “What will happen?”