Sarah ignored him, instead stepping closer to Lord Ramsgate. “I am certain you will see that it is a most beneficial solution for all involved parties. You will get what you want—an eventual heir for Ramsgate—and I will get what I want: peace for my family. And Hugh—” Her words came to an abrupt halt as she forced down the bile that threatened her throat. “Well, Hugh doesn’t have to kill himself.”

Lord Ramsgate held himself preternaturally still. Finally, he said, “If you agree to marry my son and you do not bar him from your bed—and I hope you will trust me when I tell you that I will have spies in your household and I will know if you are not fulfilling your end of the bargain—then I will leave your cousin alone.”

“Forever,” Sarah added.

Lord Ramsgate gave a quick, bitter nod.

“And you will not attempt to contact my children.”

“I cannot agree to that.”

“Very well,” she acquiesced, since she never expected to win on that point, “I will allow you to see them, but only in my or their father’s presence, and at a time and place of our choosing.”

Lord Ramsgate shook with rage, but he said, “You have my word.”

Sarah turned and looked to Hugh for confirmation.

“On this you can trust him,” Hugh said quietly. “For all his cruelty, he does not break his promises.”

Then Daniel said, “I have not known him to lie.”

Sarah gaped at him.

“He said he was going to try to kill me and he did,” Daniel said. “Try, that is.”

Sarah’s mouth fell open. “This is your endorsement?”

Daniel shrugged. “Then he said he wouldn’t try to kill me, and as far as I know, he didn’t.”

“How hard did you hit him?” Hugh asked.

Sarah looked down at her hand. Her knuckles were turning purple. Good Lord, and his wedding was in two days. Anne would never forgive her.

“It was worth it,” Daniel said, one of his hands making a loopy wave near his face. His head tilted drunkenly to the side as he quirked a brow toward Hugh. “She did it,” he said. “What you and I were never able to manage.”

“And all she had to do was sacrifice herself,” Lord Ramsgate said with an oily smile.

“I’m going to kill you,” Hugh growled, and Sarah had to step in front of him and forcibly hold him back.

“Go back to London,” Sarah ordered the marquess. “I will see you at the christening of our first child, and not a moment before.”

Lord Ramsgate just chuckled.

“Are we clear?” she demanded.

“As water, my dear lady.” Lord Ramsgate walked to the door, then turned around. “If you had been born sooner,” he said with an intense stare, “I would have married you.”

“You bastard!”