“It is only acting,” Martina asserted. “I could not marry you or anyone else if I thought Harriet would kill herself in preference to marrying a man she dislikes. She would rather die than let him touch her.”
Martina spoke so violently that for a moment Sir Hugh stared at her.
“If I had any sense I would make you promise to marry me in return for helping you.”
Martina looked at him strangely.
“No,” she said. “You would never do that. You are too honourable to blackmail me in such an underhand way.”
Sir Hugh turned away, cursing under his breath.
“You are right,” he grumbled at last. “Not about me being honourable because I am not. But I would never try to make you marry me by such methods. I want you to marry me because you really want to.”
“Oh, my dear,” she sighed, “I can only giv
