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marriage indefinitely, but the captain made sure other debts will go unpaid until a wedding occurs. My family stands to lose everything, as do several of the captain’s business associates.” He paled visibly as he spoke and turned away from Sam to stare blankly at the portrait of some ancient ancestor.
    “He was a determined man, Sam. He made sure she and her family would not balk. Not only did he stipulate a rather large sum to his sister for relinquishing the little hellion to England, but his will entails all of her funds in this marriage.” Michael sat up abruptly and perched his elbows on the desk so he could rub his temples.
    “Meaning?”
    “Meaning that Carrington’s daughter has no access to money and loses it irretrievably if she does not marry me. The choice is solely hers; legally, only she may end it. But in that event, all of her dowry, save a small annuity, will go to pay his creditors.”
    “What?”
    “Everything will be lost if I do not marry her,” Michael said evenly. “My sister, my uncle’s widow, my cousins as well, and at least three of Captain Carrington’s business associates of whom I am aware. The will outlines the actions to be taken to collect on my outstanding debts as well as Carrington’s.”
    Sam’s indignation for his friend had mounted at a rapid pace. “Can’t you pay the debts? You are a very wealthy man!”
    “I need almost a million pounds—cash—today. I am a wealthy man, true, but it would take a considerable amount of time to liquidate my investments or access my funds on the continent to raise that amount.”
    Michael got up and crossed to a sideboard, poured himself a whiskey, downed that, and poured another. Sam followed helplessly behind him and helped himself to a brandy.
    “In your assessment, there is no hope, no way out?” Sam asked again. Michael nodded slowly. A silence fell between the two men until Sam asked cautiously, “Is she so bad?”
    Michael shrugged indifferently. “I remember a savage little hellion, dirtier than a pigsty and more mean-spirited than any man I have ever met. And in addition to that distant nightmare, for some reason, I balk at being forced into marriage. For the life of me, I cannot determine why Carrington heaped this upon me. Whatever his scheme was, it was worth enoughto bestow a dowry of almost five hundred thousand pounds on her.”
    “Five hundred thousand pounds!” Sam exclaimed.
    “Rather a large dowry, wouldn’t you agree?” Michael quipped.
    Large? It was unheard of, Sam thought as he watched Michael resume his seat behind his desk, rub the back of his neck, and stare blindly at a stack of papers. Sam pitied his friend; he had suffered so much in his life. First, there had been the way the
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had turned their back on the family when his father amassed debts reaching unspeakable sums. They were pariahs, treated as if they did not exist when in town, and were forced to retreat to Blessing Park and live in solitude. From what he could gather, Michael’s younger sister, Mariah, had been his only true friend growing up in the shadow of a drunken, cruel father. When Michael took to the seas with Carrington, his sister had suffered greatly from the ill treatment. She was shunned by the
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, and after a very disappointing debut, was courted by Malcolm Routier, an unsavory character with a dark reputation. Michael, acting in his incapacitated father’s stead, had refused Routier’s offer for Mariah’s hand. That had caused Mariah much grief, and for a period of time she refused even to talk Michael. But time passed, and she had, at last, married a Scot and moved to the remote Highland regions where Michael had said she was happier than she had been all her life.
    Mariah’s departure had been difficult for him, particularly since her leaving was followed quickly by the untimely and accidental death of his mother. During a walk around the park one day, she had tripped and fallen over a ledge. In a freak mishap,