Heart of the Diamond by Carrie Brock

fortitude. Her sister deserved a happy future and Nicki meant to see she was not disappointed. “My father told me none of the details of your conversation, but I was able to learn some of the finer points from another. Having done so, I must beg you to reconsider.” Nicki rushed on, sensing he intended to interrupt. “Several years ago, Papa suffered extreme financial losses. He sold off all he could, including our house in London and several properties in Yorkshire. He was still unable to meet his obligations. There was no chance of a Season for me.”
    When his scowl deepened, she continued before he could interrupt. “Oh, I never regretted that fact. I am quite content here with my horses. But Mina is not like me. She will be eighteen next month and she has dreamed of going to London. You see, she is a beauty and I am certain she will be a sensation.”
    “Quite touching.” The dryness in his voice assured her he had not been moved in the least.
    Nicki pressed her hands together in her lap to keep from twisting them and revealing her anxiety. “Papa cannot go about London if it is known that creditors are hounding him. Mina might be thought a fortune hunter.”
    A muscle flinched in his square jaw. “You ask a great deal of a man that you met in the darkness of his bedchamber. If I can have you without stipulations, why should I be willing to sacrifice anything?”
    Slowly, Nicki inhaled, then released her breath. She must go forward. “If you do not agree to my requests, I shall simply disappear. It would break my heart, but I would do so rather than marry you.”
    The earl shook his head curtly. “Your threat does not frighten me.”
    “It should. You left England in disgrace once. Now that you are the Earl of Diamond, you have the opportunity to start afresh. That will be difficult when word spreads of your shabby treatment of the Duke of Billington's daughter. How will London react when they learn the poor girl was already engaged to be married . . . ”
    “Enough! You have made your point.” He no longer bothered to mask his anger.
    “I did not wish to resort to such measures, sir, but you arrogantly refused to see reason. After all—is it not your fault that I am no longer engaged to Melton?”
    A clock on the bedside table chimed the hour. Midnight. So late? Blake turned toward the sound, throwing his harsh features into startling display. The coldness of his voice reached out to surround her.
    “You may not realize it now, but I have saved you from a hellish life chained to a lecherous old man. I feel I have already been charitable despite the fact that your father once took something from me that can never be replaced. His suffering is mild in comparison to my own.”
    Nicki recalled terrifying stories Teddy had told her as a child of men turning into wolves at the stroke of midnight. If she had ever met a man that met the description of a predator, it was the Earl of Diamond. Her gaze studied Blake carefully, but he remained outwardly unchanged. She rubbed her arms to ward off the chill.
    “I know nothing of what ill you harbor toward my father, and I will not judge who has suffered the greater harm. Are you willing to accept my terms?”
    A long silence met her words. Then the earl chuckled, causing Nicki to start in surprise. “What a manipulative little negotiator you are. I should have met with you this morning. Yes, Nicole, I agree to your terms. I will send my man around first thing in the morning with a letter to your father outlining our discussion tonight, and I will come myself in the afternoon for tea.”
    “You will not reveal my part in your decision to change your mind?”
    “I will keep your secret, but only because it suits me to do so.”
    Nicki leapt from the chair, pressing her hands together over her heart. “I promise you, sir, you will not regret your generosity!”
    The earl rose and stepped toward Nicki. Scarcely controlled power surged beneath the polish of his