‘You expect me to believe you did not see this young man as a potential source of supplementary income?’ He blustered.
Bess stared down at her hands, as she had done throughout. ‘If you means, Sir, t’was my intention to be his w***e then I swear on my ma’s life it were not. He forced his self on me.’
‘Pah.’ Sir Henry flicked his hand as though batting away the wrong answer. ‘We only have your word for it, girl.’ He steepled his fingers, watching her with a raptor-like glare. ‘How, then, do you explain your lack of maidenhead before the incident.’
She looked up then, colour washing over her face. ‘I don’t know what …’
I quickly wrote. ‘How dare you? That is not a suitable question.’ I pushed my notebook towards him and turned to Thomas in time to see the disgust on his face.
‘I decide
