“She knew what she was worth. He disagreed.”
She has spent nine years being useful. It is not the same as being wanted, and she knows the difference to the shilling.
Clemency Verrall is a paid companion with no fortune, no family and no expectations, and she has made her peace with all three. Then her employer sends her into Kent on an errand any footman could have run, and it goes wrong in a way that cannot be quietly undone.
Sir Piers Marchbank owns the land she was sent to buy. He is rude, he is honest, and he has no charm whatsoever. What he has is a habit of treating her like a woman with a mind, which nobody has ever troubled to do.
He would rather insult her than lie to her.
She has been lied to beautifully, and would rather have the insult.