Cora (Virtue & Vice #4)

Chapter 30

CHAPTER THIRTY

CORA

T he evening of her recital, Cora smoothed her claret-colored silk gown and peered nervously out from behind the curtains. Gideon was somewhere in the audience awaiting his turn to introduce her while the opening act, a quartet, performed.

Her mother-in-law eyed her dress with a frown.

“Your face will stick that way if you keep scowling.”

“I am not scowling.” Martha relaxed her features. Cora bit her lip to suppress a smile. “Did you have to choose red? The color of war and fallen women?”

“Any proceeds from tonight’s ticket sales are going to the House of Virtue, so I felt it was an appropriate color. Besides, it’s quite flattering on me, don’t you think?”

Her mother-in-law declined to offer any opinion, which Cora decided was a win.

“I cannot believe you placed Miss Caldwell in the front row. At least she’s next to Miss Kingston. I understand Prince Leopold is contemplating an offer for her. Seating her next to Miss Caldwell could jeopardize that offer. You should drop her, at least publicly. Ideally, you will drop her privately as well.”

Unease flickered through Cora at the idea of the prince offering for Miss Kingston. She couldn’t have explained why, nor was this the moment to ponder her reaction.

“Honey is my friend.”

“Friends are a luxury you cannot afford as a Wentworth.”

If she meekly permitted Martha to run her life the way she was presently attempting to do, Cora would find herself isolated and embittered. She wasn’t going to allow that to happen. Tonight, she was taking charge of her life.

No more letting Gideon and Martha push her around.

“Do you think I don’t know what people say about me?” she asked softly. “The reason I am friends with Honey Caldwell is that she was the only person who would tell me the unvarnished truth.” After your son ruined me , Cora didn’t say. It wasn’t worth the argument. “She tried to sugarcoat it at times, but she is awful at keeping secrets and they would always come out in some form. To my brother and father’s set, I was little better than the crass Americans who come here seeking to buy a title with their immense wealth. Even when they succeed, they are never truly accepted.”

“You are Lord Gryphon’s daughter.” Martha took her by the arm and spoke low in her ear. “Never let them forget it.”

“Illegitimate daughter,” Cora reminded her.

Martha sniffed. “Still the offspring of a duke, and half-sister to his successor. Nothing changes that. It is your only social advantage. I advise you to make the most of it. You won’t achieve that by associating with Miss Caldwell.”

This time, she truly no longer cared what people thought of her. Gideon had hurt her family to get her, and that was something she could never, ever forgive. She waved at Honey from the curtains at the edge of the stage and let Martha stew in her frustration.

After tonight, the Wentworths wouldn’t want her anywhere near their family. She had chosen a red gown because this time, she was going out in a blaze of infamy.

She spied Reggie sitting near Gideon’s father and gave him a small, sad smile. Reggie tipped his head and didn’t return her smile. He knew something was not right. Her heart panged when she thought about how her actions this evening would hurt him, too. He had been nothing but kind to her.

“Cora. We have a visitor.”

Prince Leopold brushed past the man stationed at the stairs to prevent anyone from wandering backstage. Cora frowned at that. He ignored another person’s attempt to steer him back to the seats, spied her, and made a beeline.

Hairs prickled on the back of Cora’s neck. He had looked at her like this before, during her misbegotten Season. Like prey. He’d made her feel like a rabbit trembling in a bush. Praying he wouldn’t notice her.

He had not only noticed her; he had hunted her through ballrooms.

He might have looked like a fairytale prince, but he was a predator. That was how Gideon had described the man who would have forced her, then refused to marry her. Prince Leopold, with his family connection to the late Prince Consort, looked like an illustration from a book of fairy tales. He would have had the protection of the Queen, had he attempted it. Her younger self would never have had the courage to come forward with the truth.

Gideon would have known this man’s true nature, given his connections. Her conviction to take revenge on him for hurting her family wavered. He really had been trying to protect her in the only way he could.

“Your Highness,” Martha said without preamble. “You do us a great honor by visiting before Cora’s performance.”

The prince took her bare hand—gloves would not do for playing music, and a true gentleman would not have been so familiar—and brought them to his lips, bending slightly and holding her eye. A hint of darkness lurked beneath the blade of his nose and at the corner of his mouth.

“You once gave a memorable performance. I trust tonight’s will be even more noteworthy.”

What an ass. He was attempting to rattle her. It wouldn’t work.

“I plan to offer the best entertainment in London,” Cora replied, showing her teeth behind a sweet smile.

“Mrs. Wentworth. My great-aunt speaks highly of your family. Morally upstanding, trustworthy, and protective of her interests. I have been considering moving my British affairs to a new bank, as it seems I shall be remaining here for the foreseeable future,” he said.

Morally upstanding. The way Martha fawned over this man burned. All the Wentworths cared about was money. They weren’t worth having as family, or as anything else.

“We would be beyond honored, Your Highness,” Martha gushed. “I shall inform my son to arrange a meeting at your earliest convenience.”

“Best to see how tonight’s performance goes, don’t you think?” Cora interjected. Jitters made her hands trembly, but she had to get control over her nerves before she went out onto that stage. Her conviction in her plan wavered, but even if his intentions had been pure back then, Gideon had been untruthful with her in forcing her to the altar. He hurt her brother. She could not live with such a man.

She had left herself an escape, and tonight, she intended to exercise it.

Martha’s sharp glance did not help matters, but Cora forced herself to be calm as applause for the opening performers’ act reached a crescendo.

The prince’s gaze slipped from Martha to Cora, missing nothing. She didn’t like the way it felt when he looked at her. Oily. Dirty.

“How is your husband?” he asked.

“You may ask him yourself momentarily.” She gestured to the stage where Gideon stood, full of pride and heartbreakingly handsome in his matching scarlet and gold waistcoat under a midnight blue coat so dark it appeared black until the bright stage lights picked up the faint sapphire sheen.

Her heart shattered. She loved him, and he’d used her. Hunted her down. Once, she’d felt like a wolf in a forest. Now, she knew that primal fight would end with Gideon plunging his teeth into her neck. She had always been the prey.

But at least now she knew where she stood.

The prince’s oily look slid down her body and back up. “Too busy to attend to his new bride? I would gladly entertain you.”

Cora swallowed a wave of revulsion.

“Her Majesty fares well?” interrupted Martha. Her pinched expression was back, although she was trying harder to conceal it this time. Cora wondered how long Leopold had been dangling the prospect of moving his funds to Wentworth’s bank just to keep her begging for his attention.

“I wouldn’t know. Victoria has banned me from Buckingham Palace for the time being.” He shrugged.

Martha blinked at this news. “I trust you will get back into her good graces soon.”

Clearly, Martha intended this to be comforting, but the prince seemed not to care. The way he studied Cora made her feel like he was mentally stripping off her clothes and imagining her naked. When Gideon looked at her the same way, with lustful interest, heat simmered in her core. When Leopold did it, she bristled.

“What did you do to get banished?” Cora asked curiously.

“Aren’t you a brazen little wagtail, asking that.”

“Such charm and manners from a highborn man are to be commended,” she said acidly.

Once, she would have chalked it up to a foreigner’s misunderstanding of an idiom that meant lewd and promiscuous. He could have meant wag-tongue—a word frequently applied to Honey, for it meant “a gossip.” Cora was no longer quite so generous. Knowing what she did about the prince now, she decided he’d meant exactly what he’d said when he called her a wagtail.

“Cora,” Martha seethed, gripping her arm. “If you will excuse us, Highness.”

A mirthless smirk played on the prince’s lips as he saluted them. His cold glare promised retribution.

Gideon finished his speech and waved for her to make her entrance.

Fresh resolve floated on the ocean of her sadness and pain. She was going to do this. A stagehand swept aside the curtain and gestured for her to take the stage. Cora held her chin high and strode onto the stage.

“Bravo!” Honey clapped as loudly as her gloved hands permitted, beaming. Cora gave her a little wave in return, and blew a kiss to Reggie. He smiled sadly in return. He knew. Of all the Wentworth family, he was the most observant. The one most acquainted with the crueler side of human nature.

She could barely meet Gideon’s eyes without tearing up.

“Will you be all right?” he whispered, drawing her close. “You look upset.”

“Prince Leopold wished me luck backstage.” That was all she needed to say to make his handsome face turn thunderous with fury. “It’s fine. I handled it.”

“I’ll be the one handling him.”

“No. Gideon. It’s not worth it. Just, please…one kiss for luck?”

One last kiss before the break. He bent his head and did not hold back, kissing her with all the soft sweetness and love she could have asked for. She returned it, for she did love him, and always would. But she would never again allow him to manipulate or control her. That trust was irrevocably broken.