Page 65 of Cora
“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.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-ONE
