Hugh is going to marry Eugenia.
Could that really be true?
Esther thought she would probably have to accept that Eugenia had turned on her. And, of course, it wasn’t difficult at all to believe that her aunt would have contrived to make this engagement happen.
But would Hugh really have agreed to such an arrangement?
Hugh wants love. He wants to marry for love.
That was the one thing, in all this mess, that Esther knew for sure.
And he wasn’t in love with Eugenia. He couldn’t be.
Even if his feelings for Esther were gone—and little though she wanted to accept it, she had to acknowledge that they might be—he couldn’t possibly have fallen in love with her cousin so quickly.
She couldn’t believe it.
Like everything else her aunt had said today, there was just something deeply, fundamentally wrong about it.
But Aunt Tabitha hadn’t yet lied to her about anything.
I hate it. But I think it must be the truth.
Chapter 30
All too soon, Esther’s things were being loaded in one of her aunt’s carriages.
A part of her was eager to get in and to be driven away from these treacherous people. She wanted nothing to do with her aunt. Not anymore. She had believed that her courtship with Hugh was progressing according to plan. Now everything had gone wrong.
But there was a part of her that didn’t want to leave, too. Because once she got in that carriage, it would all be over. There would be no going back. It would be final.
God, I wish I could talk to Hugh one more time. I wish I could explain to him that it really wasn’t the way it seems!
She couldn’t talk to him. She knew that. He wouldn’t see her, even if she could find a way to Hallowbinder Manor. Everything that had existed between them had gone up in smoke.
But there was someone she could still speak to.
She went into the sitting room without knocking. Her aunt was sitting before the fire, sipping a cup of tea. She looked up when Esther entered, but said nothing. She just eyed her evenly, as if waiting to see what Esther would say.
“I want to speak to Eugenia,” Esther said, trying not to allow her voice to shake.
“I’m afraid not,” Aunt Tabitha said. “I won’t have you making her feel ashamed for guarding her own interests. She has a right to do that.”
“She’s my cousin,” Esther insisted. “I want to speak to my cousin.”
“It’s too late for you to act as if you have some claim to her friendship,” Aunt Tabitha said. She shook her head, as if she was deeply disappointed in Esther. “You should have heard her when she was told that you would be coming to London to spend the Season with us, Esther. She was so excited. She was so glad that she would have a friend to attend balls with.”
“I wanted that, too,” Esther said.
“But you weren’t her friend, were you?” Aunt Tabitha said. “You were never her friend.”
“Iwasher friend,” Esther said sharply. “You can’t rewrite that part of our history, Aunt Tabitha. Nor can you make me believe that the Duke never cared for me, or that I never cared for him. The version of events you’re trying to peddle isn’t the truth.”
“Which part of it?” Aunt Tabitha said. “Do you claim that you didn’t set out to deceive him into courting you?”
“You know there’s a difference between marrying for advantage and actively seeking to deceive someone,” Esther protested. “You know I wasn’t trying to trick anybody. I wanted him for his title, yes. But for you to act as if you’re superior to me, when we both know you want the exact same thing, is ridiculous.”
Aunt Tabitha returned her attention to the fire. “That’s enough, Esther,” she said. “Your presence in my home has become tiresome to me. I’m ready for you to go.”
