Page 71 of Song of the Caged Duchess

Esther wanted to scream at her aunt.

Stop talking!

She didn’t want Hugh to hear these stories. They didn’t reflect the person she was now. Years ago, when she was a child and her father was preparing her for her first Season, things had been different. She had thought of herself as nothing more than a tool, something he could use to secure more wealth to cancel out his debts and provide for Caroline.

Things were different now. She was not her father’s tool. And her feelings for Hugh were very real.

But if Aunt Tabitha told Hugh too much about the person Esther had been, would he lose faith in her? Would he begin to think she hadn’t had a change of heart?

It’s very clear to me that that’s what Aunt Tabitha is hoping for.

It wouldn’t work. It couldn’t. What she and Hugh had between them was too powerful to be overcome by a few harsh words about the past.

But Aunt Tabitha was still speaking.

“That’s the reason Esther’s parents came to London in the first place,” she said. “They wanted to make sure she kept to their agreement. That she sought out a wealthy gentleman. She is a clever lady, isn’t she? You’re lucky to be getting such a clever one.”

“She didn’t seek me out,” Hugh said. “We met by chance.”

Aunt Tabitha cocked her head to one side. “Is that what she’s been telling you?”

“Mother,” Eugenia breathed. “Please. Please don’t.”

Esther felt frozen to her seat. She couldn’t unstick her tongue from behind her teeth to interrupt her aunt. She couldn’t move.

“My daughter told me what really happened,” Aunt Tabitha said. “Yes, you had a chance encounter with Esther—she was quite rude to you, the way Eugenia tells it.”

“She was bold,” Hugh said slowly. “I admired her for it.”

“Bold?” Aunt Tabitha raised her eyebrows. “Perhaps. She’d no idea who you were, of course. Who can say how she might have acted that evening if she hadknownthat the gentleman with whom she’d collided was the Duke of Hallowbinder. But of course, she didn’t find that out until later, when Eugenia revealed your true identity.”

Eugenia told her mother.

Esther could hardly breathe.

I can’t believe she told her.

I believed she was on my side.

Hugh set his fork down slowly. “I’m not sure what you’re getting at here, Lady Harcourt,” he said quietly.

“I only mean to compliment my niece on her cleverness,” Aunt Tabitha said, her voice sickeningly sweet. “Esther is so often praised for her looks and her charm, but there are few who realize how adept she is at manipulating a situation to her advantage. Why, just look at how she handed her meeting with you at that ball!”

“What do you mean?” Hugh asked. His voice was brittle.

“Once she learned who you were, she contrived to meet you again,” Aunt Tabitha said. “Of course, Eugenia had told her all about you—how concerned you were about finding someone who wanted to marry for love instead of status. Esther knew exactly how to turn that situation to her advantage.”

Hugh turned to look at Esther. The look in his eyes was like nothing she had ever seen before. Pain and betrayal.

“Is this true?” he asked her. “Did you know all these things about me before we met?”

“My—my cousin told me about you,” she stammered.

“Then you would have known, right from the beginning, that I wished to marry for love.”

“I—”

“And that wasneveryour aim, was it?” His voice hardened slightly. “If what your aunt is saying is true…you’re far more like your mother and father than I ever imagined.”