And each of them had been restored to his place, richer, stronger, more powerful.
In love.
She resisted the thought.
Love had been secondary. Her partners had been restored to their places because Georgiana gave them the avenue for their restoration. She was lucky enough to have – despite her failings – a brother who was willing to do anything she asked. Secure any invitation. Provide any cover. He owed her.
With her scandal, she’d given him the freedom to marry the woman of his choosing, and he’d given her something much much more valuable… a future.
She might never again be accepted by Society, but now she held the power to destroy it.
For years, she’d planned and plotted her revenge – the moment she showed them all the truth – that they were nothing without her – the ruined girl they’d thrown away.
Except, she couldn’t.
As much as she loathed it, she needed them.
Not just them.
She needed him.
West’s handsome face flashed again – all easy power and lazy smiles. The man was far too arrogant for his own good. And that arrogance tempted more than it should.
But he was everything she did not desire. Everything she did not require. He was untitled, not even a gentleman – come from nowhere, accepted in polite company because of his sickening wealth more than anything else. For God’s sake, the man had a career. It was a miracle he was allowed this side of Regent Street.
She required his assistance for one thing and one thing only.
Securing Caroline’s future.
The door behind Asriel snapped open, revealing her daughter, lit from behind by a collection of blazing candles. “I thought I heard you.”
“Why are you still awake?”
Caroline waved a red leather book. “I cannot sleep. This poor woman! Her husband forces her to drink wine from her own father’s skull!”
Asriel’s eyes went wide.
Caroline turned to him. “I feel the same way. It’s no wonder she haunts the place. Though, to be honest, if it were me, I’d want as far away from it as possible.”
Georgiana plucked the book from Caroline’s grasp. “I think we could find something more appropriate for bedtime reading than” – she read from the book’s cover – “The Ghosts of Castel Teodorico, don’t you?”
“What would you suggest?”
“Surely there’s a book of children’s poetry lying about?”
Caroline rolled her eyes. “I am not a child.”
“Of course not.” Georgiana knew better than to argue. “A novel? Including a noble steed, a shining castle, and a happy-ever-after?”
Rolling eyes turned forthright. “I shan’t know if this one has a happy-ever-after unless I finish it. But there is a romance.”
Georgiana’s brow raised. “The husband in question does not strike me as a viable hero.”
Caroline waved a hand. “Oh, of course not him. He’s a proper monster. Another ghost. From two hundred years earlier, and they are in love.”
“The two ghosts?” Asriel asked, his gaze falling to the book.
Caroline nodded. “Through time.”
“How inconvenient,” Georgiana said.
“Thoroughly. They only appear together one night a year.”
“And what do they do together?” Asriel asked. Georgiana turned surprised eyes on him, big as a house and silent as the grave – unless romantic novels were in discussion, apparently.
Caroline shook her head. “It’s unclear. But apparently it’s quite scandalous, so I assume it’s some kind of physical manifestation of their passion. Though considering they are ghosts… I’m not sure how it works.”
Asriel choked.
Georgiana raised a brow. “Caroline.”
Caroline grinned. “It’s just so easy to shock him.”
“You are what is referred to as ‘precocious.’” She handed the book to Asriel. “And so you must be reminded that I am older, wiser, and more powerful. Go to bed.”
The girl’s eyes sparkled. “What of my book?”
Georgiana bit back a smile. “You may have it in the morning. Asriel will take excellent care of it in the meantime.”
Caroline whispered to Asriel, “Chapter fifteen. We shall discuss it tomorrow.”
Asriel grunted in feigned disinterest, but did not protest his receipt of the book.
Georgiana pointed to Caroline’s bedchamber. “In.”
The girl turned at the order, and Georgiana followed behind, watching as she climbed into bed, then perching on the edge of the bed, smoothing the linen coverlet over Caroline’s shoulders. “You realize that when you are invited to Society events —”
Caroline groaned.
“When you are invited to Society events… you cannot discuss physical manifestations of anything.” She paused. “And it’s best to avoid discussion of drinking of blood from skulls.”
“It was wine.”
“Let’s settle on no skull drinking of any kind.”
Caroline signed. “Society events sound terribly boring.”
“They’re not, you know.”
Caroline turned surprise eyes on her mother. “They’re not?”
Georgiana shook her head. “They’re not. They’re really quite entertaining if you’re…” she hesitated. If you’re welcome to them didn’t seem to be the appropriate finish to the sentence. Particularly since Caroline was fairly ruined. “If you’re interested in that sort of thing.”