Evening Star (Star Quartet 1)

“Ah, my dear Mrs. Van Cleve, you finally admit to yourself that I have won. Surely if I were the fortune hunter you believe me to be, I would not be so stupid as to accept such a paltry sum when one day soon I could enjoy all the benefits of having you for a mother-in-law.”

“On the contrary, sir, I believe you to be quite stupid. I will not see you again, Mr. Bennett. I bid you good day.”

“Good day, dear lady,” he said, bowing, and strolled from the room, whistling under his breath.

His confidence shook her. I should have Lanson beat him to a bloody pulp. On the heels of that pleasing thought, she envisioned Giana rushing to him, and cursing her, never forgiving her.

“Giana, my love, how very charming you look. The rose silk is very becoming.”

“Thank you, Mama,” Giana said, eyeing her. “Did you wish to speak to me?”

“Yes, child, I did.” Aurora gathered her thoughts together. “I talked to Randall Bennett today, at my office in the city.”

“I know, he told me.”

Aurora sagged where she stood. She had hoped to tell Giana before Bennett did.

Giana continued, her voice contemptuous, “I don’t need your gowns, your servants, or even a place you would so graciously provide me to live, Mama. I will have Randall, and he is all that I will ever want. Neither of us care if you disinherit me. He told me that you offered him money never to see me again. He was dreadfully upset that you could treat him so badly. Oh, Mama, don’t you see that Randall and I love each other? How could you, Mama?”

Aurora lost her calm and whirled on her daughter. “Yes, Giana, I did offer him ten thousand pounds, but he informed me it was a paltry sum he would not consider since he thinks he will eventually own everything that is ours.” She paused a moment, looking hopefully into her daughter’s face, but she saw only a wall of absolute distrust.

“For God’s sake, Giana, why do you think I met with him without your knowledge? I will tell you. I know I have rarely been so sure of anything, that Randall Bennett is the lowest kind of man, a fortune hunter. I love you. How can you imagine that I will sit by and let that immoral creature do as he wishes with you?”

“You love me, Mama? When did you decide that, pray tell? It has certainly been a recent discovery for you, since I have been out of your sight and mind nearly all my life. Why, Mama? Have you decided that you want me in your business and find Randall Bennett a nuisance?”

“Listen to me, Giana. It is true that I want you to join me in our business. I believe you are well-suited to it. I believe you would find satisfaction being your own woman, in charge of your own life. That in no way discounts a husband. It only discounts scum like Randall Bennett.”

“I doubt that you have ever been in love, Mama. You do not know what it is like to know that a man loves you in return, wants to cherish you, wants to make you the very center of his life.”

“What you are spouting is romantic drivel. No, I have never been in love, as you phrase it. Perhaps I am not the kind of person to ever become so involved. But, Giana, Randall Bennett will give you none of the things you want. You must believe me.”

Georgiana drew herself up to her full height. “And you must believe me, Mama. I do not want a life alone. I want marriage and a family. I want Randall Bennett.”

Aurora said suddenly, beyond constraint, “What would you think if I were to die after your marriage?”

“Mama, I don’t understand you. Wait, what do you mean? What in God’s name are you implying?”

“You know what I am saying, Giana. He merely taunted me when I informed him that you would not inherit until you were thirty years old. I sensed in him an utter ruthlessness against anything or anyone who stands in the way of his gaining our wealth.”

Giana rushed away from her mother, toward the door to her bedchamber. She clutched the knob and whirled about. “You are willing to say anything to ruin my life. Even accuse the man I love of planning to murder you. Dear God, do you hate me so much that you wish to destroy me?”

Aurora raised her hand in silent supplication, but Giana did not wait for a reply. She rushed from the room, her sobs ringing in Aurora’s ears. Aurora stared blindly about Giana’s frilly, feminine bedchamber. It is over now, she thought, and I have lost.

“Aurora. Cara. Behold, I am here not three days after I received your message in Paris.”

Aurora leapt to her feet. “Daniele,” she said, and flung open the doors of the library. She threw herself into his arms, ignoring Lanson’s startled face.

Daniele adjusted his eyes to the dim light in the library. “By all that’s holy, Aurora, what is this? Have you finally consented to lend me the thirty thousand pounds I need?”

Aurora drew back and smiled up at Daniele Cippolo, her business associate in Rome, and a longtime friend. If anyone could help her, it would be Daniele. Only he, she had thought as she penned her letter to him, was cunning enough to devise a means to foil Randall Bennett.

“I need your help, Daniele,” she said without preamble. “Would you care for a glass of sherry?”

Daniele nodded and followed her graceful figure to the sideboard with his eyes. “If you did not request my visit to London, cara, to lend me money, you must indeed have a problem of infinite complexity.” As she handed him his glass, he said, “There are shadows beneath your lovely eyes, Aurora. I cannot believe that the famous Aurora Van Cleve is betwixt and between.”

“You phrase it so nicely, Daniele.” As he sipped at his sherry, Aurora took a restless turn about the room. “I do have a problem for which there seems to be no solution. It is Giana.”

“Little Giana?” He struck his hand to his forehead. “How the years fly by. The girl is home from her fancy seminary in Switzerland?”