"I have a bad feeling about this," Cressida said, her brow creasing. "I would have liked to think it would be all right, butfrom what you're describing, it sounds as if this isn't someone we should trust with Victoria's future."
"No," Lavinia agreed. "I wouldn't imagine that he cares very much about who she marries or whether she's happy. His primary concern is probably the simple fact of getting her married at all. If he can do that, he'll turn the gossip away from her previous marriage and toward the next one. And when your next husband doesn't die mysteriously, Victoria, people will stop speculating that you're someone who kills the men she marries just to lay claim to their fortunes."
"He must know that she's not a murderer if he's so confident that she wouldn't kill again," Cressida said.
"I don't know if that's true," Victoria countered. "He was very clear about the fact that he didn't care whether I had done it or not—that reputation was what mattered to him. And if he's as cunning as you all say he is, it must be the case that he's thought about what will happen after I marry. He must realize that I'm not likely to kill my next husband regardless of what might have happened in the past, because to do so would be far too suspicious. He isn't a good man and I don't like him, but he's not a fool, and he knows that I'm not one either. He knows I wouldn't commit the same crime twice. You would have to be foolhardy in the extreme to do such a thing."
"I hope he's as smart as you're giving him credit for," Cressida said.
"Well, I rather hope he isn't," Victoria said. "If he's a smart man, he'll already know where I am, and he'll be on his way to get me and to drag me back home."
"Perhaps not," Lavinia said. "Perhaps he's decided that allowing you to spend time here is a good thing, Victoria. It may be that he's able to see that time with your sister is what you need."
"We've just established that he doesn't care what I need," Victoria reminded Lavinia.
"Oh, I don't mean to suggest that he cares about it for your sake," Lavinia clarified. "I only meant to say that he might hope giving you some time here would make you more docile. That if you were in better spirits, you would be more willing to bend to his will."
Cressida laughed. "He's fooling himself if he believes that Victoria would ever bend to anyone's will," she said fondly. "That isn't who Victoria is."
"No, it's not," Victoria agreed. "And it's not what I intend on doing. He's about to find out that he started trouble with the wrong person."
Edwina's eyes widened eagerly. Of all of Victoria's friends, she was the one who was always the most eager for a little mischief. "What do you intend to do?"
"I'm going to do all I can to make him leave Stormwell," Victoria said. "He thinks I'm a murderer? Very well, I can use that to my advantage. I can make him fear me. I can make him run screaming from me. Maybe I can make him believe that the house is haunted by the ghosts of my victims!"
"Victoria!" Cressida sounded scandalized. "If you do that, he really will believe you killed your husband."
"Cressida, I don't care what he believes. None of this is happening because of what he believes. It's entirely because he can't stand gossip. He doesn't appear to understand that gossip will afflict people no matter what they do, and no matter how good they are. It can't be avoided. And if you can't avoid something, to my mind, the best thing to do is to embrace it."
"You're saying he ought to embrace the fact that people think you are guilty of murder?"
"I'm saying I ought to embrace it. It might be useful at a time like this, to help me scare an unwanted man away from my house. If he thinks I do harm to people who bother me, he may not want to bother me." She smiled. "At any rate, I can certainly botherhim. He had better get ready to hear the pianoforte at all hours of the night. Of course, he'll tell me that it'shispianoforte and that I mustn't play it, but I can't see how he's going to stop me. He has a lot of power over me, to be sure, but we haven't yet reached the point where he can control my actions."
"You're playing a dangerous game," Cressida cautioned her. "It's right there in the words you just said. You haven'tyetreachedthe point where he can control your actions. If he feels you're too far outside his control, he may become frustrated with you and act to bring you further within his rule. You're hoping that what you do will drive him off—maybe it will. But you need to be aware that it could also have the opposite effect, Victoria. You might find yourself in over your head."
"I just don't see how things could get any worse," Victoria said.
"Right now he doesn't care who you marry. What if he decides that, in addition to wanting to marry you off, he wants to punish you for your willful behavior? You might find yourself in a truly abominable situation, and what would you do then?"
"She's right, Victoria," Lavinia chimed in. "James Wentworth is a man who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. You need to be cautious."
"I'm cautious," Victoria protested.
Everyone else in the room exchanged glances, and Victoria could imagine what they were thinking. The truth was that they were right. Caution had never been her strong suit. That had been the problem in her debut season, and it was the problem she faced now.
But caution wouldn't serve her in this situation. That wasn't what was going to make the duke go away, and all she wanted was to see him gone.
"Don't worry about me," she told her friends. "I'm determined to make this situation go away, and I'll do whatever it takes for that to happen."
"Victoria," Cressida said uncomfortably, "that's exactly why weareworried."
But Victoria was no longer paying her sister any attention. She was too busy lost in thoughts about her plan—a plan that she hoped would irritate the new duke so much that he would give up on the idea of Stormwell entirely and go back to wherever he had been for the past two years.
And then Victoria would be free to return to the life that had made her happy.
She could think of nothing she wanted more.
CHAPTER 6
