“Fool me twice,” he muttered, as he wrote to London in an attempt to get his music recalled. Hopefully, the only copy was the one sent to Brilliance. After all, there couldn’t be much call for an anonymous sonata with an asinine title.
As Vincent discovered, Brilliance had given the publisher his real name and his address. Any questions or royalties were to be directed to him. However, she had not told anyone at Boosey & Co that he was the composer. Still, under Vincent’s authority, the publisher agreed to stop printing more copies, but there was nothing he could do about those already distributed or sold.
Within a week, he tried to put the entire incident behind him ... except now Brilliance was gone. Not only from the southeast of England but from his life. And with each day thatpassed, he missed her more and began to regret his outburst and the boiling fury that had caused him to say some inexcusable things to her.
In truth, he had been angry at her as much for the betrayals of the past as for what she had inadvertently done. And in his heart, he knew it was he who owed her an apology.
Should he go to Lord and Lady Diamond’s country house in Derby?He had no idea whether Brilliance would wish to see him again after the cruel dressing down he’d given.
Vincent supposed the more important question was whether he could forgive her duplicity enough to take up where they left off. He had been prepared to propose marriage.
Now he wasn’t sure she was any different from Ambrose or worse, Lydia. Or worse again, Ambrose. He could never decide which betrayal cut deeper — that of his ladylove or his best friend — although ultimately, he knew he loved his music more than he had ever cared for Lydia.
And what about Brilliance?He simply never imagined, with her openness and frank speech, she could deceive him as she’d done. It had shaken him to his core.
His heart hardened, and he made his decision. Better to have found out her true nature before he went hat-in-hand to speak with her father.
And better still that he should remain alone rather than tie himself to someone he could not trust, no matter how much he missed and yearned for her.
“She stole my music and sent it to London. I do not know how you can defend her,” he said over dinner with Alethia and the Colonel one evening. Unfortunately, every time he went to their home, he was reminded of Brilliance around every corner.
His cousin had just opined how she thought Lady Brilliance’s intentions were good. At Vincent’s words of reprimand, Alethia sighed and looked to her husband for his opinion. The Coloneltugged his earlobe absently before picking up his knife and fork, saying nothing.
“The lady was bewildered but apologetic when the Colonel and I took her to her parents. It was a long, awkward journey,” Alethia added.
Vincent would probably have forgiven her if he had been in the carriage, and thus, he was glad he hadn’t been.How many times could he be taken for a fool?
“In any case, I do not know how you can still be thinking of her as if it happened yesterday,” his cousin said. “Lady Brilliance seems to still consume your every waking thought. Therefore, either you passionately hate her, or you are madly in love. Which is it?”
Vincent opened his mouth, then shut it. Then he shook his head and rolled his eyes at his cousin’s ridiculous statement.
“Neither,” he groused before taking a large sip of wine. “I am allowed to be outraged, am I not?”
“It has been weeks,” the Colonel reminded him. “Speaking of which, when are we all going back to London? I fancy a little excitement after so much quiet.”
Vincent stopped listening as husband and wife discussed the autumn parties, the year-end festivities, and whether they would stay in the city right through the Christmastide or come back to the country.
He would be in London at week’s end for a parliamentary session and his mother’s birthday. His stepfather always had a large gathering for his beloved Lady Winthrop, and Vincent broke his own staunch rule once a year to perform publicly for her and her guests.
Beyond that, he rarely attended balls or parties unless a good friend was throwing the affair and had promised a bevy of beauties. Also, his friends made sure that two people were never in attendance, Lydia and Ambrose Castern.
Now he would have to avoid Brilliance Diamond, too. Not because of a similar loathing that he felt for the other two, but due to the uncomfortable sensation that he hadn’t behaved well where she was concerned. He had been downright vicious, and the man who had spewed venom at her in his conservatory was not the person he thought he was. It certainly wasn’t the person he intended ever to be again.
Despite still thinking she was absolutely in the wrong for taking his music, he recognized that she had intended no harm. As far as he could tell, not much harm had been done, either.
Except for their tattered friendship.
Brilliance hadn’t expectedthe swift and terrible end to her romance with Lord Hewitt.Heartbreak was monstrously awful!It was made infinitely worse becauseshehad caused the rift. If only she could have left well enough alone. She’d been wrong about his stage fright, wrong about him being happy to see his own music in print, and wrong about him loving her so entirely that he couldn’t live without her.
She had even been wrong about fruit!
And she was having to accept the fact that she could and would live without the man she loved.
After all, even if he forgave her, she now knew he thought her to be a sapskull, a dunderhead, basically too stupid for him.
But the publisher had assured her, given how she’d provided Vincent’s name at the outset, no one else could take credit. Vincent had made it seem as though she had given his composition away to the world, as if another musician could claim ownership.
How had her best attempt failed, sending her to Weeping Cross?She still wasn’t certain.
