To her surprise, when Cora went inside, she was immediately swept onto the dance floor by one young man after another. It seemed that her betrothal had made her even more sought-after than before, and although she knew that this was the object of the exercise, it made her feel sad.
She looked around vainly for Clyde but he seemed to have disappeared, and Minetta was deep in conversation with the very handsome Laird Malcolm Stuart the Younger. She looked starry-eyed with infatuation, and Cora did not wish to interrupt them. Minetta looked happy and absolutely smitten, so Cora was glad for her, but she could not help feeling a little jealous.
Eventually, she was tired of dancing and went outside for some fresh air with yet another glass of wine, hoping not to encounter Loraine again. If she saw the odious woman, she would simply walk away, she decided. She had no wish for yet another verbal duel. The last one had been quite unpleasant enough to spoil her whole evening, but as she went outside, she saw the very last thing she wanted or expected.
Clyde and Loraine were standing very close together in the shadow of a locked doorway, engaged in an earnest conversation. Cora’s first impulse was to go back inside, but she could not bear to; she had to hear what they were saying, and since her heart was already lost to him, what difference did it make?
“Why did you leave me?” Clyde asked sadly as he cupped one of Loraine’s cheeks in his hand. “You must know that I cannot live without you.”
“I thought you were dead,” Loraine breathed, looking up at him with tearful eyes. Cora felt sick. This woman was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. No doubt she loved Clyde as much as Cora loved spiders, but her acting skills were superb. If Cora had not known her as well as she now did, she would be deceived into thinking that Loraine was passionately in love with Clyde. What was it he had said?If I did not love her so much, I would hate her.
Cora smiled bitterly. The scheming witch did not deserve him. A moment later, Clyde bent his head to kiss her, but Loraine put her fingertips on his lips to stop him.
“I made a promise,” she whispered. “I must keep it. I wish I could take it back, but I cannot. Andrew is now my betrothed, and I am committed to him. I could not live with myself if I broke his heart.”
“Strangely, you had no such consideration when you broke mine!” Clyde spat.
“I thought you were dead!” she cried. “I had to think of my future.”
“He has already buried two wives,” Clyde growled. “Do you want to be the third?”
“Those were not his fault!” Loraine replied hotly. “One died of an illness, and the other died in childbirth. You know how many women die having babies, Clyde. It is God’s will and cannot be helped. But why are you asking me these questions? Do you not love Cora Henderson?”
“Yes, I do, but not in the way I love you,” he replied, his eyes pleading with her. “Come back to me.”
Loraine looked at the floor and sighed. “I cannot,” she replied sadly. “It is too late. Goodbye, Clyde.” She swept past him and left.
Cora would have run to him and thrown her arms around him if she could, hoping to give him some comfort, but she knew that she would only have been pushed away. She saw Clyde walking towards the gardens and decided to follow him, moving silently and keeping to the shadows.
He sat down on a low stone wall under the light of a lantern and took something out of his pouch. From the distance at which she stood, Cora could not discern exactly what it was, but when he held it up to the light, it gleamed brightly. She saw that it was a plain gold ring. Clyde tried to push it onto the little finger of his big right hand, but it hardly went past the tip. He gave a soft, sad laugh.
“Loraine,” he said aloud, “this was my mother’s ring. It is one of the few things I have left of her, and I treasure it. She told me to give it to my bride, so it would have been yours if you had only married me. I am proud that you value your honor enough to keep your word to the baron, but you have broken my heart. Whoever I marry in the future will never compare to you, and she will forever be in your shadow, for I will always carry a piece of you with me, my angel.”
He stood up, and Cora retreated into the shade of a holly bush as he walked past her. She watched his silhouette as he moved with the strong, lithe grace of a predator. He was everything a man should be, and she loved him completely.
After their conversation in the dance hall, she thought that she had detected a spark of attraction between them, and when they were sitting outside, she was sure that he was about to kiss her, then his damnably stupid friend had arrived to interrupt their tête-a-tête. Men!
On the way home in the carriage, Cora found herself bitter, disappointed, and absolutely exhausted. She could not speak frankly in front of Minetta, of course, so she pasted on a tired smile and laughed as she followed her friend’s bright stream of chatter, which consisted mostly of how handsome, clever, and funny Laird Malcolm Stuart the Younger was.
“But I noticed someone who was not happy,” Minetta said, her eyes twinkling with mischief.
Cora leaned forward, pretending to be eager. “Do tell!” she instructed, laughing.
“Well, I noticed that the soon-to-be Baroness Loraine was not happy!” Minetta answered, giggling. “If looks could kill, Cora, you would be lying on the floor with a dagger in your heart!”
“Do not be mean, Minetta,” Cora chided her, but there was a spark of mischief in her eyes.
“She was pea-green with envy!” Minetta cried, gleefully. “As well she should be! How could she throw over my handsome, clever brother for Baron Ne’er-do-well? She has no taste and no consideration.”
“Indeed,” Clyde agreed dutifully, “but she has made her decision, and we cannot change her mind. Anyway, would you not rather have Cora in your family?”
“Indeed I would!” Minetta leaned over and took her friend's hand, kissing it.
When they arrived at the castle, having declined the invitation to stay overnight at Dunwell, Minetta scampered on ahead, desperate to tell her maid about Laird Malcolm.
“Do you think we succeeded?” Clyde asked.
“If everyone thinks like Minetta, we definitely did.” Cora laughed with satisfaction, but she decided to keep her conversation with Loraine to herself until she had had a chance to think about it more.
