To Recapture a Rake: A Hephaestus Club Novella Read Online Free

this?”
    “I know because he tells me,” Caro said, with
another sigh. “Especially of the girls he meets at Almack’s. He makes no secret
of any of it. I swear , it is almost as if he expects
me to approve his choice of a bride.” Or perhaps he did it to remind her of her
place. She did not like to think him cruel, but sometimes, Caro was not so
sure.
    “That is awful,” Allie agreed, and then
added, as an afterthought. “I assume, he told you of Mary Holden.”
    “You know her?” It did not matter. Not
really. But Caro could not stop wondering about the girl who was likely to be
the next Countess of Blackthorne.
    “Not well,” her sister admitted. “Mary and I
do not run in quite the same circles. I have no vouchers, so Almack’s is out of
the question.”
    There was no accusation in her sister’s voice
over the lack of acceptance she received, but they both knew the reason for it.
There was no room at London’s finest assembly hall for the sister of a fallen
woman. “If there was some way I could take this back,” Caro admitted, “You know
I would. I was not thinking of you at the time of my disgrace, or what ill
might befall you.”
    Allie laughed. “That I
would be shunned by a society that could not manage to shame my dear sister? Oh, really, love. I do not mind so very much. If they ostracize me when I have
done nothing to deserve it, what use do I have for them?”
    These very visits would be reason enough to
cast her out, if anyone knew of them. But there must be something Caro could
do, if she could not bring herself to send her sister away. “Perhaps, if you
had a larger dowry, you would be more tempting. I could sell some of the
nonsense that Vincent has bought for me and give you the proceeds. There really
is quite a collection of it. I do not need so many gowns, as I never go out in
the evening. And I never wear the jewels.” If Vincent married, she would sell
it all, except for the carriage. She would use that to move to a place where
she might never seem him or his countess, ever again.
    Alene gave her a tired look. “If I had a
large dowry, everyone would wonder where I came by it, and what I had done.
They will find a reason to suspect me, you know. I say, fie upon them for
that.” She gave another stubborn sigh.
    She had ruined her sister, by her own
behavior. She should have known from the start what would happen. But all she
had been able to think of was Vincent. He had feigned indifference on the day
he had come for her, but he had needed her as much as she had needed him.
Vincent Wilmont was not so cold-blooded as he now
pretended, nor was he a violent man. But when he was through with Mr.
Worthington, the seconds had called for both a surgeon and a priest. He had
been devastated by what he had done. And he’d done it because of her.
    She could not refuse him. But now, she must
live with the consequences. “There must be some way to help you,” Caro said.
    Alene laughed. “Do not worry yourself over
it. It does not bother me. Why should it bother you? What should interest you
is the woman who Blackthorne chases. You asked me of Mary Holden, did you not?”
    Not precisely. But her stubborn silence
showed her curiosity, so her sister answered her anyway.
    “She is a lovely girl, with a head full of
blonde ringlets, and, in my opinion, little else.”
    “She has no wit?” And Vincent was so very
sharp. It hardly seemed fair, now that she was finally to lose him, it would be
to such a weak adversary.
    “Not a penny weight of sense. But that should
not bother you, now that you do not want Blackthorne. I expect your next lover
shall have better taste.”
    If Allie was ribbing her, she’d managed it
with a straight face. “You know there will be no other. Now that he is gone,”
she gave a theatrical gesture towards the door, “I am retired.”
    “Then you will have to settle for one last revenge upon your precious Blackthorne.”
    “How so?”
    “Any attachment that was