Read Online The Courtesan's Daughter by Claudia Dain - Free Book Online

stood up from the padded stool in front of the mirror. “My mother managed. She was a courtesan and she managed to find a man, a man who wanted her enough to marry her, no matter what Society said.”
    But, of course, he had done so for Sophia, and there was truly but one of her. She was unique. For all that Caro was Sophia’s daughter, she was not Sophia.
    “And of course you want the same,” Anne said, taking Caro’s hands in hers. Caro did not return her grasp. “But there are other roads to the same end.”
    “Buying a husband for me is hardly one of those roads.”
    “How do you know? It could be,” Anne said urgently. “What you do know is that becoming a courtesan will end your life in so many ways. You have everything a woman could want: security, a home, family. Become a courtesan and you throw all that away.”
    “My family would not throw me away.”
    “But you would throw away every chance for a life in Society, Caro. Think what an outcast you’d make of yourself.”
    “I’m an outcast now.”
    “No, no, you’re not. At least, not in the way a courtesan is. Even your mother is not an outcast like that anymore. She has a title, children, a legitimacy that a courtesan—”
    “But she was a courtesan first!” Caro snapped, pulling her hands away from Anne’s.
    Anne stared at Caro, so young, so sheltered, and so very foolish, and said, “Do you think you’re honoring her by emulating her, Caro? Do you think to love her more by living her life, by righting old wrongs?”
    Caro turned abruptly and walked to the bedroom door. “I don’t know what you mean.”
    “Why did you really refuse Lord Ashdon?” Anne said from across the room, her voice ringing like an unwelcome bell. “At least tell me that.”
    Caro froze at the door, her hand on the knob. “Because my mother bought him for me.”
    “Which is how marriages are made, as you well know.”
    “Because,” Caro said, staring down at her hand clasped on the knob, thinking how strange a thing it was that she had her hand on the means of escape and yet she was still trapped. A metaphor for her life, really. She simply had to turn the knob in her hand and she would be free. “Because … the Earl of Westlin insulted her … and so I insult his son. Fairly mild in the ‘an eye for an eye’ family code of honor, but the best I can do, I’m afraid.”
    “Did you never think that by marrying him, your mother would have been repaid for every insult of Lord Westlin’s?” Anne said.
    Caro turned sharply and said in astonishment, “No, I never did.”
    Caroline Trevelyan was very young and very sheltered, most especially in the ways of vengeance.
    AS far as revenge went, it was fairly mild.
    Sophia had arranged the seating at dinner to put Caroline and Ashdon directly opposite each other. The table was slightly too wide to hold a conversation across its width, but the candlesticks provided just the right degree of glowing yellow light to accentuate Caro’s very pretty cleavage and shining blue eyes.
    A mild revenge to enact upon Ashdon, but enjoyable nonetheless.
    She did note that Ashdon spent more time staring grimly at Caro than he did in talking to his dinner partners. Lovely what a little revenge could to do to spice an evening to perfection. The hours spent at the table passed far too quickly, but then the dining table was cleared for a few hours of gaming, which was fun as well.
    It was impossible not to enjoy watching Lord Ashdon lose his money so energetically. The man had an amazing aptitude for bad luck, bad timing, and bad decisions. The only thing she could say in his credit was that he was devilishly good-looking and that he had quite nice friends. The fourth Duke of Calbourne being the perfect example of this good taste.
    She had always enjoyed the man, though the third Duke of Calbourne had been a bit of a sot; it was nice to know that blood did not always tell. Charles, the fourth Duke of Calbourne, was so high in the ton