57. Chapter 57

Chapter 57

Cassandra found her body tensing as she walked into the Royal Hotel on her husband’s arm, with Xander trailing behind them. Her brother’s face was as impassive as Jethro’s, and she wondered what was going on in each of their minds.

Her husband was facing the most important dinner party of his life. If he could convince Mr Wade he was a more suitable investment than Frampton, he could expand his business as planned.

Whether he succeeded might well depend on how Xander reacted to seeing Eugenia again. Cassandra had ushered her brother away from church after every service he’d attended since returning as an injured man, and this would be the first time he had met her in a situation he couldn’t avoid.

Part of her wished she could have cried off, but she knew Jethro relied on her support. She would not let him down. If there was a choice between her brother and her husband, she would stand by Jethro, not Xander—however much he deserved her pity.

“Come in, come in,” Mr Wade said as they entered his private parlour. “ You already know my other guests—Mr and Mrs Frampton.”

Cassandra curtseyed to her host and then nodded her head in the direction of the Framptons. As Jethro was about to make his bow, Mr Wade thrust out his arm and shook his hand instead.

“Welcome, my boy,” he said, beaming from ear to ear.

“Allow me to introduce my brother-in-law,” Jethro said, bringing Xander forward. “Captain Vincent, lately of the Royal Navy.”

Much to Cassandra’s surprise, Mr Wade stepped toward him and offered him a hand too. Xander stared at it for a moment before letting the older man shake his hand.

Cassandra would have loved to have known whether their host had shaken hands with Mr Frampton as well. To judge from the tight look on the man’s face, she guessed not.

Xander hobbled to the sofa and lowered his body into the seat, grimacing as he did so. Eugenia stared at him with unabashed curiosity, but said nothing.

Mr Wade drew them all into a general discussion of the weather and the best place to go sailing at this time of the year until a footman announced that dinner was served.

There was no grand procession into the dining room, which was through a set of double doors, but Mr Wade made a point of coming over to Cassandra to lead her to the table.

He seated her beside him, and she glanced around to find that Eugenia had taken Xander’s arm rather than Jethro’s to make the same brief journey.

Cassandra bristled at the sight, and cast an anxious glance at her husband, who brought up the rear with his rival.

She had the dubious pleasure of being placed opposite Eugenia and was relieved when Jethro sat down next to her, leaving Mr Frampton to take the foot of the table.

Mr Wade was a charming host, and entertained them with a string of anecdotes throughout dinner, which was as elaborate as she had anticipated.

To her surprise, the gentlemen did not linger over their wine, but rose with the ladies and followed them back into the private saloon at once. Jethro took the empty seat next to her on the sofa, and her brother lowered himself into the place on her other side.

Whilst the port was being served, Eugenia secured the chair nearest to where they sat.

She leaned over toward Xander, pouting her lips provocatively, as if reminding him of her attractions, in case he had forgotten, and plying him with one question after another.

“Is your injury very painful? Your sour expression suggests it is.”

“Yes.”

“Will your leg ever get better? ”

“I doubt it.”

“Then you won’t be returning to your ship?”

A wave of pain passed over her brother’s face that spoke of how his inner turmoil distressed him as much, if not more, than his wounded body.

“No.”

“Then what will you do?” Eugenia asked, as Xander grew paler. Why wouldn’t the wretched woman leave him alone?

“I don’t know.”

“Will you be stuck with a limp forever?”

“Probably.”

“What a shame—you were such a graceful dancer.”

Cassandra wanted to slap her. How dare she taunt her brother like that? Why did Xander just sit there and take it? Why didn’t he rage and shout as he had before? The lack of reaction was as distressing to observe as his ranting had been.

“Look on the bright side,” Eugenia said, her mouth dripping with poisonous honey. “At least you do not have a wife to maintain. Consider how much worse it would be if I had married you before you sailed like you wanted me to. I didn’t know then what a mercy my caution would be for us both.”

Cassandra gasped, but Xander merely laid a hand over hers and squeezed it. “Mrs Frampton is correct,” he said. “She is far better off without me.”

“There, see? You should not have fretted when I broke off the engagement, Cassandra. It has all worked out for the best. I am not saddled with a husband who can barely walk, and Xander does not have the burden of an extravagant wife he cannot afford to support.”

Mr Wade and Mr Frampton stood at a distance, engaged in a separate conversation, seemingly oblivious to Eugenia’s spiteful words. As Cassandra glanced in their direction, the two men shook hands.

Her heart sank. So much for her suspicion that Mr Wade had some connection with Jethro’s mother. Perhaps now she had passed away, he felt no obligation to keep supporting her son.

It looked as if the entire evening was going to be a disaster.

She shot a glance at Jethro, but he didn’t appear to have noticed the other men shaking hands. His gaze was fixed on Eugenia, and the dark expression in his eyes did not bode well .

“I have an idea,” Mrs Frampton continued. “Perhaps if I ask my husband, he could find you a position in his warehouse. There may be something that a man with your…um…disadvantages can do.”

Cassandra shuffled uncomfortably in her seat. Why was Eugenia so determined to taunt her brother?

Although Xander said nothing in response, Cassandra knew he was affected by her words. The sofa began to jiggle up and down as a muscle in Xander’s injured leg went into spasm.

She couldn’t bear to listen to Eugenia humiliating him anymore. Not trusting herself to counter the woman’s spite without losing her temper, there was only one option.

They had to leave before Eugenia pushed her over the edge—which was, Cassandra realised, exactly what the woman wanted. For her or Jethro or Xander to embarrass themselves, thus raising the Framptons in Mr Wade’s esteem.

She twisted around to face her husband and cast him a look of anguish before rising from the sofa.

Jethro caught her arm with his hand. “Stay a little longer, my dear. I am not ready to leave yet.”

What was Jethro planning? His expression was ominous, as if he had been as stirred by Eugenia’s words as she had.

She wished she could stop him, but if she flouted his request, she was in as much danger of making a scene as he was.

With a sinking heart, Cassandra did as she was bid and retook her seat, praying all the while that her husband was not about to say something he would later regret.