Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

V ictoria woke ready to do battle and seek her revenge. But her mother had other ideas. Instead of setting off to hunt down the man who had shamed her last night, she was instructed to go walking in Hyde Park with her brothers and younger sister. Her protests to the duchess fell on unsympathetic ears.

"There were some missteps last night, but a lady does not sit at home and lick her wounds. She gets back into society and makes the best of things. One has to learn to rise above the setbacks in life," said Lady Anne from the doorway of the breakfast room.

I'm more than happy to rise above everything, but would it be too much to ask to wait until after I've had my revenge?

From the expression on her mother's face, it was clear the Duchess of Mowbray was determined to move forward with the husband hunting campaign. No doubt she would have a list of the eligible males likely to be at one of London's foremost social spots at this hour of the morning. Lady Anne rarely did anything without a plan.

"And I want you to take your sister with you. Coco needs to start showing her face in public earlier in the day," added the duchess.

Victoria pinched her tongue between her teeth. She was dreading having to go up to her sister's room and wake her.

I hope she has made it home, or there will be the devil to pay.

Lady Coco Kembal's nighttime escapades were an open secret amongst some of her siblings, but Victoria doubted the duke and duchess had the slightest inkling as to what their youngest child got up to when she was meant to be home safely tucked up in her bed.

"I shall go and see if Coco is awake," replied Victoria.

She rose from her seat at the table and hurried out of the room. Reaching Coco's door, she tapped quickly on the wood, then tried the handle. To her surprise, the door swung opened.

Her sister's bedroom was as black as night. The heavy drapes still closed against the bright morning sun. "Coco?" whispered Victoria as she closed and locked the door behind her, making sure not to call out too loudly. If her sister was still out roaming the streets of London, the last thing she wanted to do was to draw attention to that fact.

A body stirred in the bed, and Victoria let out a sigh of relief. After the drama of the previous evening, she didn't have it in her to go telling lies to Lady Anne.

"What?" hissed Coco.

Victoria's relief was cut short by the painfully gruff edge in Coco's voice. That one word sounded like she was talking from the bottom of a stone well. One from which she had drank deeply.

"Are you decent?" asked Victoria. She couldn't think of anything else to say.

Coco rose slowly from under the blankets. In the dim light she appeared more like an apparition than a real person. "I don't feel decent, but I am dressed."

This was going to be painful no matter how she handled things. Victoria made her way over to the window and tugged on the edge of one of the curtains. "I'm sorry but I have to do this."

"Sweet lord, why?" moaned Coco, as light filled the room.

Victoria turned to face the bed. "Because Mama has asked that you accompany the rest of us to Hyde Park this morning. I can ask for some tea and toast to be brought up if that helps."

Coco held a hand up to her face, protecting her eyes from the light. "No. Only death will cure me of my ills this morning. Gin is a wicked mistress."

Victoria bit down on her bottom lip. It wasn't so much the liquor which was her sister's problem, but rather the quantity and alacrity that she imbibed it. Coco was running wild. Someday soon, her younger sibling was going to pay for her reckless behavior. She could only hope it wasn't going to be a heavy price.

"You need to get washed and changed," said Victoria, reaching for the other curtain. As she drew it fully open, the room was bathed in the warm glow of the morning sun. She ignored the string of foul curses which came from the bed. Lady Coco might well be a duke's daughter, but she had the sharp tongue of a fishwife.

"Can't you just tell Mama I am indisposed?" moaned Coco.

It was a tempting proposition, and one they had used to success on previous occasions. But this morning, Victoria wasn't in the mood for playing games.

If I continue to let her get away with this madness, it's only going to be worse when I do find a husband and leave this house. There will be no hiding from our mother once that happens.

It was time for Coco to finally face up to her choices. To stop relying upon the goodwill of others. When Victoria was gone, Richard and Matthew wouldn't be able to help her, and Gideon was only keeping silent because he was still unaware of what was going on.

"I am sorry Coco, but I'm not going to lie to Mama. You might think me cruel, but it's for your own good. You left the door unlocked this morning, anyone could have walked in and found you in this disgraceful state."

Coco slumped back in the bed. "Oh, not you as well. I'm so sick of people telling me how I should behave. Viscount Askett nagged me all last night. Told me I would be ruined if anyone ever discovered the truth of what we get up to when we are out."

"He's right. You will be ruined."

"I don't care. What life awaits me, what awaits you? It's all so meaningless. Parties. Balls. And rules."

Ignoring her sister's self-pity, Victoria crossed to the wardrobe and flung it open. "Come and help me choose a gown for you to wear. You have less than an hour to make yourself presentable. If you are not ready by then, I shall come back and drag you downstairs myself."

She would leave it up to Coco as to whether she would risk walking in Hyde Park in a state of anything less than perfect dress.

The blankets were mercifully tossed back, and Coco swung her legs over the side of the bed. "You are just like everyone else, beastly to me," she huffed.

The only person who is horrible to you, is yourself.

How many times had she wished to say that to Coco. To confront her with the truth that she was indeed her own worst enemy. That this was all going to end in tears. Only sibling loyalty kept Victoria from telling their parents. But the longer this went on, the more the worry that she might also be contributing to the problem was growing on her.

Coco now stood beside the bed, head lowered. Misery and the miasma of alcohol seeped from her pores. Victoria's pity stirred. She came to her sister's side and took a gentle hold of her hand. "Let me fetch you some tea and a dry biscuit. You need to get something in your stomach. Get out of your street clothes, then ring the bell for your maid. I shall let Mama know you will ready to leave at eleven."

She got a nod and a soft, "Yes, thank you," before she let go of Coco's hand and headed for the door.

Coco had rallied by the time they alighted from the Mowbray town carriage at Hyde Park little over an hour later. It was only a fifteen minute stroll from Berkley Square to the gates of Hyde Park, but Victoria convinced Richard to speak to the stablemaster and have the carriage brought round. Her brother had initially protested, but when his gaze landed on the ashen-faced Lady Coco, he had immediately caved.

"Lord help us, if Mama or Papa catch sight of her. There will be an immediate inquisition, and we will all be dragged in front of it," he grumbled.

Lord Richard wasn't a fool. If Coco received a grilling by their parents, there was every chance she'd throw one of her siblings into the mix in order to save herself. Richard's gambling habit would be the perfect foil for her own misdeeds.

At the park, the two brothers walked a little way ahead of their sisters. Close enough to stamp their authority as chaperones, but at a distance where their own conversations couldn't be overhead by Victoria or Coco. It suited everyone.

The sisters walked slowly arm in arm. Coco was clearly struggling, but to her credit was making an effort. "How did your dinner party go last night?" asked Coco.

Getting her sibling into a presentable enough condition to leave the house had concentrated Victoria's mind for the past while. Her sister's question brought the painful humiliation rushing back.

"The food was fine. Though it could have done with more seasoning."

Coco gave her a sideways glance. "I might be a little hungover, but even I know you were meant to be concentrating on more than just the table offerings last night. Did you meet the Duke of Saffron Walden?"

Victoria slowed her steps, letting a little more distance grow between them and their brothers who continued along the path. She leaned in close and whispered, "Yes, I met the duke. To say that the man was a rude pig would be an understatement."

Coco's red-rimmed eyes grew wide. "Do tell. I'd heard he was rather handsome. Well turned out thighs and a pleasant physique."

She sincerely wished his grace wasn't as ruggedly good-looking as he was—it would make hating him all that much easier. Memories of the moment he'd bowed his head and moved close to her, took hold in her mind. His scent, the spice of his cologne. Those lips.

Damn it, why did he have to be so…

Her brain was still scrambling to finish that thought as Victoria shoved against it with all her might. She was not going to let herself think of him that way.

"Well, what happened?"

Coco wasn't going to let the subject go. Her sister was a great one for finding out secrets, for knowing the power they held.

Victoria sighed. "When I offered my opinion on the subject of a dish, he didn't engage me in conversation, rather he spoke down to me. Like I was a child. Then he mocked me in front of the other guests."

Coco let out a low whistle. "I'm surprised you didn't stab him with a fish knife. Or a blunt spoon. Tell me you didn't let him get away with such an outrage."

"I can't understand why some men think that we females don't have an appreciation of good food. That somehow being a woman renders my palate mute."

The fingers of her left hand tightened on the strings of her reticule. Frustrating self-important males were the bane of her life.

"Go on."

"He was just horrible to me, and it took all my strength not to burst into tears at the table."

He had read her letters to the newspaper and thrown them back in her face. Victoria's steps slowed and she came to a halt.

"Coco darling, if a man crossed you and you had in mind to exact a spot of vengeance, how would you go about it?"

Her sister let out a hiss of delighted surprise. "Yesss. Now, let me think. So many possibilities. In the meantime, we had better keep walking, lest our brothers turn round and wonder what we are up to."

They resumed playing the part of sweet young ladies as they followed after their brothers, offering smiles and gentle ‘good mornings' to everyone of their acquaintance whom they encountered. Little was said between them, but Victoria could just imagine Coco was busy coming up with one of her devious plans.

I hope she is, I need something brilliant in order to strike back at the duke.

"Before the scandal of our parents, I would have suggested an open challenge. Tear the cad down in public. But now that Mama is working so hard to reenter society along with securing you a suitable husband, I would think you'd need to tread more carefully."

The prospect of giving the hard-hearted matrons of the ton something new to gossip about their family had Victoria's breakfast churning in her stomach.

I can't do anything that would hurt my family.

She worried what another scandal might do to their father. The duke had run close to madness when his wife had refused to come home from Rome.

"Yes, no scandals. So, what would you suggest?"

A sly smile crept to her sister's face. "Lord knows rumors have caused enough damage to our family, so why not do the same to him. Everyone has skeletons in their closet. The Duke of Saffron Walden must have something he wants kept from public knowledge. You just need to find out what that thing is and use it to hurt him."

"Coco you are a treasure. Evil, but brilliant. The Duke of Spice does have a secret I expect he would want kept from the world, at any price."

Robert Tolley might think he had the measure of her, but she was not without her own weapons against him. If she publicly unmasked him as the restaurant reviewer, it would cause him no end of trouble. And public embarrassment. The ton discovering that a duke of high rank was writing articles for a daily newspaper would be nothing short of scandalous.

"Extortion is such a vulgar word, but if revenge is what you seek, I can highly recommend it," replied Coco.

A shudder raced through Victoria. She really didn't want to know what Coco knew of the dark art of blackmail. Something told her that her sweet sister had already ventured down that road more than once.

Coco lay her hand over Victoria's arm. "A word of caution. Be sure of the outcome which you seek. I've seen these things not only fail but come back to bite with fierce vengeance. Be very careful what you wish for," said her sister.

What do I wish for? I want him to feel as low as he made me feel last night.

When she was finished with him, the Duke of Spice would think long and hard about ever trying to embarrass a young lady in public ever again.

Victoria beamed at her sister. "Let's catch up with our brothers, I'm in the mood to celebrate. As soon as we are done promenading this morning, we should head to the cake shop on Oxford Street, the one you love so much. My treat."

She was going to find a way to unmask the Duke of Saffron Walden. Reveal his secret role as London's worst restaurant reviewer and then ensure that he was sacked from the newspaper. His public ignominy would be sweeter than anything Victoria had ever tasted.