Evening Star (aka Sweet Surrender)

468 Pages·2011·1.78 MB·English

by  Coulter Catherine

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Evening Starr
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Catherine Coulter
A TOPAZ BOOK
TOPAZ I
Published by the Penguin Group -
Penguin BooksUSA Inc.,375 Hudson Street , %
New York , New York 10014 ,U.S.A.
Penguin Books Ltd,27 Wrights Lane , London W8 5TZ,England
Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria ,Australia
Penguin Books Canada Ltd,10 Alcorn Avenue Toronto , Ontario ,CanadaM4V
3B2
Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd,182-190 Wairau Road , Auckland 10,New Zealand
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: Harmondsworth, Middlesex ,England
Published by Topaz, an imprint of Dutton Signet, a division of Penguin Books
USA Inc. Previously appeared in an Onyx edition under the title Sweet
Surrender.
First Topaz Printing, May 1996
10 987654321
Copyright © 1984 by Catherine Coulter All rights reserved Offi REGISTERED
TRADEMARK-MARCA REGISTRADA Printed in theUnited States of
America Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of
this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical,
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YORK, NEW YORK 1OO14.
If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is
stolen property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher and
neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this "stripped
book."
To Hilary Ross, with sincere thanks and appreciation
Chapter I
Geneva , 1846
Jiana, I must fix that bow in your hair, it's hanging over your ear! And do hold
still. We don't want to be late. Charles will be here soon and we cannot keep my
future husband waiting for his dinner!"
Giana stood obediently quiet, eyeing herself in the long Derber mirror as Deny
patted the blue velvet bow at the back of her head and tugged at the cluster of
black curls over her ears.
Derrystood back and nodded approvingly, admiring her handiwork from several
angles. "You are lovely, Giana," she said. But Giana was staring blankly at her in
the mirror, paying no attention to her matching blue velvet gown.
"Derry," Giana said, turning to gaze up at her. "You have told me often enough
how dashing Charles is, and that he loves you. But does he truly love you more
than anything? Will he love you forever?"
Derry Fairmount regarded her seventeen-year-old friend Georgiana Van Cleve
with the indulgent air of a girl who was a year older and engaged to be wed.
"Of course he loves me, you silly girl! And besides all that, he's everything I
could wish for in a husband-he is ever so handsome and distinguished, and he is
quite wealthy. It's true he lives in New 8
Catherine Coulter
York , though," she added with a thoughtful frown. "My father is a dreadful
snob, as only a Bostonian can be. But you've heard me tell you that often
enough! Well, he saw last summer that dear Charles finds me quite to his liking,
and has been busy, I can tell you, with all the marriage contracts and agreements.
Boring stuff, but I suppose everything must be worked out before I return
home."
"He will never leave you alone,Derry ? He will stay with you always, and you'll
never have to worry, about anything?"
Derry's happy smile stayed firmly in place, but she quickly hugged her friend.
She knew Giana would miss her. And she knew that Giana, raised by nannies
and governesses, looked to marriage for a sense of security, and of belonging,
that she had never felt. Derry had visited Giana and her mother in London two
years before, and although Mrs. Van Cleve was charming and beautiful, Derry
had seen that her young friend was like a guest in her mother's house, feted, but
somehow separate and apart from her. "No, love," she said gently, "married to
Charles, I'll never have to be alone, nor will I ever worry. Someday, Page 3

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soon, Giana, you will have a husband and family of your own."
"I cannot imagine that," Giana said. She wished more than anything thatDerry
were younger, and not about to leave her. She cocked her head to one side,
watchingDerry buff her nails, and said, "but,Derry , isn't your Charles tenibly
old?"
Derrygave a trilling laugh, full-bodied and abounding with life, a laugh that
Madame Orlie and her minions had failed to contain.
"Old? Well, he is forty-something-or-other, which is not at all old for a husband,
especially one as rich as dear Charles! Did I tell you that his only child by
EVENING STAR 9
his first wife, a daughter, Jennifer, is only two years younger than I? Of course I
did! I'm rattling on like a chirper! Think of the fun she and I will have, just as
you and I do!"
But I don't want you to have fun with her! "But what if she doesn't like
you,Derry ?" Giana pursued, keeping her eyes away fromDerry 's gaze.
"Really, Giana, why ever should Jennifer not like me? I am not an ogre, or a
wicked stepmother!" The gay laughter bubbled over again. "Me, a stepmother.
That concerns my mother, you know, and I must admit, it does give me pause,
sometimes. But Jennifer, after all, is a daughter, not a wife, and the two are quite
different. She will have no cause to dislike me."
"Yes, I suppose you are right," Giana said. "But if one believes all the romantic
novels, the stepdaughter must hate the new mother."
"Bosh,"Derry said. "Those books were dreadfully silly, but"-she rolled her eyes-
"so very informative. At least I think they are," she added, blushing
slightly.Derry 's face took on a dreamy look, and slowly she began to dance
around their room. " Boston was so beautiful that summer, and Charles so
enjoyed waltzing with me."
Yes, Giana thought, feeling tears prick her eyelids, any man would want to waltz
with Deny. She didn't want to feel envious ofDerry , truly she didn't, but the
thought of loving and being loved in return, of belonging to someone and never
having to be alone again, was like a magical dream, a dream that had come true
forDerry .
"You are awfully quiet all of a sudden, Miss Van Cleve,"Derry said, drawing her
imaginary waltz to a close.
"I was just thinking," Giana said guiltily.
Derrymerely laughed. "Remember when we first
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Catherine Coulter
met, goodness, it was over three years ago. My everso-snobbish parents dumped
me here in Geneva at Madame Orlie's exclusive young ladies' seminary to finish
me off properly." Her eyes. twinkled. "They Page 4

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will be so disappointed. After alllyour good influence, I still haven't achieved
your capped, starchy accent. You English-I think you are born speaking that
way!"
Giana's twinge of envy dissolved underDerry 's gay banter. She lowered her head
and whispered, "You will leave in but three days,Derry , and I will be alone
again."
"Nonsense, Giana,"Derry said in a bracing voice. "You will not have to put up
with another colonial like me. Next week you will have a new roommate, a nice
English girl, who, from what she told us in her very nice English letter, is blessed
with a handsome brother." Deny shrugged elaborately. "Who knows, perhaps he
will be a prince charming."
"Unlikely," Giana said roughly, knowing thatDerry was merely trying to cheer
her up, and hating it.
"There will be no one to tell you what to do," she said suddenly. "You will have
servants, and do just as you please."
"Yes, and eat cream puffs for dinner, if I like. Old Maevis would have a fit, I
know, the dear old dragon."Derry pursed her mouth tightly together and hunched
her shoulders, doing a credible imitation of Maevis Danforth, their deportment
teacher. "Like she sucks lemons,"Derry giggled.
Giana smiled at her antics, as always, but the hated tears were still there, waiting
for naught in particular to send them streaming down her face.
"Come, Giana, whatever are you daydreaming about now? You really must stop
that, you know. I've told you often enough that people will think you're
EVENING STAR
11
myopic, and we both know you've the eyes of an eagle."
"I will miss you,Derry ," Giana said.
"Pooh!"Derry said severely, pressing her wadded handkerchief into Giana's
hand. " New York is not the end of the earth, Giana. And it is not as if you were
a poor little orphan. When Madame Orlie considers you fit to leave her poshy
school, in ... what, a mere six more months?" She paused a moment, gazing
about their dimity-curtained room that gave onto the magnificent prospect of
Lake Geneva, then shrugged her\elegant shoulders with studied indifference.
"Well, your dear mama can send you to New York to visit me. It is only fair,
after all, for I visited you two years ago in London . And I'm sure I can convince
dear Charles to bring me to London , next year, say. There are dozens of banks in
London , and Charles loves banks above all things. Now, Giana, you must smile,
and be happy for me. Look, your bow has come loose again. Quickly, my love.
Madame Orlie should be greeting Charles and Jennifer anytime now, and I wish
us to be ready when she calls for us."
As Berry 's nimble fingers firmly pinned down the heavy bow, she saw Giana's
eyes drop over her figure in the mirror. "How I wish that I were tall and had your
beautiful blond hair,Derry . Look at me, I'm short and my hair is a stupid black. I
don't even have a bosom," she added in disgust.
"I have told you before that in another year or so, you will become a veritable
ship's figurehead!" She was pleased to see Giana smiling again, albeit
tremulously. "If you get too big," she whispered wickedly near Giana's ear, "the
gentlemen will stare at you rudely, and make you blush!"Derry thought of how
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22
Catherine Coulter
Charles occasionally swept his gaze over her, and it was she who blushed back at
herself in the mirror.
"There, you look quite acceptable, Miss Giana,"Derry announced. She stepped
back to regard her friend. She saw her budding beauty, and knew that Giana saw
nothing but an insecur^ little girl staring back at her. "One must never admit
defeat at anything, Miss Van Cleve, nor give in to the doldrums.