Free The Courtesan's Daughter by Claudia Dain

that sugary coating; Anne could feel it. Could Caro?
    “When I said I wanted to be a courtesan—”
    “Darling, what you said was that you were going to be a courtesan,” Sophia interrupted.
    “Yes, well,” Caro stuttered, “it was in the hope of finding a man who would want me for myself and to do that, to achieve that goal, it’s going to take time to find the right man. I am not going to rush. I am not going to allow just any man to … to, well, to …”
    “If you can’t say it, Caro, how on earth are you going to do it?” Sophia said with a sarcastic smile.
    “Whatever I allow him to do,” Caro rallied, “it will be because I have chosen him, not because I am desperate or any such low thing.”
    “Yes, darling,” Sophia said. “I quite understand your thinking. Your plans are quite clear. Unfortunately, they have little if anything to do with the way things truly are.”
    “I understand how things truly are!” Caro flared.
    As much as Anne adored Caro, she had to side with Sophia. Caro was very protected and very pampered. She had no idea what the world was like outside of the shelter erected by money and position.
    “Caro, being a wife is much preferable to being a courtesan,” Anne said solemnly.
    “I’m less than certain of that,” Caro said stiffly.
    “You should listen to your mother,” Anne said. “She’s been both, you’ve been neither. Perhaps it’s not too late to accept the arrangement with Lord Ashdon. He certainly seemed … interested in you earlier.”
    “Interested? He wanted to break my neck,” Caro said. “Besides which, any interest he had in human companionship fled his mind the minute the gaming tables were set up. The man’s a remorseless gambler. I will not—”
    “Yes, darling, I think we are all well aware of the many things which you will not . Let us not discuss it now. I must go and tell Staverton the bad news regarding Anne, you are certain, Anne, that a match with him is not to be?”
    Anne was less certain of everything the longer she listened to Sophia and Caro argue, but she nodded, letting the die be cast as she cursed herself for a sentimental idiot.
    “Very well,” Sophia said. “No woman should be forced to marry a man not to her tastes and inclinations.”
    “ Exactly ,” Caro snapped, her eyes gleaming in righteous fervor.
    “But what a woman who is a courtesan is forced to do,” Sophia snapped in reply, her own dark eyes gleaming ruthlessly, “is an entirely different matter. You, my darling daughter, have set a course for yourself. As of tomorrow noon, you must be prepared to make your way in it.”
    “What? Wait a minute, Mother—”
    “A clever woman would use every hour and every man available to her, beginning now, when the hour is late and the men are well into their cups, to find herself a protector. A silly woman would argue and whine until the hour of noon tomorrow until she found herself deposited on James Street considering the loveliness of Green Park. I leave it to you, Caro. Use that famous intellect of yours. Now, on to Staverton.”
    And with that, she left them in a quiet corner of the yellow salon, where both young women stared at each other in complete shock.
    “She can’t mean it,” Caro said.
    Anne didn’t reply since it was blatantly obvious that she did mean it, every word of it. Sophia, always smiling and pleasant, had a will of steel and was not shy in inflicting her steel on others.
    “Can you not find it in you to make amends with Lord Ashdon ? ” Anne asked. “It would be a good match for you.”
    “Only until he killed me,” Caro said wryly. “And you speak to me of good, wise matches? Run, and tell my mother you have changed your mind about Staverton and I will do the same about Ashdon.”
    “You would?” Anne said softly.
    Anne knew the answer, of course.
    Caro leaned her shoulders against the wall and sighed. “Absolutely not. I hate him. He is a vile man, horrible, ill-mannered, and