AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’re going to have to explain things a little further, Manuela.” The thrill of saying her name caught Cora by surprise. She wanted to say it again, slowly, huskily. Right up against her ear as Cora’s fingers dipped into her... Dear God, what was happening to her?
Thankfully the heiress saved her from herself by expounding on her absurd demand. “My personal circumstances are about to change drastically in about two months,” she began, and Cora could practically see the dark cloud settling over the younger woman at the mention of her future. Manuela Caceres Galvan could say whatever she liked about her impending marriage, but this was not a bride eagerly awaiting her walk down the aisle. “I have six weeks to do as I please here, and I’d like to spend it enjoying the liberties I’ll have to leave behind when I depart Paris.”
“And you want me to help?” She wasn’t sure why she asked. It was clear that the girl intended to trap her into being her sapphic fairy godmother. And from her little speech about the railway, Cora knew it would not do to intimidate her. Ribbons and ruffles notwithstanding.
“Oh no, I want more than help. I want you to show me. I want to know the places where women like us can be free in this city.” The earnestness in Manuela’s voice called to something that Cora could simply not allow into this room. They were not kindred souls or any such rot. This little chit wasextortingher, and it mattered very little that she shared the same preferences when it came to lovers. “I want to experience what I can of that life before I return home. But I need a guide.”
Cora almost laughed. Of all the things she thought she’d be asked as payment, this was not anything she could’ve even remotely conjured up.
“That’s all you require for the land?”
The imp shot her a look that clearly saidYou should know better than that.
“I’ll need four times as much money as you initially offered, and we will have to redraw the lines of the portion that I’ll sell. But yes, that is all.” The traviesa fluttered her eyelashes at Cora before gulping down more champagne.
A flush of pure heat exploded in Cora. The sweet siren from Le Bureau had intrigued her, but this sly, bold woman was enthralling, and for a woman like Cora, this was the kind of lark that could prove catastrophic.
“Why me?” Cora heard herself ask.
Manuela smiled, but this time the brightness in her eyes shifted into something far less appealing. There was dread there, and resignation. But she when opened her mouth her voice was clear and unfaltering. “Because I can make you.” Her lips tipped up wickedly. Cora swallowed nervously. “And I like how you kiss.” She would not touchthatcomment with a ten-foot pole.
“Isn’t it a bit impulsive to let go of your property for a few weeks of enjoyment?” She would cut out her own tongue before talking herself out of this deal, but she had a conscience.
“A person could live a lifetime in six weeks, Your Grace. Entire lives have been changed in less,” the heiress told her, undaunted. She was clearly dead set on doing this.
“If I decide to do this, and I am not saying that I will—” Cora infused as much intimidation into her words as she could, but it seemed that the only person in Paris immune to her notoriously mighty temper was sitting at the table with her, sipping champagne. “—I will make you sign a contract. You will be bound to sell Baluarte.” Cora spoke in the voice she typically reserved for moments when she had to remind her associates who they were speaking with. “There is no force on this earth that will keep me from that land once I’ve fulfilled my end of the agreement,” she warned, meaning every word.
“I understand.” Manuela was so infuriatingly calm, while Cora could scarcely keep track of the turns this conversation had taken.
“I just want to be clear on something, Señorita Caceres Galvan,” she went on. “I don’t advise that you attempt toying with me. I have absolutely no compunction when it comes to tearing down someone for going back on their word.” Was she trying to get the girl to back out of the sale? What on earth was wrong with her?
“I have no intention of going back on my agreement,ifyou fulfill yours.”
“I will have to think about this,” Cora replied, astonishing herself. But this suddenly felt too risky. She needed to think this over. She needed a damned war council. “I don’t have time to be your Paris guide.”
“But you will find sometime.Ifyou want the land, that is,” Manuela volleyed back, in that same airy tone she’d delivered every other of her conversational bombs. “All I require are a few invigorating evenings.” She whirled her finger, one eyebrow raised coquettishly, and all the air in Cora’s lungs escaped at once. “I am sure someone as impressive as you can discern a number of enjoyable escapades for a simple island girl like me.” If the vixen knew just how close Cora was to foregoing all sense of decorum, she wouldn’t have ended the statement with a saucy wink.
“I have no way of knowing what you consider enjoyable, Miss Caceres Galvan.”
“Oh, I think you do, Your Grace,” she shot back, that devilish grin fastened to her lips. “I’d even venture to say you know precisely what that is.”
“Why are you amenable to sell this now when you didn’t so much as respond to our previous offers?” Cora inquired in an attempt to derail this runaway train.
“I like these terms far better.” That was delivered with a grin, before the heiress reached for her glass again. It was almost empty, and on impulse, Cora reached for the bottle submerged in the bucket of ice and leaned to pour her more.
“Are duchesses supposed to serve people beneath their station?” Manuela asked in that salacious way of hers.
“I think you know by now that I don’t exactly abide by society’s expectations of what a duchess ought to do.” For that, Cora was rewarded with a sultry half-lidded look that almost made her swallow her tongue. This Caribbean siren with her chocolate eyes and luscious mouth could upend Cora’s existence.
“I have a kinship with rule breakers, being one myself.”
God but she wanted to devour her. “Your parents or your fiancé won’t object to this?” Cora threw this out in a flailing attempt to douse the flames in those brown eyes. It worked, for a second, but anyone who underestimated Manuela Caceres Galvan’s tenaciousness did it at their peril. There was steel under that very tempting package.
“They have no control over what I do with my land,” she said, then laughed a little too loudly. “If they did, my parents would’ve sold it the minute it was passed to me.”
For the first time Cora thought she was seeing the real Manuela. Behind all the vapid smiles and salaciousness, there was a brittleness that Cora recognized. The brittleness at the heart of any person who understood that if she dared show the world who she truly was, it would scorn them.
“Do we have a deal, Your Grace?” She extended a hand, and Cora braced herself for the jolt of electricity she knew would come at the contact.
