A Hope Beyond Read Online Free PDF

darken. “I’m getting what I want.”
    Carolina lifted her chin with a defiant smile. The gauntlet had clearly been thrown down. “You are getting only an unwilling participant, Mr. Cabot. Nothing more.”
    Hampton reached out a hand to cup her chin and bent low to meet her petite five-foot-three frame. “I will soon make you feel otherwise, my dear Carolina.” Then before she could stop him, Hampton placed a lightning-quick kiss on her forehead before he turned and rejoined her father in the library.
    Carolina reached a hand to where his lips had touched her skin.
    Stunned by his actions, she moved away from the library in a daze. He would never make her feel otherwise. Of this she was certain.

    From her covert vantage point, Virginia observed the exchange between Hampton and her sister. She could not hear their words, but their actions spoke loudly enough. Carolina looked for all purposes to be quite enchanted with the dashingly handsome Hampton Cabot.
    Seething in rage from a sense of betrayal and envy, Virginia slammed her bedroom door, went to her wardrobe, and pulled open the doors. She sent each side crashing back with such violence that the noise echoed in the silent room like the bursting of cannon shells upon a battlefield.
    Carolina had ruined her life, although Virginia would never give her the satisfaction of knowing it. James Baldwin had been content to forget the railroad after his accident. Having seen his best friend die, while suffering painful scarring injuries himself, James had buried his dreams of working for the railroad. He was finished with locomotive nonsense and had been quite content to look toward the business of banking with his father. That was until Carolina had insisted on knowing more about the railroad.
    Finding her bottle of sherry hidden inside a hatbox, Virginia picked up a glass and poured herself a drink. It seemed that when matters became too overwhelming, the burning liquid could calm and clear her mind. Soothing herself in the only way that seemed available, Virginia tossed back the sherry as though it were water and waited for the welcome warmth to spread throughout her body.
    She had seen a future for herself as the prosperous wife of a bank president, for surely James’ father, Leland Baldwin, would not have remained at the helm forever. She had seen herself as the queen of Washington society with servants and finery to rival all others. She had seen all of this, and so much more, until Carolina had helped James to rekindle his dead dreams.
    Carolina had helped James remember his first love, which unfortunately wasn’t Virginia. And that was the reason James had penned a letter breaking their engagement. Virginia grimaced. He was too much the proper gentleman to dishonor her by publicly ending their plans for marriage. Instead, he had left it in Virginia’s capable hands. And what could she do but comply? She had ranted and raved at her father, begging him to make James marry her, but all for naught. James had packed his belongings and left Washington City, and Virginia was left alone to face the aftermath of his departure, her sister’s death, and her mother’s melancholy. Now everyone thought Virginia to be self-sacrificing in her giving James up to remain at home with her mother. Even the family, with the exception of her father, believed that it had been Virginia’s choice to end the engagement. She had managed to save face, but her dreams lay in tattered shreds.
    Remembering the tender scene she’d just witnessed in the hallway, Virginia’s scowl deepened. There had to be a way to put an end to Carolina’s happiness. Her little sister seemed quite chummy with Hampton Cabot, and perhaps this was the manner in which Virginia could attack. Their mother had always held to a family tradition of the eldest daughter marrying first; maybe Virginia could bring a halt to any romantic dreams Carolina might have toward Hampton by remaining single a while longer—not that