Cora (Virtue & Vice #4)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

CORA

T he first day of 1882 dawned bright with blustery promise. Cora thrust open the door to her private balcony, shoving away mounds of snow that had fallen overnight. There was nothing she loved more than a fresh start.

“Go on, Titi,” she said encouragingly to the tiny dog posed anxiously at the threshold, her little nose twitching. “I know it’s cold, but you need to go out.”

Titania, a bundle of brown and black fur that barely stood higher than Cora’s ankle, shivered.

“Don’t be such a coward.” Cora scooped up her pet and carried her outside, barefoot, relishing the stinging bite. Titi took care of her business promptly, and minutes later they were back inside, where her maid was waiting to help her dress.

“Mrs. Wilder has requested an audience,” the maid informed her.

There could only be one Mrs. Wilder, for Cora remained a mere miss. She glanced at the clock.

“A bit early for that.” She lived with her brother and new sister-in-law, but her wing of the mansion was sufficiently separate that most days they only intersected at either the midday or evening meal.

Downstairs, she found Annalise staring out the front window, her blond hair frosted by the cold winter light. Halting with one hand on the banister, she said, “Is everything all right?”

“Fine,” Annalise said, glancing at her and then gazing down at the street. Cora had heard her brother, Annalise’s husband, Eryx, stomping around the house earlier. He must have gone out.

One might think that a first Christmas with his new wife would merit a proper holiday, but her brother had been the opposite of cheerful, snappish and irritable all week. Eryx was a grump on the best of days, but his behavior lately was extreme even for him.

So much for a fresh start.

“Be honest, Anna.” Although Annalise was only a few inches shorter, she was fine-boned and being near her often made Cora feel like a galumphing giant. “Everything is not fine. What is going on?”

Her sister-in-law turned to her and said calmly, “There’s been a run on the bank. Surely you’ve seen mention of it in the papers.”

“I hadn’t, actually. I stopped paying attention to anything they print about my family years ago.” She’d quit for her own sanity after her one and only disastrous Season, except for a brief foray into the classified advertisements, which no one needed to know about.

Cora knew that once they started, bank runs were difficult to stop. One could not live with a banker for years without learning a few things about the business, whether one wished to or not. Her brother had parlayed a substantial inheritance from their father into building his own bank, Wilder & Co. She and Eryx were born on the wrong side of the blanket, but their father had tried to set them up in life despite their parentage. With their legitimate half-brother Lysander’s help, Eryx had won the trust of many in the ton . Granted, they were the fastest set, and he had invested in some unsavory enterprises at the outset.

Still, the bank that bore his name was Eryx’s pride and joy.

What could have gone wrong?

Until now, Cora had never minded being cut out of dreary financial matters. Society, yes, but she was not remotely interested in the business of earning money. Despite the circumstances of her birth, she was privileged and protected, and content to remain that way.

According to everyone around her, she ought to have been married a decade ago. Thanks to one horrid man, here she was with her pet Yorkie, in advanced spinsterhood at the age of twenty-nine. She entertained herself with visits to a small circle of friends and enjoyed the freedom of riding her penny-farthing bicycle in the calmer streets of London.

She was not lonely. She had Titania, and her brothers.

Nor was she bored. Nothing had ever quite replaced her passion for playing piano, but she found ways to amuse herself.

She had always assumed her well-managed dowry would carry her through life and into her dotage. It had grown into a substantial sum under her brothers’ stewardship. Not having control over her own money sometimes made her feel like a kept pet, but she had at least trusted that her investments were in capable hands.

Until now.

If the bank went down, she could lose everything, too.

Shock rolled through Cora like a thunderstorm.

This was serious. This crisis affected her , personally.

“Your brother has gone off to try and offer the house as collateral,” Annalise said.

“This house,” Cora echoed in disbelief. “The one that’s been mostly gutted into a construction site? The one where we’re more camping out than living in? Why would anyone want this place?”

Annalise lifted one slim shoulder and let it fall.

“It’s well-located. The architectural plans are approved. It’s going to be very elegant once completed. In the meantime…” She inhaled and released a sigh. “We plan to move into my small holding.”

In an act of contrition after his disastrous courtship, Eryx had given Annalise a house with a bit of land on the outskirts of London. It was presently unoccupied.

“What happened to the hotel?”

“Luxury is no longer an option,” Annalise answered.

“Where will I go?” Cora asked inanely.

Annalise smiled faintly, a gesture that didn’t reach her eyes. “Could you stay with Lysander until this blows over?”

“He doesn’t like Titi.”

“Impossible. Everyone likes Titania.” Annalise bent to pet the little dog.

“I suppose I could stay with Honora, but her stepmother doesn’t like pets. She says they’re dirty and has the sitting room cleaned after each visit.”

Honey did like pets and wanted a dog badly, but she was an unmarried lady, her family still held out some hope of her one day making a match. Until she did, she had to live by her father and stepmother’s rules.

“The situation is dire, then?” The frightened part of her simply wanted reassurance.

Annalise looked up, and Cora read the answer in her eyes.

“We are on the verge of losing everything,” she answered calmly. “You’re always welcome to stay with us, of course. Although I must warn you that quarters could become very tight soon.” She stood up and sighed. “Especially once the baby comes.”

Baby.

Eryx was about to lose his wealth, his business, and his home—and his wife was pregnant. No wonder he’d been so surly of late.

Cora ignored the pang of longing that flickered through her. For years, she had watched her onetime friends settle down and start families , options that had long since been closed to her. Now she knew that what little kindness they’d shown her had all been posturing in an attempt to gain favor with her father or, once he passed, Lysander, the new duke. After her disgrace, everyone had dropped her immediately.

Even Eliza Wells, the girl she’d known from her one year at finishing school, had only been trying to get to Eryx. Last Cora had heard, she had married and borne children, too. Everyone except her.

“Congratulations,” Cora finally remembered to say, after an awkwardly long silence.

“You seem surprised.”

“I’m not. I have been anticipating such a happy event.”

“I confess I wanted to wait longer. Nature had other plans.” Annalise stared out into the street with a tiny pleat on her forehead. Worried. She had lost everything once before and been forced to take charge of her younger siblings after their parents died. Cora could hardly blame her for wanting some time to herself before diving back into child-raising.

Annalise squeezed her hand. “I’d suggest packing up anything you need for an extended stay elsewhere. Chin up. It’s not so different from what we had already planned.”

Cora ran her fingertips over the smooth wood of the pianoforte that took up a corner of the front parlor. Soon it would be covered in cloth and removed through the window to be placed in storage. Not that it mattered. She hadn’t played in many years. Not since her disastrous debut.

Not since him . The man whose name she refused to even permit into her mind. Another reason she no longer read the papers: he was her brother’s banking competitor.

She had survived unexpected problems before, and stroking the gleaming wood reminded her that she would survive this setback, too. She did love a fresh start, after all, and this new year had presented her with an unanticipated one.

“We shall find a way to make the most of it, won’t we, Titi?”

The little dog blinked up at her with trust shining in her shoe-button eyes, and yipped.