Cora (Virtue & Vice #4)

Chapter 33

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

CORA

“N o, I will not support your petition for a divorce.”

“You promised me, Lysander.”

Her brother raked his fingers through his hair, which made the antique-gold strands stick out in all directions. He appeared disheveled and he was certainly distracted. Ordinarily, Cora would ask him what had him so out of sorts, but she had her own problems now.

Such as falling desperately, irrevocably in love with a man who used her as a pawn to acquire her brother’s bank.

How could she have been so foolish? Carrying a torch for a man who gazed at her intensely across ballrooms more than a decade ago, for all these years. Stupid enough to jump at the chance to marry him just to satisfy her curiosity. Saving her family had been the excuse she needed to throw caution to the wind.

She had wanted answers, and now that she had them, her heart felt like it had been cut out, leaving a bleeding hole inside her chest.

“Gideon only wanted me as a means to an end,” she declared, pacing his study the way she’d done that day in Eryx’s parlor with Annalise. “To obtain Wilder & Co.”

“But you agreed to it.”

“We left an escape hatch for me on purpose!”

Titi scuttled away and launched herself into Lysander’s lap. He petted her absently. The tiny dog settled onto his thighs, content. She glared at her beloved pet. Titi was no help at all, switching her affections whenever there was a man around.

“Divorce would be a disaster, Cora. I don’t need to explain to you how much of a last resort it is. Does he hit you?”

“No.”

“Then this is fixable.”

“He lied to me.”

Lysander sat back and gave her a be serious look. “Did you think Gideon Wentworth, of all people, requested your hand in marriage without ulterior motives? I know you aren’t that naive.”

Cora’s teeth clicked, she shut her mouth so quickly. She had known he had ulterior motives from the start. Why, then, had Honey’s news struck so hard?

Because in the meantime, everything had changed.

This time, she couldn’t run away from the truth that she loved Gideon Wentworth. Oh, she was trying to. But she would never again be able to claim that she was indifferent to his touch.

No, the truth was that she had been happy to throw caution to the wind, and herself into his embrace, as long as there was an apparently illusory escape route.

“Is there any possibility you are with child?”

“What a question to ask.” But a cold sensation unspooled in her stomach. When was the last time she had bled?

The prospect was unthinkable.

Lysander waited.

“It’s possible, yes,” she finally admitted.

“Then there is no point in even asking until you are certain. No one would agree to grant you a divorce if there is the slightest chance you’re pregnant, and if you do have a child with Wentworth, you would likely be forced to leave the child to be reared by him.”

“No.” Cora returned to pacing. “That family is—they’re?—”

Insular. Protective of their own. Inflexible.

Yet they were also caring. They had pulled together to ensure Reggie received the best possible treatment. Gideon had done what was required of men for their sisters and arranged for them to be married well. They might not be desperately in love with their own husbands, but they adored their children and seemed to be mostly content with their lives. Martha had probably been a large reason for wanting to flee the nest, too.

In her way, Martha had taken Cora under her wing and tried to show her how to navigate the world where she had managed to make painstaking inroads over years.

Cora had deliberately embarrassed the family.

In fact, she had been a miserable friend to Honey, too. She could have done more to smooth Isabelle’s path. She’d barely spared a thought for Countess Oreste, either.

“I fear I have more of my mother’s independent spirit than I ever realized,” she said with dismay.

Lysander laughed. An actual belly laugh. Startled, Titi bounced out of his lap and barked.

“You are only now realizing this?”

He wiped a bead of moisture from the corner of his eye and continued chortling. Cora strode over and swatted his shoulder.

“Stop that. I’m tired of being the butt of everyone’s jokes.”

To her astonishment, he hugged her around the waist. Lysander was so tall and his arms so long that he could even circle her bustle without getting out of his seat. He gave her a squeeze and released her just as quickly, straightening his clothing as if he were embarrassed.

“You’re not the butt of anyone’s jokes.” He cleared his throat. “I know you have had a difficult time of things. My mother did everything in her power to make your first Season a calamity. After Wentworth effectively put a ‘taken’ sign on your back, you were never going to get an offer. Not with him stalking around you like a very large dog marking its territory.”

“Charming image.” She made a face.

“It’s true. I was furious with him long before that night at the Pindell’s. I was furious with my mother, too, for her part in it. That is a large part of why I banished her to the dowager estate.”

“She still comes to London.”

“But she is not welcome to stay with me when she does. She must find her own lodgings, and she has quickly worn out her welcome with every friend she stays with. Compared to the way she once ruled Society, it is a genuine comedown.” He smirked. “No less than she deserved.”

Lady Gryphon had been trapped in a loveless marriage, forced to sit back and watch her husband form a new family with a woman she resented. Being asked to sponsor her husband’s mistress’ daughter had been a horrible thing for the duke to have asked of her. If anyone was to blame for this mess, it was the sixth Duke of Gryphon.

Cora decided to save her pity for more worthy subjects than the Dowager Duchess of Gryphon, who had chosen to wallow in her bitterness. Her compassion had better targets.

Such as Gideon.

He had, in a roundabout way, wooed her. Yes, he’d hurt her family, but he had also given her eleven years of freedom to live however she wished. Being banished from Society had been liberating in ways that a Society marriage wouldn’t have been.

When he had finally been in a position to repair the damage he had wrought, he could have been more straightforward in his approach—but they both knew she would have laughed in his face if he had proposed without some kind of leverage. Causing a run on Wilder & Co. was underhanded, dishonest, and cruel. Gideon had hurt her family in the process. Yet he had also mitigated the damage.

He wasn’t a monster. Nor was she a paragon of stoic virtue.

He was flawed, arrogant, and unafraid to get his hands dirty in going after what he wanted. But if she was honest, it was thrilling that he had wanted her badly enough to go to such lengths.

Which meant that perhaps she had been too hasty in dismissing his awkward attempt to make amends. His love didn’t exist in a vacuum. He still had obligations to his family, to the Queen, and to the people who trusted him to manage their wealth. She had been hurt that he wouldn’t cast all of that aside for her, but her demand had been selfish and short-sighted in the first place.

And she might be pregnant.

“What a mess I have made of things,” she muttered, placing one hand on her belly. The early signs of pregnancy could be subtle. Mild nausea could be dismissed as stress as she prepared for her performance.

“You asked if there was a chance I am with child.” The room swam. Light-headed, Cora inhaled deeply and tried to stop the sensation of falling. “It is possible. Perhaps even likely.”

“Good. Then we can consider the question of your divorce closed.”

Heat scrambled over her skin, an uneven prickle of possibility and fear. But she wasn’t going to let her anxiety drive her actions. She was going to eat the serving of crow she had cooked up for herself and hope that Gideon would reconcile with her.

Maybe they didn’t have trust, but they would have a family.

Gideon’s heart was worth winning. But had she lost it for good?

They were interrupted by a footman showing an impatient Gideon into Lysander’s study. His warm brown eyes radiated so many emotions that she knew instantly he had overheard everything.

She swallowed. Hard.

Titi ran over to Gideon and scratched his leg. He bent to pick her up, cradling the dog in his arms. She frantically tried to lick his chin, but was too short to reach.

Traitor.

Cora bit her lip to prevent a smile. These were not the circumstances for smiling. The impulse faded instantly when he said, “My wife and I have been summoned by Her Majesty the Queen.”

Cora’s body frosted. When she exchanged a glance with Lysander, she found only worry in his face.