Page 44 of My Ruthless Duke

“I have done it again… have I not?” She asked softly, her voice barely audible.

Cordelia did not know what to say. Lavinia swayed in place, only to be caught better by Matilde’s steady, strong hold.

“Let us get you upstairs and a nice cup of tea, hm?”

But Lavinia would not move, not yet. “I have embarrassed you… again…”

Cordelia’s instinct was to decline that anything was wrong, to tell her mother that it was all fine and that she would handle everything like she always did. But the whole reason that she was here was so that they could take care of her… and she had been doing well on her drinking. At least, she had thought that she had.

No matter how she tried to speak, the words would not leave her lips. She did not wish to make her mother feel poorly for what had happened, but how could she deny the way she felt? She did not wish to lie to her mother.

“I am… I am sorry… Cordelia…” Lavinia reached up and cupped the side of her daughter's face affectionately. “I can still see so much of your father in you sometimes…”

Cordelia steeled herself against the sudden onslaught of emotion.

Lavinia nodded to Matilde, and the pair of them left the greenhouse, leaving a weight of feelings tangled into a knot in Cordelia’s chest before she inhaled deeply, and turned to face her guests once more.

The last of Cordelia’s guests had left after dinner, and Cordelia found herself the last one in the dining room. Dorian had not returned home all day. He had not been present for dinner, and she did not know how to take that. She did not know if she had upset him or if this was how things were to go after their little talk. She had thought that today was going to be the day.

He must have decided that what she asked him for was too much to handle.

In her mind, she had thought that they were going to go up to bed together tonight and that when he had finished making love to her, he would pull her into his arms and keep her there until the morning light. Had he decided to take it back already? She did not know how she was to handle that, if that was what had happened.

“Your Grace, you have a visitor,” the butler announced.

“At this hour?” Cordelia glanced over her shoulder to the setting sun outside curiously. She had not been expecting anyone, and it certainly was uncommon for anybody to call upon her at this hour. She was of half a mind to deny the visitor given that her husband was not even here. “Who is it?”

“The Viscount of Debonaire, Your Grace.”

Matthew?How unlike him to show up unannounced, and at such a late hour too. It must have been something very important that he wished to share with her to come here this late. “Very well, invite him in please.”

The servant bowed and left the room. Cordelia looked over the empty dining table and wondered if she ought to call for dessert, cognac, or something given the room that she was in. She could have taken the time to have the parlor prepared, perhaps, but she did not wish to keep him waiting.

When Matthew walked in, she stood to greet him. He wasted no time crossing the room and taking her hand; he brushed a polite kiss across her knuckles as he smiled brightly at her. “I am glad to see you, as always, Cordelia.”

“And I you, Cousin, but I did not think that it would be at such an hour,” she said as she invited him to sit, which he did—but it was strange that he chose to sit at the head of the table, directly where Dorian was meant to be.

“I understand that it is unorthodox but I have something to discuss with you that simply cannot wait,” Matthew continued.

Cordelia could not help but laugh as she summoned one of the servants. “You sound so serious, Matthew. Wine? Port?”

Matthew started to shake his head and then stopped. “Either would be acceptable, thank you.”

“See? Nothing needs to be so grave, right?” Cordelia let her elbow rest on the arm of her chair, her chin resting on her bent wrist.

“I am afraid what I am about to tell you is.”

Part of her wanted to ignore whatever was about to come. The last time they had spoken, she had lost her temper more than she cared to admit. Given that he was once a great friend to her, she hoped that this was him coming to apologize to her so that they could put things back the way they were.

The servant placed the drinks on the table, but she did not touch hers. Matthew, however, downed the whole thing in one gulp. Her eyes widened, but she said nothing.

“I have long struggled with whether or not I should bring this piece of information forward to you. It brings me no pleasure whatsoever to have to be the one to bring this news to you, but it is apparent to me now that your husband is too much of a coward to tell you the truth, and I will see you played the fool no longer,” Matthew said in one breath.

“Do not start this again, Matthew, I am not in the mood.” Cordelia sighed and sank back into her chair, crossing her legs. “I understand that you dislike my husband, you and half of theton, but that does not give you the right to speak about him likethis. He has not done anything to you to warrant this witch hunt you seem determined to hold against him.”

“How can you sit here and defend a man like that? You might have been forced to marry him, but you cannot play ignorant to the accusations against him! He is a murderer, Cordelia. If you are unwilling to keep yourself out of harm’s way, then I shall be forced to protect you from yourself as well,” Matthew said firmly.

So firmly, in fact, that Cordelia was slightly intimidated by how worked up he seemed to be. She had never seen him like that before. He certainly had never spoken to her in that tone. “I beg your pardon?”

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