Page 100 of Finding Lord Landry

If he wanted it to be, a voice in my head whispered.

I’d meant what I told him last night. Whether to be considered for Parliament or not washischoice, and if this was what he wanted, I’d stand beside him and help make it happen. I still worried that he wouldn’t be happy in politics—he’d been a tight ball of stress beneath his polished charm last night—but maybe the satisfaction of continuing his family legacy was enough to balance that out.

I wouldn’t push him either way, but hopefully, now that things between us were finally,beautifullysettled, we could talk about it more.

In the meantime, I had my own work to catch up on. It had been far too long since I’d checked in, and I had a Zoom meeting with my assistant later this morning. Time to start reclaiming some of my responsibilities.

“I feel refreshed and revitalized,” I told Nan belatedly. “Thank you. It helped that I drank half a gallon of water in the middle of the night.”

Lydia swept into the room, rustling like an expensive curtain. “Sit up straight, Cora, dear. You look like you’re playing a bit part in a teen drama.” She pulled out a thick, leather date book. “I’ve been poring over our invitations after last night, strategizing based on Lord Twetts’skeenattentions to you. We’ll definitely attend the Kingsleys’ dinner party, and I think we’ll have to at least pop in at the Willow and Ink fundraiser…”

Cora let Lydia prattle on while the rest of us focused on breakfast. Ed happily sipped his tea behind the paper, and I wondered whether Jamie had actually spent the night with Cora or not. I glanced around but didn’t see evidence of him.

Finally, I nudged Cora with my toe and gave her interrogation eyebrows.

She squinted in confusion.

I widened my eyes and tilted my head toward the foyer—Jamie’s most likely escape route, assuming he knew how to operate the damn locks better than I did.

Cora’s hungover brain seemed to struggle.

“Booty call,” I coughed.

Her eyes widened, and her cheeks darkened. I tilted my head and blinked in silent demand.

She rolled her eyes and gave a slight nod before slumping over her coffee mug. “Mum, you have to stop. I’m not interested in Lord Twat. I mean Twetts. There is zero chance of a Davencourt-Twetts alliance. Please cease and desist.”

Feigning ignorance, I mused, “I think it would be better if Cora made an alliance outside the nobility. But theyshouldstill be wealthy and powerful, of course. It wouldn’t do to—oof.”

The back of her heel connected with the front of my shin. Thankfully, she was still wearing house slippers.

She stuck out her tongue, and I fought a laugh, feeling lighter and happier than I had in weeks.

Which, of course, was the exact moment Nan sucked in a breath, eyes riveted to her tablet, and muttered, “Oh, bloody hell.”

Cora and I scrambled around to read over her shoulder. As soon as Lydia realized what was going on, she pulled out her own phone to find out what was happening.

The headlines popped up one after the other in a series of real-time gut-punches.

’Til Scandal Do Us Part! Davencourt Marriage a Complete Fabrication?

Lords, Lies, and Lovers—Fellow Hostage Reveals Viscount Hawling’s Faux Marriage!

From ‘I Do’ to ‘I Duped You’—Viscount’s Fake Marriage Exposed!

Parliament Rocked by Wedding Hoax

I stared at the screen until the words swam on the page and my pulse pounded in my ears. How did they know? How had we given ourselves away? What was Landry going to?—?

“Who’s Lindsey Graves?” Lydia asked.

It took a moment for the name to penetrate the blaring panic in my brain.

“Lindsey? She’s a—”Gossipy influencer,I thought before remembering she’d been held in San Cordova several days longer than I had. I tempered my response. “She’s a woman I met at the retreat in San Cordova. Another of the hostages. Why? What does she have to do with this?”

Lydia turned her phone toward us. In the video on-screen, a bare-faced Lindsey huddled in an overstuffed armchair, looking like the world’s bravest little toaster.

“It wasawful,” she said meekly. “I was held for days with barelyanyfood or water. We were only allowed to use the bathroomthree timesa day.” Her eyes welled up. “And I didn’t even have myphone. I kept wondering whysomepeople got to leave, but the rest of us were just forgotten.” She sniffled. “For, like,days.”

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