Page 71 of Cora
“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.”
“Heliedto me.”
Lysander sat back and gave her abe seriouslook. “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.”
