Page 9 of Duke of the Sun

Irene’s face softened further. She held her stare quietly for a moment, raising one hand to cup the side of Cordelia’s face. “You have grown,” she whispered, tucking a brown curl behind her ear. “You are quite beautiful, Cordelia.”

She smiled, leaning into her sister’s hand. The warmth that coursed through her was not like the heat from the sun’s stare, but rather something more powerful. The last time Cordelia truly faced her sister was at her wedding, a day that felt so distant she thought she made it up.

Irene’s face grew concerned.

“What is it, sister?” Cordelia cooed.

“You have been at the center of the Ton’s gossiping for quite some time now, Cordelia.”

She sighed, pulling away from her sister. “An unsurprising notion,” she muttered. “Tell me, Irene, what is it they harp over now?”

“Too much for you to act blase about it.”

Cordelia took her seat again, leaning back against her elbows. “I suppose it was a naive thought to assume their attention would linger elsewhere.”

“You haven’t made an appearance in polite society for two years,” Irene said, growing exasperated once more. “Not only that, but your husband is a known outcast, a man with a warranted beastly reputation. Can you blame them for wondering about your health, your whereabouts?”

“Oh,” Cordelia drawled, “So that’s all, then? The Ton was worried about my well-being?”

Irene sighed. “You know it isn’t that simple.”

“Go on, then,” she said. “Tell me what they gossip about now.”

“They assumed your marriage had been doomed from the start,” Irene began, taking a seat across from Cordelia. The terrier hopped up next to her, eagerly awaiting a pet from the stranger. “Perhaps the scandal of your previous betrothal got to the Duke, and it tormented him as much as it tormented our family.”

Cordelia rested a hand over her eyes. “You may report back that they were wrong on that one.”

“Some even went so far as to assume you were pregnant.”

“From who,” she snapped, “My previous suitor or my beastly husband?”

Irene glowered at her. “This is no time for teasing, Cordelia. Can you stop for a moment and consider what rumors like these could do for the rest of your family?”

“No, Irene, I assumed we were no longer bound together in such a way.”

“Don’t be so petulant,” Irene snapped. “Those were barely even the most scandalous of rumors that have tainted your good name.”

Cordelia glanced over to her. “Don’t tell me there were more.”

“I happened to hear that you were making changes to the estate.”

She sat up. “How could you have possibly known that?”

Irene laughed dryly. “The Ton knows these things, Cordelia. They see the men coming in and out of your doors. The money being spent on renovations and changes. People talk, and they talk even more when it comes to questions such as these.”

“Whether or not I wish to change the interior of my home is my business, and my business alone.”

Irene raised a brow. “Would it not also be the business of your husband, the Duke?”

Cordelia pulled her stare away quickly. She hadn’t laid eyes on the Duke for two years, since the butler informed her of his decision to reside elsewhere. While she once assumed he needed the space to come to terms with a newfound marriage, Cordelia no longer bothered to ruminate over it. Not when there were countless possibilities left for her, a mountain of avenues and responsibilities upon her shoulders.

Never once did she believe the duties of a Duchess invigorating, until she was truly thrown into it. The ability to rework the estate, to change its dreary interior into something worth living in, brought her joy and satisfaction, something she could not find in her marriage.

“The Duke has not been here for years, Irene,” Cordelia finally said. “Whatever has been done to the estate is from my word alone.”

Irene watched her closely. “Is that why you recklessly spent his fortune? To provoke him?”

“I never said such a thing,” Cordelia muttered, though she couldn’t help the mischievous smirk from pointing up at the corner of her lip. “Though it sounds rather well deserving, does it not?”

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