Page 69 of Duke of the Sun

Cordelia blinked, her mouth opening but not a word able to tumble out.

Michael pressed his lips together. “Did you love him then? Before it all came crashing down?”

She tilted her head, the corner of her lip twitching into a small smile. “No, Michael,” she murmured. “I did not love him then, and I do not love him still.”

Michael released a heavy sigh, a breath he didn’t realize he held within his chest so tightly. The relief overcame him instantly, like a tidal wave, soothing the nerves that had plagued him since he saw them together at the garden party. He almost sank to his knees, unaware of himself, when he came to his senses.

How could Michael feel relieved? To be happy that she did not love the man who came before him was a sign of something else, something that would be too difficult to fight if he was already knee deep within it. But, suddenly, as he gripped onto Cordelia’s wrist, her last words still echoing in the back of his mind, Michael felt as though he had been entirely engulfed in a dangerous infatuation.

Feelings grew to an exuberant amount within the center of his chest. He looked upon Cordelia and felt his heart stammer, missing a beat or two at the mere sight of her. That would be something that wouldn’t do at all. To feel so bound to someone was far too dangerous to handle with ease. He needed to get away, and he needed to do it fast.

Michael slowly pulled his hand away from her, the echoing hollowness in his chest almost threatening to engulf him in despair. Dipping his head down in a low bow, Michael avoided meeting her gaze another time.

“Forgive me,” he whispered, so quiet he thought she couldn’t have heard.

Michael twisted around, and crossed the foyer, not daring to look back as he disappeared around the corner. Even as the distance between them grew, Michael couldn’t shake the grip she had over him, the infatuation that flourished stronger still. He shook his head as he walked, desperate to return to the man he once was. Every time he closed his eyes, Cordelia came back to him, and Michael felt obliged to turn around and return to her.

He held fast, remained strong.

Distance,he thought to himself.

That is what I need.

CHAPTER20

Cordelia rose with the sun the next morning. The evening was restless and unsure, but the moment her eyes popped open, adrenaline rushed through her limbs, pulling her out from beneath the silk sheets. Butterflies swirled through her stomach, an eagerness to get ready for the day almost overwhelming her. It had been so long since she felt such a surge of life through her, an incandescent need to see the husband she once so readily scorned.

Mrs. Bellflower rapped her knuckles against the door before slipping inside. The expression on her face contorted into surprise when she noticed how Cordelia was already rising from her bed.

“Dear me, your Grace!” The housekeeper went to the windows, pulling the curtains to the sides and tying them together. “I hardly expected to find you already awake. Are you well, your Grace?”

“More than well.” Cordelia stretched high above her head before crossing to the window, popping open the glass to breathe the morning air in. “Isn’t it a beautiful day outside, Mrs. Bellflower?”

She nodded. “An incredibly pleasant morning, your Grace. Shall I prepare you for a morning stroll? Perhaps breakfast in the orangery?”

“While that all sounds very lovely, Mrs. Bellflower, I believe I’d much prefer to have a morning with my husband.”

The housekeeper paused in front of Cordelia’s wardrobe, her attention piqued curiously. “Indeed, your Grace.” She pressed her lips together, keeping the words she wished to say trapped behind her teeth.

Cordelia watched the curiosity sink into Mrs. Bellflower’s skin. She let out an airy laugh as she sat at the windowsill, the morning breeze slipping through her long hair like hands. “Is there somethingelseyou wish to ask, Mrs. Bellflower?”

She glanced around before rushing towards Cordelia, a few dresses already draped across her arm. The eagerness in her eyes flared as her voice lowered, as if there was someone else who could possibly over hear their conversation.

“I am beyond pleased at the sound of you and His Grace setting aside your differences to settle in Solshire,” Mrs. Bellflower said with a raised brow, “If that is indeed the case?”

Cordelia felt the smile tug at her lips before she realized she was doing it. Looking away, she covered her mouth sheepishly, growing red beneath the housekeeper’s persistent and eager gaze. “After recent events,” she began, “I believe that might be where we are headed.”

“Oh,” Mrs. Bellflower drawled, placing a weak hand over her bosom, “How delighted I am to hear such a thing, your Grace!”

“Truly?”

“Your Grace, the light you have shone upon Solshire is something we have not seen in years,” Mrs. Bellflower blurted, her eyes wide and glossy. “Whether or not you see it yourself, your Grace, youmustknow that you have made a change here. A change that cannot easily be undone.”

Cordelia watched the housekeeper with parted lips. Despite living at the estate for a few years, she hadn’t heard such an outburst before from Mrs. Bellflower. In fact, it took almost an entire year to gain the respect and trust of the estate’s original staff, including the housekeeper and the butler, Hunters. Even though they opened their arms to her eventually, there was something far more gratifying about the words Mrs. Bellflower said.

Everything she had done brightened Solshire. To press even further, Cordelia supposed she managed to shine a light upon Michael, too. And after the garden party, the interaction she had with her husband seemed to prove another thing. Talking to Colin drove a fiery jealousy through him. One that pulled him to take her hand in his own, rubbing his thumb along the sensitive skin on her wrist. The feeling remained with her still, despite an entire night spent apart. She touched the spot he once held.

Perhaps the future she once envisioned for herself was not as far away as she assumed it was. Although she was more than willing to settle for a friendship and nothing more, Cordelia could not pull the smile from her lips. There was something more on the horizon. There justhadto be.

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