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No one answered.

"George could scarcely stand. He was pale, confused, and could barely speak. Yet when he saw me, he smiled." Her throat tightened. "He smiled because I had come back for him."

"Oh, Cordelia," her mother whispered.

Katherine covered her mouth. Fresh tears streamed down her cheeks. “If I could go back and undo it.”

Cordelia gave a short, disbelieving laugh. "And you stood beside me, Katherine. You held my hand and pretended to grieve with me, all the while knowing that you had helped arrange the very thing that was breaking my heart."

Her sister bent forward, sobbing. "Oh, Cori, please."

Cordelia looked at her sister through her tears. "I have trusted you all my life. You are my sister, Katherine. You were one of the first people I ever loved, and I believed that whatever unhappiness might come to me in this world, I would always have your affection and loyalty."

"You do have them," Katherine cried. "You do, Cori!"

"How can you say that?"

"Because I love you!"

"Then why did you not trust me to make my own choice?" she cried.

Katherine stared at her helplessly.

Cordelia took a trembling breath. "Why did you decide that your unhappiness gave you the right to destroy my happiness? Why did you believe that because your husband has treated you so cruelly, George must inevitably do the same?"

Katherine's face crumpled. "I did not want you to suffer as I have."

"And so you made me suffer by your own hand?"

Her sister wept so bitterly that their mother hurried to her side. Cordelia watched as Mama gathered Katherine into her arms, murmuring words of comfort and gently stroking her hair as though she were the injured party.

The sight sent another painful surge of anger through her.

Her mother looked up, her expression troubled. “What happened was dreadful, and Katherine must answer for her part in it. But I fear the damage has already been done. The viscount will have no choice but to make an offer for Lady Bramwell, given the circumstances in which they were discovered.” She hesitated, studying Cordelia with evident concern. “Did he mention what he intends to do in his letter?”

Cordelia felt as though a rapier had been driven straight through her chest. The very thought of George being compelled to marry Lady Bramwell, the woman who had so deliberately contrived to entrap him, filled her with such anguish that she could scarcely breathe.

“No,” she whispered, her face crumpling as she recalled the lines of his letter, which she had read so many times that morning she knew every word by heart.

Thank you for coming back for me. Thank you for trusting me.

My man of affairs has investigated and discovered that a footman helped to drug my drink. Stay away from all scandal sheets for a few days, and do not climb through my windows, as I will be under much scrutiny from the ton. I have no wish for you or your family’s reputation to be dragged into this mess.

George

Her mother paled even further. “I believe it is time for us to retire to Berkshire.”

Cordelia’s heart ached with even greater pain, anger, and loss. Would the man she loved truly have to marry another woman? She then recalled that during their long conversations in the treehouse, George had mentioned his family’s disdain for scandal. Lady Victoria was also a better match for him than Cordelia. She pressed a hand over her mouth. The widowed viscountess was wealthy, beautiful, and had far more connections; her family was also one of great reputation, unlike Cordelia’s.

George’s reputation had been dragged through the scandal sheets, and society now expected him to marry a woman who had deliberately arranged to compromise him. His honor, his future, and his right to choose the woman he wished to marry had all been threatened.

Oh, God. The hurt was so great that she collapsed onto the sofa and pressed her face into her palms.

“That is quite enough,” her father said.

Cordelia lifted her tear-streaked face to his. She wiped her cheeks with trembling fingers. “Papa?”

Her father drew himself upright. “You have every right to be angry and hurt, but there is no purpose in tearing your sister apart when she is already overcome with remorse.”