What If I Loved You

By Cora Lee

Jonas Blackburn is content with his life...until he discovers he must marry for the advancement of his career. Unable to strike out on his own professionally, Jonas proposes to the only person he could envision spending his life with: his close friend Nora.

 

When Nora Paget learns the brother she keeps house for is ready to marry, she finds herself at a crossroads: live with her brother and his new wife or set a different course for herself? Jonas's proposal offers a potential solution for them both. She can have a home of her own with a man she's fond of, and solve his employment problem simultaneously.

 

But Nora harbors an old family secret that could ruin both of them, just as they begin their new life together. Can they take the risk knowing the potential devastation that awaits them? Or will Jonas and Nora be forced to part ways to save their reputations?

 

This short (1-2 hour read) novel is a steamy Regency romance with a happily ever after and no cliffhangers. This is a stand-alone story that is not part of any series.

 

Previously published in the anthology Regency Summer - Secrets and Soirees.

• Language: English
• Publisher: More Than Words Press
• Release date: Jun 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9781944477127

Cora Lee

Cora Lee is a National Bestselling author of Regency romance. She went on a twelve year expedition through the blackboard jungle as a high school math teacher before publishing Save the Last Dance for Me, the first book in the Maitland Maidens series. She then followed it up with six other novels and novellas ranging from sweet and traditional to spicy and suspenseful. When she’s not walking Rotten Row at the fashionable hour or attending the entertainments of the Season, you might find her participating in Regency Fiction Writers events, wading through her towering TBR pile, or eagerly awaiting the next Marvel movie release. If you’d like to find out more about Cora or her books you can sign up for her newsletter, or connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Bookbub, or Goodreads.

Book preview

What If I Loved You

by Cora Lee

Copyright © 2020 by Cora Lee

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.

ISBN 978-1-944477-12-7

More Than Words Press

PO Box 480 042

New Haven, MI 48048

http://coraleeauthor.com/more-than-words-press/

Cover by Midnight Muse Designs.

Editing by Jude Simms.

Jonas Blackburn is content with his life...until he discovers he must marry for the advancement of his career. Unable to strike out on his own professionally, Jonas proposes to the only person he could envision spending his life with: his close friend Nora.

When Nora Paget learns the brother she keeps house for is ready to marry, she finds herself at a crossroads: live with her brother and his new wife or set a different course for herself? Jonas’s proposal offers a potential solution for them both. She can have a home of her own with a man she’s fond of, and solve his employment problem simultaneously.

But Nora harbors an old family secret that could ruin both of them, just as they begin their new life together. Can they take the risk knowing the potential devastation that awaits them? Or will Jonas and Nora be forced to part ways to save their reputations?

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Other Books by Cora Lee

About the Author

Chapter 1

Outside York

May 1818

There’s something I’d like to speak to you about.

Nora Paget glanced over at her brother, who was sitting opposite her in the wooden chair he’d carved himself, the flames of the small fire reflecting in his brown eyes that were so like hers. If it’s about the kittens in the barn again…

Julian chuckled and shook his head. If you want to add raising abandoned kittens to the long list of things you already do, I won’t trouble you about it again.

Not after she’d caught him sneaking out there with a blanket and making the kittens a warm little nest, he wouldn’t. Nora smothered a grin. What then?

Miss Stokes.

That piqued Nora’s curiosity. Miss Stokes was better known as Gwen, the woman Julian was courting. But he hadn’t addressed her in such a formal manner for months. What about her?

I want to ask her to marry me. He shifted his eyes from the fire to Nora, his eyebrows raised. What do you think of that?

How marvelous! Nora clapped her hands together, fighting the urge to jump up from her seat and throw her arms around her brother—pink was already creeping into his cheeks, and an impromptu embrace would only embarrass him further. I think the two of you will be very happy together.

He relaxed against the high back of his chair. I have your blessing, then?

You don’t need my blessing, she said with a small smile, letting her hands drop into her lap, but if you want it, you have it. You know how fond I am of her.

Good. He drew in a breath and blew it out as a log popped in the fire. I was afraid… He stopped, met her gaze, and pressed his lips together. I don’t want you to feel like you aren’t welcome here…

I would nev— Then she realized what her brother was trying to say. This was his house, his farm, and his wife would expect to be mistress of both, though Nora herself had occupied that role for a decade now. Oh.

Julian leaned forward, his chair creaking slightly with the shifting of his weight. You will have a home here as long as you want it. Gwen and I have already discussed it, and we are of a like mind on this.

Nora opted not to tease her brother about the sudden change in the name he used for his beloved, but she did smile. Of course Julian sought Gwen’s opinion on what their future would look like. He’d been doing the same with Nora since they were children.

That’s very generous of you both, Nora told him, her mind searching for other possibilities. Perhaps her brother wasn’t going to toss her out on her ear, but that didn’t mean she wanted to encroach on the beginning of his new life with Gwen. I could go back to Aunt Imogen, though.

Their mother’s sister had raised them in the country, away from the prying eyes and judging minds they’d have encountered in London with their parents. No doubt she’d be delighted to have Nora back, installed in her old bedchamber again, right next to her cousin’s.

You could, Julian replied with a slow nod. Or take your dowry and set up your own household.

Nora had been pondering that idea herself for some time, and had even gone so far as to mention it to her parents in her last letter to them. Her dowry wasn’t large—her father was a sixth son, after all, and had worked hard to make a comfortable, though not affluent, life for his family—but it would be enough to rent a small cottage nearby and keep her sufficiently clothed and fed.

You think Mama and Papa would agree to that? Their reply hadn’t yet arrived, but at