“I wish you would care about yourself,” Felicity murmured.
But Isabella knew she had her priorities right. Her mother’s dying request to Isabella, articulated over and over in the days before she had passed, had been to know that Isabella would care for Felicity. That Felicity would have a safe and happy future.
It was the only thing that mattered to Isabella now, and she was determined to see to it that it happened just as her mother had wished.
That meant finding a good marriage for Felicity, no matter how challenging it might be to do that. It meant that everything Isabella did was with the goal of bringing gentlemen’s attention to Felicity.
That was what she had been thinking when she had made up the lie about the Duke. And after all, His Grace rarely socialized or left his home, so it would be difficult for anyone to confirm—for a while, anyway—that she had made it up.
Someday, someone would put the pieces together. She knew that. But all she could hope was that by then, Felicity would have found a match with someone who deserved her. The most important thing to Isabella was to get her sister into society and away from the people who had always treated her so horribly. Isabella might be stuck with her father and Rosalind, but Felicity didn’t have to be.
CHAPTER 2
“Isabella, for heaven’s sake, wake up! I need you at once!”
Isabella crawled out of the depths of sleep. The sunlight was shining brightly into her room—she had forgotten to draw the curtains last night, and because her father had never hired a lady’s maid for her, there had been no one else to do it.
Her half-sister Rosalind stood over her. Rosalind could have pulled the curtains closed, but either she hadn’t thought of doing it or else she hadn’t wanted to. Isabella shaded her eyes with her hand. She got up out of bed and made her way over to the curtains to close them herself.
“I’ve beenwaitingfor you,” Rosalind said.
Rosalind was five years younger than Isabella, but sometimes Isabella felt like the difference between the two of them was even more vast. Her half-sister was childish. Felicity, who wasonly one year older than Rosalind, seemed much more mature to Isabella.
“Waiting for me for what?” Isabella asked now.
“I’ve been ill,” Rosalind reminded her. “Someone has to tend to me.”
“Can’t your lady’s maid do it?”
“She’s getting my breakfast. I needyou, Isabella. You’ve got to come to my room and help me arrange my blankets and tend to my fire and prepare a hot water bottle for me. And I want to hear all the details about last night’s ball since I wasn’t able to be there. You must tell me what everyone was wearing. I know that you won’t have danced with anybody, of course, but perhaps you saw some interesting couples come together?”
“Very interesting,” Isabella said, thinking of her sister and knowing that she wouldn’t share with Rosalind any of the most interesting things that had happened at the party last night.
They reached Rosalind’s room. Sure enough, the fire was out, and though it wasn’t her job, Isabella knelt to kindle it. Doing what Rosalind wanted was often easier than inviting the quarrels that would come if she resisted. And if he was forced to choose, their father would always take Rosalind’s side. All three of his daughters knew that Rosalind was the only one he really cherished.
Rosalind sat in bed as her fire was built. “You should have gotten up and come to me straight away,” she said. “You mustn’t get ideas above your station, Isabella.”
“Ideas above my station?”
“Well, I know that Father claims you as his own, but that doesn’t change who your mother was. You know that. And you know that once I marry, Father will have a choice to make. Do you think he’ll keep you here forever?”
“You know that he will,” Isabella said. “You know he cared for my mother.”
“And your mother wanted him to provide for your future. I know that. But Father might decide that future looks like something different from what you might like it to, you know. Maybe he’ll send you off with me to be my lady’s maid. I’d love you as a maid once I’m married and on my own.”
“I’m not a maid,” Isabella argued.
“I don’t see why not. Your mother was a maid. And you’re awfully good at performing the basic tasks I need you to do. It might be the most effective way for you to secure a future for yourself. I mean, do you really want to stay here serving my father for the rest of your life?”
“He’s my father too,” Isabella reminded Rosalind. “And I don’t serve anyone. I am our father’s daughter, just as you are.”
“Notjustas I am,” Rosalind said. “You and I both know that there’s a difference. You like to pretend that we’re the same, and I know Father has indulged you in that, but it isn’t really true. You’re not a lady, not really.”
“You can say that all you like, but just look at Felicity. She’s had a very successful season, and I’m sure we’re about to see her find someone willing to marry her.”
“Well,maybe,” Rosalind said, stretching rather luxuriously in her bed. “I suppose that’s possible.”
“It’s more than possible. She danced with several gentlemen last night, and they all seemed interested.”
