“Rose!” Marianne stepped in front of Rose, cutting off her eyeline. “Who are you looking for?”
“Oh… me?” Rose blinked nervously and then laughed to distract from the situation. “Nobody, Marianne. I am just seeing who is here, is all.”
“What does it matter who is here?” Marianne whined, her shoulders collapsing. “Heis here. And I just know that soon he is going to try to speak with me. Oh, please, if he does, do not leave us alone.” Marianne took her sister by the hand. “You cannot leave me alone with him.”
“With whom?” Rose asked, still distracted as her eyes searched the garden party.
“Who? Who do you think?” Marianne squeezed Rose’s hands, and she could feel her sister trembling. “The Duke is who. He is here, Rose. And he keeps on looking at me!”
“Right, yes, of course.” Rose shook her head to clear it. “I knew that. And it is perfectly fine, Marianne. I am sure you are just imagining it.”
“How can I be imagining it?” Marianne continued, becoming more undone by the second. “It is done, we are to be married, and no doubt he is watching me to make sure that I do not do anything to upset him.” Her chin began to tremble. “You promised me, Rose. You promised me…”
Rose’s chest tightened when she looked upon her sister, seeing just how upset she was, and how broken her state of mind was.
Sadly, there was nothing that Rose could do about it, yet. Despite the deal that she had struck with the Duke, she was hesitant to tell her sister the details, lest she fail. Better that she does not get Marianne’s hopes up until there was a reason to.
“I know I promised you,” Rose said as she looked at her sister to calm her. “And the two of you are not married yet.”
“But –”
“Trust me,” Rose spoke over her. “Please, Marianne. All I ask is that you trust me.”
Marianne grimaced and did not look at all as if she did. “I just wish he would stop looking at me like that…” She scrunched her face into a pout. “Perhaps I should do something to embarrass him? If he thinks I will be trouble, he might change his mind altogether.”
“No!” Rose cried before she could think.
“What?” Marianne said. “Why not?”
“Because,” Rose looked through the garden, where she found the Duke watching them. “Because it will make no difference, is why. He will marry you either way, and annoying the Duke will only anger him. Not to mention, Father.”
Marianne slumped. “I know…”
“Just trust me,” Rose said again. “And don’t do anything stupid.”
“I want to trust you, Rose, you know that I do. But what can you do? Nothing will change his mind.”
I wouldn’t be so sure about that…
Despite her sister’s quickly diminishing state of mind, Rose was doing her best to be positive. Which should have been easyenough, considering the opportunity that the Duke had given her. An opportunity she fully intended to make good on, no matter what it took.
The problem, as Rose was starting to realize it, was the very real fact that the man whom she had come here to learn about, Lord Ellery, was nowhere to be found. Nor did it appear as if he would be arriving anytime soon.
Rose had been certain that this task wouldn’t be nearly so hard to achieve. She did not know Lord Ellery personally, but she knew his wife, just as she knew a few of his wives’ friends. All Rose needed to do was sit with them, have a few drinks, and let their wagging tongues run rampant as so often happened at these parties.
Again, something that would have been made easier if he were there!
She looked over the garden party, trying her best to see beyond the mass of colorful gowns and smart suits. Many of the guests stood in groups, chatting and laughing. Others wandered freely. Some played games. Many lingered by the orchestra and listened. And all behaved themselves, as one had to do at these events.
It angered Rose that he was not there. She was beginning to suspect that she had been given an impossible task on purpose, and that the Duke had wanted her to fail.
Anger growing, she scanned the garden and found the Duke watching her. He was with friends, but he ignored them as he stared across the garden, making sure that she could see him clearly.
He was not smirking at her. He was not gloating. But he watched her, those eyes unblinking and intense, and Rose was struck by the same sensation that always seemed to occur when she was around the Duke. It was not one that she understood, but it made her feel uncomfortable and exposed as she had never felt before.
“Stay here,” Rose said as she stepped around her sister.
“Rose!” Marianne reached for her. “Where are you going?”
