Rosalinde tilted her head, anger beginning to burn in her chest. “If he doesn’t like you, it’s proof the man is an idiot. Who couldn’t likeyou, Celia?”
“At least his attitude doesn’t seem to trouble Stenfax,” Celia said with a sigh. “At least, not yet.”
“And how are things with the earl?”
There was a brief flicker across Celia’s face. An emotion Rosalinde couldn’t place, but it troubled her. Then her sister shrugged. “Fine.”
Rosalinde pursed her lips at the curt response. “Fine?” she repeated.
Celia paced away to tug the covers back from the bed. “Yes. Fine. He is polite and kind and does everything an upstanding fiancé should do.”
Rosalinde watched her sister fuss with the bedclothes and folded her arms. “That isn’t exactly a glowing review, Celia.”
“Whyshouldit be glowing?” Celia said, giving Rosalinde a look over her shoulder. “This is no love match. He needs Grandfather’s money, I need his title.”
Rosalinde swallowed hard at the frank description of their situation. “It is desperately unfair that you must make the sacrifice.”
Slowly Celia turned, and there was a brief longing to her face. “But there is no other way. Marry a title and Grandfather tells us the truth about our father.”
Rosalinde flinched. She and Celia had been raised by their grandfather after their mother’s death, and had long believed their father had also died. They had even grown up with their grandfather’s last name, Fitzgilbert, rather than their father’s, and all questions regarding the man who had sired them had been rebuffed by their guardian.
But once Rosalinde had married so far beneath their grandfather’s expectation, he had cruelly revealed to Celia that their father actually lived. The price for giving his name was that Celia must marry a title to further their grandfather’s ambition.
Rosalinde had never regretted her marriage more than the day she’d received her sister’s shaky letter, revealing the truth and the bargain their guardian had forced her to make.
“Do you think what he tells us will even be the truth in the end?” Rosalinde asked, suddenly weary in the face of it all.
Celia faced her again. “You mean, is Grandfather only saying this to manipulate me into doing what he wants? I’ve thought of it, of course. But we won’t truly know until this deed is done.”
“I suppose not,” Rosalinde whispered.
“And I could do worse,” her sister said, lightening her tone. “Stenfax is well-landed and handsome, a catch, or so my jealous friends say.”
“Still, I had hoped he wouldn’t be entirely uninterested,” Rosalinde said with a long sigh.
“Oh no. He is attentive in his own way.”
Celia shrugged as if none of it mattered, but Rosalinde knew better. She had experienced a man who grew to think little of her. She had recently experienced one who wanted her. She knew which was better.
“Celia—”
Her sister lifted a hand. “It is the way of our world, Rosalinde. Marriage for love is nothing more than a fairytale.”
Rosalinde nodded slowly. She had learned that lesson the hard way.
“You must be exhausted after the past few days,” Celia said, motioning to the bed. “Come, let’s go to sleep and we will talk more about all of it tomorrow when everything will be far less bleak.”
Rosalinde sighed and all but fell into the comfortable bed. She smiled as her younger sister flitted about the room, blowing out candles and lamps before she snuggled in next to Rosalinde.
Rosalinde closed her eyes, but though she was tired, sleep didn’t come right away. She was troubled with thoughts not just about what her sister had revealed to her, but about Mr. Gray. Had he reached his own destination safely after the storm? Did he think of her at all or had she been a faceless conquest after a long string of the same?
She shook her head. It was foolish to allow such things to trouble her when Celia needed her. Tomorrow she would meet this brother of Stenfax’s, and perhaps she would find a way to soften him in his ill-informed opinions of her sister. That was the best she could do for Celia now.
The best she could do for them all.
Chapter Six
Rosalinde linked arms with Celia as they stepped off the last step together and headed for the breakfast room down the hall. It was amazing what a good night’s sleep in a comfortable bed could do for a person. Rosalinde felt rested and ready to come to her sister’s aid in whatever way Celia needed her. No more thoughts of her mysterious lover or regrets about a past she couldn’t change.
