I gave him a confused look but did not ask questions.
Instead, I took slow steps around our party, grabbed a candle from a table, and walked until the darkness on the stairway hid me well enough from watching eyes.
I opened the paper Ben had given me. Using the candle’s light, I found Liza’s easy scrawl inside.
How are you, Ros?
I am still quite shaken from this afternoon. I cannot go above a half hour without wondering what could have happened to us. What might have happened had Charlie not fought those men off and the duke not arrived to shoot at them.
Charlie is well. Sleeping. The surgeon’s work was thorough, and we are confident Charlie will recover.
There is news. His Grace’s servants came just after dinner to inform us that two of the men have been apprehended. I cannot recall their names, but Papa claims they were hired out by Lord Langdon in revenge toward Charlie. They were told to bruise him up, and Papa thinks that because Charlie is so skilled, they grew angry and ... Can you believe it? All this over Charlie overestimating his strength and breaking a man’s arm. A man who aimed to hurt him in the first place!
I want to be furious with Charlie for getting tangled up in such a mess, but all I can think about is how some men get all the luck and some do not. Some have power and wealth and influence while others are left with shreds of what they wanted for their future.
Why is life sometimes so unfair?
I hope you are well. You were so brave, and I cannot thank you enough for aiding Charlie. No one will ever know what you did, but I cannot help wishing they would. If nothing else, so they could see you for the fearless girl you are.
I would not have written so late, but I am certain if I cannot sleep, then neither can you, and I made a promise to Charlie before he drifted off that I would send this. Every time he wakes, he asks after you. I do not have the heart to remind him that you are with the duke.
I shall not utter another word on the subject after this, for it would do no good. I forgive you for lying to me on the matter, because I don’t believe you realized your feelings until now. I hope, in return, you’ll forgive me for being so blinded by my own lacking, that I could not see yours.
I hope you find happiness. Know that no matter what the future holds for you, I am ever so proud to be your friend.
I love you, Ros.
Liza
Molly was waiting for me in my room. She took the candle from my hand, and I folded up the paper. It would do no good to reread Liza’s words, nor to linger on the hope and longing that stirred my heart knowing Charlie had asked after me.
That he wanted me there.
Molly moved behind me and started untying my dress, but I stopped her. I could not go through the motions, not tonight. I pulled her around to face me.
Her countenance grew serious. “What is it, Miss Newbury? Are you unwell?”
The tenderness in her voice crumbled my defenses, and my eyes filled with tears. I buried my face in my hands, and Molly’s slender arms wrapped around me.
“Oh, Miss Newbury. What has happened? Is it the duke?”
“Molly, I do not love him,” I managed as I wiped my wet cheeks. I choked on a sob.
“But that has never bothered you before.” She brushed back my hair with her fingers, her thoughts working behind her eyes. “What has changed?”
I could not say it aloud. I trusted Molly, truly I did, but if word reached Mama and Father, what would they say? What might Marlow do to our family?
“You lovehim, don’t you?” Molly asked in a quiet voice. “Mr. Winston.”
Our eyes met, and mine filled with more tears. I nodded and fell onto her shoulder. Mine was a hopeless case. Owning my heart meant risking the livelihoods of the ones I loved the most. Father could disown me, but even that would not be enough to save our family from the duke’s reach.
I cried until Molly’s shoulder was wet with my tears. Then she dressed me in my nightclothes and tucked me in with a cup of warm lavender tea and made me promises for tomorrow that she could not keep.
At some point after the moon had sat high in the sky long enough, I drifted off into a deep, dreamless slumber.
ChapterTwenty-Seven
Molly woke me early. She said nothing of our conversation from the night before but gave me special cream to soothe my puffy eyelids and dressed me in a light-yellow dress fit for a duchess.
