“Are the men gone?” I asked as she smoothed my hair into an intricate weave of curls.
Molly smiled softly back at me in the mirror. “Yes. Though Mrs. Newbury has been up since dawn. She insists you be seen about the house, or else the duchess shall assume you are a slothful creature. And we cannot have her knowing the truth.” Her lips twitched.
“I do not wish to exchange pleasantries with the duchess.” I looked down, and Molly squeezed my shoulders.
So instead of attending to my duties, I hid away in the gardens to fill my dulled senses with something sweet. But I was empty still. My heart wept and gnashed its teeth, so I took it through the fields to the grove, despite knowing that Charlie was not well enough to be outside. But my heart had tricked me, for instead of comfort, the trees, the earth, and the pond’s edge all brought me infinitely more pain.
Molly brought news of Charlie’s continuing recovery, which should have made me happier than it did. I would give anything to visit him, or Liza, even. But doing so would risk the deal I’d struck with Marlow. It was my turn to keepCharliesafe. And that required distance between us.
By evening, the men returned from their business in town, and Marlow had cheered to the idea of marriage, or at least of having his land once and for all, enough to look in my direction again.
I slept a few hours that night, and later on into morning, only showing my face downstairs long enough to appease Mama and learn more about Piedmont Castle from the duchess.
On our third day together, while we awaited dinner in the drawing room, the duchess turned to me on the settee and said, “You will need to grow a backbone, dear. You are too quiet. Too malleable. People can sense that.”
“Quiet? Ros?” Father chuckled from where he sat facing Marlow by the hearth. “You are mistaken, Your Grace. Our Rosalind is a true leader. When she sets her mind to something, no one can stop her.”
“Is that so?” Marlow’s eyes flicked to mine. This was no show of care or curiosity. He likely worried that I’d set my mindagainsthim and he would lose his precious land.
Would that I could take the risk. That I could call his bluff and risk the chance that he would blot out my family from Society’s good graces. But just as he loved his dukedom and his land, I loved my family. They—and Charlie—were everything to me. And I would protect them.
“Normally, I would agree, Father. But I have recently learned that even in the direst of circumstances, one can always be swayed by love and family. Perhaps that is the weakness Her Grace senses.”
Marlow frowned. No, hescowled.
“How perfectly sweet,” the duchess said approvingly.
Ben left Father and Marlow at the hearth and approached me. His expression was tight, bothered. “Ros?”
“Yes?”
“May I speak with you?”
I looked to Mama, who quirked a brow, then shook her head slightly. Then to Father, who raised his chin.
“On second thought,” Ben continued. “May I have a word with my family in private? In the study.”
Mama held a hand to her chest. “Benjamin, darling, we are entertaining our friends at present. You cannot simply call us away.”
“A family meeting,” Benjamin persisted. “In the study.”
“Now?” Father asked. The question held a greater meaning, as though he sought to trust his son but needed to know whether or not the matter was urgent.
“Now,” Ben replied with a single nod of his head.
“Forgive us, Your Grace,” Father said, standing. “Just a moment, I am sure.”
“But Mr. Newbury,” Mama sputtered, following after him. “Frederick!”
“Rosalind?” Ben encouraged me.
Had something happened? Was Charlie unwell?
My stomach shrank as I followed my family down the hall.
Mama whispered harshly to Ben. “Do you haveany ideahow embarrassing that was? TheDukeandDuchessofMarlow! Rosalind’sintended.”
Father shut the study door behind us as the four of us crowded around Father’s desk. He squeezed around to his seat, and Benjamin stood to the right, leaning on the side of the mahogany wood.
