“Oh.” Rosemary’s stomach sank. “Oh.”
“Nothing came of it,” Evie said hurriedly. “He was well into his cups. Honestly, I’d be surprised if he even remembers he spoke to me. But it was a very roguish thing to do, and that’s why Joanna and I were naturally worried when I read about the engagement this morning in the paper. We just wanted to ensure that you weren’t coerced into something you weren’t keen on.”
Rosemary’s teeth clacked together as she slipped off the sill and the soft soles of her walking shoes came into contact with the hard floorboards. “What paper announced our engagement?”
“All of them, I imagine, although I read about it in theLondon Caller.”
Her face paled. She’d known word would get out soon enough. Gossip traveled fast when it was spread by many mouths. But she had been under the naïve impression that she’d have a few days, mayhap even a week, before Sterling’s proposal became public knowledge.
“Let’s get back to the kissing.” Evie clapped her hands together. “You already said he kissed you during the house party. What occurred after we all left?”
Rosemary’s head was spinning. “We kissed a second time in…in the library. And again last night, at the Marigold Ball, before he…before he asked me to marry him.”
“I cannot believe this. Rosemary! You–youminx,” Evie cried with no small amount of delight. “This is better than anything I’ve yet to read in Lady M’s column. Now that we know you and Hanover have been carrying on a delightful little dalliance this entire time, your engagement makes perfect sense. And to think we were worried!”
“I don’t know if I’d call it a dalliance–” Rosemary started to protest.
“It also explains why Hanover came to town despite Kincaid warning him to remain in the country,” Joanna interrupted. “He gave us some nonsensical excuse about his sister asking him to partake in the Season to repair the damage done to his name, but all the while hereallycame here for you. How…uncharacteristically genuine of him.”
“Wait,” Rosemary interjected as a flicker of alarm cut through the overwhelming knowledge that her engagement was likely the topic of conversation in every parlor and drawing room across London. “Why did Kincaid want Sterling to stay at Hawkridge Manor?”
The corners of Joanna’s mouth jutted sharply. “You mean he hasn’t said anything?”
“Said anything about what?” she asked blankly.
Joanna looked at Evie. “Should I tell her?”
“Probably best if you do.”
Joanna took a deep breath, then smiled kindly at Rosemary. “You might want to sit back down…”
Chapter Twelve
Rosemary pinched hereyes shut as she exhaled through her nose. Behind her, the rain lashed at the windows in a steady roar of water as the storm continued to gain strength, but the sound of the rising tempest was nothing compared to the pounding in her head.
“So what you’re saying,” she murmured, slowly opening her eyes to find her cousins watching her with identical expressions of concern, “is that Sterling has been–what’s the word you used?”
“Framed,” said Joanna.
“Framed,” she repeated. “Like a picture, but not.”
“No, in this instance, it means he was set up. Someone went to great lengths to make it appear as if he’d killed his mistress when, in fact, he not only had nothing to do with her murder, she most likely isn’t even dead.”
“And you think…you think this person is trying to harm him specifically?”
“Yes, that is the conclusion Kincaid and I have drawn.”
“But…why?” Rosemary asked in bewilderment. She knew that Sterling was far from flawless, but she’d never heard anyone speak a bad word about him. Aside from calling him a wastrel, rogue, and ne’er-do-well, that is. Even then, such insults were levied with a general sort of complimentary affection. To the best of her knowledge, prior to his mistress’ bloody disappearance, he’d been an exceedingly popular figure amidst theton. For what reason, then, would anyone try to frame him for murder? “Have they demanded money or other means of compensation?”
“Not yet, which is why we’re led to believe this is a personal grudge. Especially after we began to consider what happened to his sister. There was no ransom then, either. Which is very strange, looking back at it now. Why else take a duke’s sister if not for money? Unless they were after something far more nefarious. Thankfully, Kincaid foiled whatever plot they were brewing before it had the chance to come to fruition, and Hanover hired an ex-soldier’s guard that has discreetly kept watch over Lady Sarah ever since.”
“I never knew his sister was kidnapped by highwaymen.” A frown captured Rosemary’s mouth. “Sterling never said a word.”
He’d never said a word aboutanyof this. And that troubled her almost as much as knowing that someone wanted to cause him serious harm.
How could they possibly hope to have a real marriage if they didn’t share the intimate details of their lives with each other? She wasn’t asking for him to reveal every secret that he held. Not after being engaged for less than a day, anyway. But was it too much to ask that he bother to mention some crazed madman had arranged for his mistress to disappear and the walls of her bedroom to be slathered in pig’s blood all in an attempt to have him blamed for a murder he hadn’t committed?
Unless…unless he hadn’t told her because he didn’twanta real marriage.
