The carriage rocked as it struck a bump in the wide gravel pathway that offered a scenic, circular ride around the interior of Hyde Park, but Lady Ellinwood did not weave or wobble or grab for the leather armrest Sterling had a footman install specifically for the benefit of his fiancée’s frail, hollow-boned eighty-two-year-old grandmother.
He doubted an explosion of dynamite would bend that iron spine of hers.
“Please do not concern yourself with Miss Stanhope’s dowry,” he said gallantly. “I’ve no need of it, and I can assure you that she will not want for anything as my wife. You may do with the monies and properties and gilts as you please. Take a long holiday, or make a large donation to charity. I’d not take something that was not necessary simply for the sake of tradition. Or if there is a property that Miss Stanhope is preferential to, I’d not deny her of it. But it would be hers, not mine. Truly, a dowry is not necessary.”
Lady Ellinwood’s forehead turned into a map of lines and wrinkles as she arched a gray eyebrow. “Who is to say I have deemed you fit to evenreceivemy granddaughter’s dowry, Your Grace? Might I note that for a pious man, you are certainly presumptuous.”
“Grandmother,” Rosemary admonished lightly as Sterling gave considerable thought to launching himself over the side of the landau.
If he jumped now, he would land in a pond. And although he’d never been a strong swimmer, drowning was surely preferable to a slow, agonizing death by dowager.
“What?” Lady Ellinwood demanded. “Am I not to speak my mind because His Grace is of higher rank? You are my granddaughter. My last remaining blood relation and heiress to our family name and fortune. Surely that precedes any formality in regards to title.”
“I thought you were pleased that the Duke of Hanover and I are engaged to be married.” A flicker of amused exasperation passed over Rosemary’s face. “You’ve certainly hosted enough celebratory luncheons and you’ve accepted our invitations to the Royal Gala this evening. Invitations, as it so happens, that didnotappear out of thin air.”
“I am pleased,” Lady Ellinwood scowled and, this time, it was Sterling who swallowed an insect.
Bloody hell.
Ifthiswas pleased then he never wanted to see her unhappy.
One glare and he’d probably turn to stone on the spot.
“Are you?” Rosemary asked with unmistakable skepticism.
Their heavy carriage, pulled by a fancy pair of matching bays in gleaming black harness, veered slightly to the left when a curricle whizzed past. The couple squished together on the narrow bench seat gaped openly at the passengers in the landau and immediately began to whisper excitedly before the two vehicles had even cleared each other.
Accustomed to the attention that his presence garnered, Sterling automatically raised his hand in acknowledgment. When he refocused his attention on his fiancée, he found her staring at him with a bemused expression on her face.
“What?” he said, wondering if he’d accidentally committed some slight that would give Lady Ellinwood cause to despise him even more than she already did for reasons not yet unveiled.
“Has it always been like that?” Rosemary asked.
“Like what?”
“People looking at you as if you were the Prince of Wales or the white tiger at the Zoological Society in Regent’s Park?”
“How do you know they weren’t looking atyou?” he countered.
“Because no one looks at me.”
“They will when you are a duchess.”
If not for the presence of Lady Ellinwood, he wouldn’t have hesitated to draw Rosemary onto his lap and kiss away the shy, self-deprecating smile that had taken hold of that delightfully plump mouth.
To his surprise, he’d missed her terribly during the last four days they’d been apart.
He never had.
Missed anyone, that is.
At least not anyone living.
If he hadn’t needed the additional time to purge his body of its remaining withdrawal symptoms (even now, his hands occasionally shook and a headache came like clockwork every night at half-past six when he would have reached for a bottle), he’d have been standing on her doorstep. Not for any particular reason other than he wanted to be near her. Which was, admittedly, an unexpected side effect of their engagement. This restless, almost feral need to have her. To hold her. To hear the soft catch in her voice when he kissed that little groove between the base of her neck and her shoulder.
But it wasn’t just unsated passion that drew him to her.
Plainly put, he enjoyed her company.
