Page 34 of A Duchess for his Family

“This is impossible,” she informed the empty room.

“What is impossible?”

Sophia jumped so sharply that the letter nearly slipped from her fingers. Emma stood in the doorway, serene in blue muslin, while Frances appeared beside her in a walking dress of rich green, removing her gloves with the air of a woman who expected to find entertainment and was rarely disappointed.

Behind them, a footman looked apologetic.

“I announced Their Graces, miss,” he told her.

“I am certain you did.”

Sophia had simply been too occupied with dukes, gowns, and ruinously thoughtful letters to hear him.

Emma entered first, her eyes moving at once to Sophia’s face. “Are you quite well?”

“Yes.”

Frances looked beyond her.

“No,” she answered decisively. “She is standing beside an open dress box with the expression of a lady who has discovered either a fortune or a body.”

“It is neither.”

Frances crossed the room in three quick steps and looked into the box. Her gasp was entirely sincere.

“Oh, Sophia.”

Emma followed more calmly, though even she gave a soft sound of admiration when she saw the gown.

“It is exquisite,” she whispered.

Frances reached for the silk, then paused before touching it, evidently overcome by sufficient reverence to remember her manners. “Where did it come from?”

Sophia folded the letter too quickly. Neither sister failed to notice.

Emma’s gaze dropped to the page. “From the Duke of Rivermere?”

Sophia wished, not for the first time, that her sisters were less intelligent.

“He sent it yesterday.”

“And you have hidden it from us until now?” Frances demanded.

“I returned it.”

Both women stared at her.

“You returned that?” Frances pointed to the gown as though Sophia had insulted it personally.

“It is far too expensive.”

Emma’s expression became thoughtful. “Yet it appears to have returned to you.”

“Yes.”

“With a letter,” Frances added.

“Yes.”