Page 10 of Courting the Wrong Duke

Then answered with complete simplicity.

“To clear my name.” His blue eyes held hers. “And because your father deserves better than rumors.”

Something inside her shifted.

Not trust. Not completely.

But every enquiry had ended the same way. The magistrates had found nothing. The servants had heard nothing. Their neighbors offered condolences instead of answers.

William was the first person to suggest doing something different.

Isabella looked at her quietly.

Rosalind closed her eyes for the briefest moment.

When she opened them again, William was still waiting.

“Hyde Park,” she said. “Tomorrow morning.”

He inclined his head. “Tomorrow morning.”

Without another word, she turned and descended the steps.

The moment the carriage door closed behind them, the composure she had clung to since leaving the house finally deserted her.

***

Rosalind sat rigidly upon the upholstered seat, her gloved hands clasped so tightly in her lap that her fingers ached. Outside, the wheels lurched into motion, carrying them away as rain tapped steadily against the windows.

She stared blindly at the passing streets.

She had done it. She had stood before Lord William Sinclair and accused him to his face.

For three days she had imagined the confrontation would leave her feeling vindicated.

Instead she felt only exhausted.

Isabella remained wisely silent. She knew Rosalind well enough not to press before the words were ready.

They came all at once.

“What if I am wrong?” Her voice broke so unexpectedly that she scarcely recognized it as her own.

Isabella shifted closer. “You do not believe he harmed your father.”

Rosalind swallowed hard.

“No.” The admission came almost as a relief. “I do not know what I believe anymore. I only know he was the last person to see Papa.”

She turned toward the rain-streaked window as tears blurred her vision.

“I wanted him to tell me something. Anything.”

“That your father was safe.”

Rosalind nodded.

“Every morning I wake believing they will find him,” she whispered. “Then another day passes, and nothing changes.”