Page 111 of Courting the Wrong Duke

Neither, if he were truthful, was he.

Only yesterday he would have accepted Algernon's answer without another thought. This morning, after discovering how easily his brother had concealed the truth from him, certainty no longer came quite so readily.

Still, he had nothing to contradict him.

“He had no reason to lie about that,” William said, though he was no longer certain whether he meant to reassure Rosalind or himself.

She looked back at him. “Then I was mistaken.”

Her thumb moved absently across the back of his hand.

The tiny gesture distracted him far more effectively than it should have.

“Whatever happened last night,” she said gently, “you do not have to solve all of it this morning. Your brother's past, your father's mistakes, whatever your family chose to keep from you. None of it changes the memories you had before yesterday.”

William studied her.

“No,” he said eventually. “I suppose it doesn't.”

“And you needn't decide immediately how you feel about any of them.”

“I thought you preferred immediate answers.”

“Only when they concern missing fathers and suspicious auction clerks.”

A reluctant smile returned to his face.

At the mention of her father, however, something else settled inside him.

Resolve.

“If anything, what I learned last night has made me more determined to find Lord Eastmere.”

Rosalind's expression changed. “William—”

“I mean it. Your father helped my brother when he needed someone most. Apparently he helped my entire family, whether I knew it or not.” His hands turned within hers until he was the one holding on. “Whatever has happened to him, I want to find him more than ever.”

Her eyes glistened, but she smiled. “Thank you.”

He wanted to tell her she did not need to thank him.

Instead, he simply held her hands for another moment.

For an arrangement founded upon deception, remarkably little about his feelings toward Rosalind felt false anymore.

The realization should probably have concerned him. This morning, however, he could not bring himself to care.

Then another thought surfaced, so ordinary compared with everything else that William nearly laughed. “I almost forgot.”

Rosalind's brows lifted. “Forgot what?”

“My mother has invited you to tea this afternoon.”

Rosalind stared at him.

William finally smiled. “Apparently discovering one family secret before breakfast has done nothing whatsoever to diminish her enthusiasm for our courtship.”

A laugh escaped Rosalind. “Does she know it is pretend?”