Page 13 of Courting the Wrong Duke

It frightened Rosalind almost as much as her father's disappearance.

Then, with visible effort, her mother straightened her shoulders. “You cannot continue this.”

“I confronted the last man to see Papa.”

“You confronted the younger brother of a duke.”

“I don't care who his brother is.”

“I know you do not.” She sighed. “That is precisely the problem.”

Her mother crossed the entrance hall and rested one hand against the banister, suddenly looking older than Rosalind had ever remembered.

The polished mahogany had always seemed too grand for everyday life. Today her mother looked as though she needed it simply to remain standing.

“You are no longer only Edmund's daughter.” The words settled heavily between them. “You are Lady Rosalind Carlisle.”

Rosalind swallowed.

“You carry this family's future now as much as I do.”

“My future can wait.”

“Society will not.” Her mother looked at her with quiet desperation. “Every day this scandal grows, another door closes.”

“I am not looking for doors.”

“But I am.” The admission came almost in a whisper. “I am trying to preserve what little remains before we lose everything.”

Rosalind felt something painful twist beneath her ribs. She understood what her mother was saying. She simply could not accept it.

“You speak as though Papa is already gone.”

“I speak as a woman who has not heard from her husband in ten days.”

Rosalind looked at her mother.

For the first time, she noticed the wedding ring turning loosely around her mother’s finger, as though she had been twisting it over and over without realizing it.

Ten days. Ten days of waiting. Ten days of listening for footsteps that never came.

Neither of them spoke.

The ticking of the longcase clock filled the entrance hall.

At last her mother drew a careful breath. “I loved your father.”

The words settled somewhere deep inside her.

She had never questioned her mother's love. Only her faith.

“I know.”

“No.” Tears gathered in her eyes once more. “I do not think you do.”

She looked toward the drawing room as though expecting Edmund to walk through the door at any moment.

“I cannot survive believing something dreadful has happened to him.”