Page 138 of Courting the Wrong Duke

Rosalind closed her eyes briefly.

Not now.

“How was it?” her mother asked, setting aside her pen. “And how is Lord William?”

“He is fine.”

Her mother’s smile widened. “Only fine?”

“Mama, please.”

“What? I am merely asking.”

Rosalind had neither the patience nor the strength to maintain the pretense. “The courtship is over.”

Her mother’s smile vanished. “What?”

“I have no intention of seeing Lord William again.”

The declaration hurt even as she made it, which only made Rosalind more determined not to examine it too closely.

“What happened?”

“Nothing I wish to discuss.”

“Rosalind, surely you cannot end a courtship over one quarrel.”

“It was not a quarrel.”

“Then whatever happened, perhaps you ought to give yourself time before deciding anything. That young man has scarcely taken his eyes from you for days.”

Rosalind turned away. That was precisely the sort of observation she did not need.

“His intentions were never serious.”

Her mother frowned. “What do you mean?”

“He never intended to marry me.”

That silenced her.

After a moment, the countess asked, “Did he tell you that?”

Rosalind hesitated. She hated what she was about to do, but she could hardly confess that the entire courtship had been invented to allow her to investigate Papa’s disappearance without inviting scandal.

“He made his feelings regarding marriage perfectly clear.”

“When?”

“That hardly matters.”

“It matters if you have misunderstood him.”

“I have not.”

Her mother studied her more closely. “Darling, you have had an exhausting day. You were out this morning and again this afternoon, and you look flushed. Perhaps everything feels rather more upsetting at present than it ordinarily would.”

Rosalind stared at her.