Page 140 of Courting the Wrong Duke

“Rosalind—”

“I need some time.”

She crossed the room before her mother could stop her.

Isabella followed her up the stairs and down the corridor and waited until Rosalind had closed the bedchamber door before turning to her. “What was that?”

Rosalind crossed toward the windows. “I assume you heard enough to know.”

“I heard you tell your mother that Lord William used you to escape his mother’s matrimonial ambitions.”

“He did.”

“Rosalind.”

She turned. Isabella stood with her arms folded, looking considerably less sympathetic than Rosalind thought the circumstances warranted.

“What?”

“That is a very selective version of what happened.”

“It is also true.”

“Partially. Which is usually the most dangerous sort of truth.” Isabella’s brows drew together. “Why are you ending the courtship?”

“Because William is horrible.”

Isabella stared at her.

Rosalind held her expression for perhaps two seconds. “Fine. His family is horrible.”

“That I am considerably more inclined to believe.”

“And I cannot trust him.”

Isabella’s expression changed. “What happened?”

Rosalind began pacing.

She told her everything she could without betraying what William had confided that morning. She told Isabella about seeing Algernon in the gardens despite his insistence that he had left London.

She explained Augusta’s rumor about Papa and the mysterious woman, and how Nelly’s inquiries had failed to uncover a single person who had heard anything similar.

Then she told her about the carriage.

Isabella stopped her. “What do you mean, the carriage belongs to the duke?”

“Exactly that. Nelly found it in the Aldermere stables.”

“The same carriage your father entered outside White’s?”

“The description matches. One of the duke’s own grooms confirmed it belongs to the household.”

Isabella slowly lowered herself into a chair. “Well.”

“Yes.”

“That is rather more significant than Gabriel Frost destroying my secret identity because he possesses no sense whatsoever.”