Page 52 of Courting the Wrong Duke

“I know.”

“I say it because I no longer have the luxury of overlooking anyone.”

He inclined his head.

“No,” he said quietly. “You do not.”

Her fingers tightened around the folded letter.

“Until now, my suspicions have rested chiefly upon you. This changes matters. Father knew Lord Aldermere well. If they discussed Byron often enough for him to recognize that quotation…”

She hesitated.

“Then I owe him the same scrutiny I have given you.”

William looked away for a moment, watching another carriage pass along Piccadilly.

Algernon.

The very notion felt absurd.

His brother had always possessed faults enough. Pride. Reserve. A tendency to keep his own counsel.

But this?

The thought refused to settle comfortably in his mind.

Yet neither could he honestly dismiss Rosalind's reasoning.

Following the evidence wherever it chose to lead.

“And me?” he asked quietly.

She met his eyes without hesitation. “You as well.”

For the briefest instant, disappointment stirred within him.

Foolish disappointment.

Some part of him had hoped that yesterday's conversation, the horse, and everything they had uncovered together had finally persuaded her of his innocence.

Instead, she was proving herself exactly the woman he had begun to believe she was.

Yet even as disappointment settled quietly within him, so too did admiration.

She would not sacrifice the truth simply because it had become inconvenient.

“You intend to build a case against us both.”

“I do.” She drew a slow, steadying breath. “Wherever the evidence leads.”

William offered her his arm without thinking. “Come.”

She looked at him in quiet surprise before accepting it, her gloved hand settling lightly upon his sleeve as they crossed the pavement together. The gesture was entirely ordinary, the sort of courtesy any gentleman might extend, yet William found himself wishing the distance to the waiting carriage were somehow longer.

The footman lowered the step as they approached.

William offered her his hand, and after only the briefest hesitation she placed hers in it. Their gloves brushed as he steadied her. It was the second time that afternoon he had noticed so small a thing, and he found himself quietly irritated that he had noticed it at all.