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Soon enough, as he’d predicted, the cat jumped down and walked away.

But the duke continued holding her hands. His thumb lightly grazed her knuckle, and Charlotte tensed at his touch. ‘I suppose I should add another rule to the list about my cat.’

‘You may bring the animal. Just keep him out of my rooms,’ was all he said before he released her.

She nodded. ‘I will. I’m sorry.’

He behaved as if it didn’t matter at all. ‘I will draw up the betrothal agreement with your father and send over a ring in the morning. We can be married the first week of December, if that suits you?’

‘That will be fine. But if you wouldn’t mind, I should like to visit Severn a few times before then. I need to start planting bulbs before the ground becomes too frozen.’

‘Do as you wish.’

And with that, he stood from the chair, and she followed suit. ‘Until next time, Lady Charlotte.’

Charlotte wondered if he would kiss her hand or embrace her—but he did neither. She told herself that was to be expected, since they were still strangers.

And did she even want to be kissed by the duke? Maybe?

When they joined her parents, the duke remarked, ‘Your daughter has agreed to wed me, Lord Valhurst.’

The look of shock on her parents’ faces was entirely worth it. Charlotte smiled, and although it was clear they were pleased for her, her mother gaped at them.

‘I…we…well, we are delighted of course,’ Alice managed to say.

‘Very good, Your Grace,’ Donald agreed. ‘Would you care to discuss the details now or later in the week?’

‘Now will be sufficient,’ he said. And with that, he followed her father out of the drawing room.

Charlotte stared at the door, wondering what she was supposed to feel. She was pleased, of course. But it felt so abrupt. This was a decision that would completely change her life—and yet she felt only uncertainty.

Her mother seemed to share her confusion. ‘I suppose I’ll send tea to the study.’ After they had gone, she regarded Charlotte shrewdly. ‘Is there something I should know about you and the duke?’

‘He has a very large estate with gardens,’ she answered. ‘And I have a very large dowry. It seemed like an even exchange.’

‘There is no doubt you could not make a better match,’ her mother agreed. For a slight moment, her demeanour shifted to concern, before she masked it. ‘I will speak with Madame Beauchamp about a wedding gown for you. And of course, we’ll begin making plans for the wedding.’

Alice didn’t ask about her preferences, but Charlotte knew better than to ask. Her mother would see to all the details, and her own opinions didn’t matter.

‘I will see you at six o’clock,’ her mother said as she departed the drawing room.

Charlotte sat alone until Basil jumped into her lap. She held him, stroking his soft ginger fur while she read the duke’s marriage rules again.

And wondered about how her life was about to change.

The letter from Lenora had arrived that morning. A bleak darkness caught Alaric’s heart at the sight of her familiar handwriting, before he closed it off. He didn’t want to know why she’d written to him. It had been four months since her wedding to the Earl of Selwyn.

Five months since he’d asked her to marry him.

He wanted to toss the letter in the fire and pretend it had never arrived. Why did it matter that she’d written to him? There was nothing to say. She’d clearly lied when she’d claimed to care about him, and she’d made a choice that she now had to live with.

Alaric intended to move on with his life and marry Lady Charlotte in an arrangement that suited them both. Although it might mirror the arrangement her parents had, he’d imagined a very different union.

He’d always wanted a marriage like his own parents’. His father and mother had adored one another in a true love match. Throughout his childhood, Alaric remembered them stealing kisses and the sound of Marianne’s laugh. It was a precious memory that he’d held on to after she had died giving birth to her youngest son. Alaric had only been sixteen when his life had shattered. Her last words to him were that she loved him.

Though it was likely a mistake, he opened Lenora’s letter.

Dear Alaric,