“Maybe her dance card is already full.”
“She looks available to me.”
Lady Camilla Canterbury said she would be delighted to dance with Mr. William Browning. She was a petite little thing, Will thought, as he squired her onto the dance floor under the watchful eye of her overbearing mama. She had the same coloring as Rose, and she was a good dancer, but any attempts by him to curry conversation failed dismally.
“Is this your first season?” Will asked her.
“No, it is my second,” she said sourly.
“Well, it is not over yet,” he smiled at her, beginning to understand why she had been overlooked by the men of the ton. She had a very unpleasant countenance when she pulled her face that way.
“Indeed, it is not over,” Lady Camilla said, smiling widely at everybody but him as he whisked her around to the music.
Will was not inclined to ask her for a second dance. He took her back to her mother and thanked her for the courtesy of dancing with him, and then moved away swiftly. He was also careful to stay out of the way of Lady Altrincham in case she saw fit to play matchmaker again.
He intercepted John as he was squiring a young lady on his arm. He nodded at her politely and looked at his friend.
“I am leaving!” he said tersely.
“Already?”
“I have stayed too long as it is.”
“Are you going home or to Sussex?”
“I have not decided. I will let you know.”
With that, he stalked out of the front door in search of Dante.
Rose felt as if her life had been put on hold. Compared to the alternative of a couple of weeks before, it was a blessing, of course, to still have an independent life and not be remarried, but now she felt as if she was in limbo.
Ernest appeared to be doing better and better. She'd spent several evenings with him, bonding over their shared love of cards. Every time she saw him, she expected him to revert to the odious, lecherous man she had first met, but he remained calm. They'd even shared a joke or two. It gave her hope that her future might not be as bleak as she feared, more like a return to her marriage with Ambrose, but that hope only lasted until her thoughts turned to Will, at which point her emotions shattered.
She tried to tell herself that everything that was happening was a good thing. She was building a friendship with Ernest, which she would never have expected, and she had forged a friendship with Will, where all of the rancor and hurt of the past appeared to have been left there. But her body continued to betray her in its yearning for him.
Every day that passed that there was no word from him, she wondered where he was, what he was doing, and why he was not in touch. It took her right back to the first year of marriage with Ambrose when she had cried into her pillow every night at the loss of him. Every time they were together and she told herself the memory was enough to carry her forward without him, she knew she was fooling herself.
“The Duke is making a faster recovery than expected,” the doctor told her after one of his visits to Ernest. Rose had felt a panic rise in her chest. “I have told him he can spend some time out of bed, and he may even be back on his feet entirely in a couple of weeks.”
Rose dreaded that she might be married even before Will returned to the castle. But then it was going to happen sometime, and did it really matter where on that timeline she became Ernest’s wife? Although, of course, as soon as that happened, there would be no more visits to her bedchamber and little opportunity to meet alone.
She was in her bedchamber early one evening. She had decided to sit by the fire and read, but Jennings knocked on her door, with Anna close behind.
“His Grace has asked for the dining room to be set for dinner, Your Grace. He has asked for you to join him.”
“Ernest is going to dine downstairs?” Rose jumped to her feet.
“That is what he said, Your Grace. The doctor must have said it was alright.”
Rose must have looked stricken because Jennings advanced into the room. “Maybe it is just a test to see if he can endure it. Maybe he will return to his room once he realizes he can’t.”
“Yes,” Rose was pulling herself together, realizing she should not have shown panic at his recovery. “Thank you, Jennings. I will prepare myself and join him forthwith.”
There was nothing but sympathy on Jennings’ face, and she wondered how much he truly knew about her relationship with Will. The butler was always the most informed person in the house.
Anna gave her an equally sympathetic look as she moved silently around the room, picking out a dress, gloves, and jewelry for her mistress. She did not say much, for which Rose was grateful, as there was too much conversation going on in her own head.What if he was fully recovered, or at least recovered enough? What if he wanted the wedding to be in days, not weeks? What if he was inviting her to dine to make that clear?
She allowed Anna to dress her as if she was in a trance. Her maid tied a blue sash under the bodice of her cream satin dress and even pulled her cream gloves into place as she stood with her arms hanging downwards.