She blamed herself. She’d had ample opportunity to tell the Marquess about her betrothal. Yet she had shied away every time until it was now too late.
Her eyes must have closed at some point because suddenly, she felt Elsa’s hand over hers in a grip, steadying her. Her lady’s maid must have rushed to her side to keep her from falling.
“He knows,” Rose repeated, completely distraught.
And he doesn’t want to have anything to do with me anymore.
Of everything, that was the part that pained her the most. How was she going to move on from this, knowing that her very soul was bonded to the Marquess’?
From the depths of her pain, she heard Elsa whisper.
“All is not lost, My Lady.”
Her eyes came open instantly as she focused her gaze on her lady’s maid. She said nothing, but her eyes pleaded with Elsa to continue, even if it was false hope.
“Write him, My Lady. Send a reply to his letter,” her lady’s maid said.
“And say what? He has stated in clear terms that there shall be no more correspondence between us.”
“Explain the whole truth to him, My Lady. He will read your letter, no matter how angry he is,” Elsa responded.
“Well, the letter would first have to reach him before he can read it. How would I accomplish that?” Rose asked longingly.
“Leave that to me, My Lady. I’ll find a way to get the letter to him. Just respond to his letter with the truth. I’m confident he will read it and understand.”
It only took a moment for Rose to process what Elsa had said. The only thing she was guilty of was not telling the Marquess that she was betrothed to Lord Rockgonie. However, every other thing had been true, including what she felt for him.
If she could find a way to send a letter to him with the truth, there was a high chance that he would understand.
But what will happen after that?
Even if the Marquess understood her position, that didn’t eliminate the fact that she was still betrothed to Lord Rockgonie. The thought almost sent her back into despair before she brushed it aside.
We will cross that bridge when we get there.
In an instant, she was sitting at her writing desk as Elsa arranged her writing tools in front of her.
Lord Walsrock,
I am truly sorry to hear about the outcome of your bill in parliament.
Even more so, I am sorry that you had to find out about my betrothal to the Earl of Rockgonie the way you did. It was never my intention to deceive you, My Lord. This I can assure you.
It is true that I’m betrothed to the Earl but this was not something I had a hand in. The arrangement was made by my father and definitely without my consent.
Then I met you at my ball and everything changed.
In the brief moments I’ve spent with you, I have realized that getting married to the Earl would be a great disservice to my heart. And the thought of losing you leaves a bad taste on my lips.
I do not know how to proceed in this matter but of one thing I’m certain. I love you Lord Walsrock, and I do not want to lose you.
Eagerly awaiting a response from you. I also wish you the best with your bill in parliament.
With all my love,
Lady Rose
She folded the letter and handed it hastily to Elsa.
“It’s all up to you now, Elsa,” Rose said, her voice laden with equal measures of hope and despair.
A knock sounded at the door, interrupting them before Elsa could respond. Her lady’s maid immediately hid the letter in her garment before going to answer the door.
“My Lady.” Elsa curtsied as Lady Somerholm walked past her and into Rose’s chambers.
“What are you doing in bed? I thought you would be ready by now,” her mother remarked, stopping a few paces in front of her.
“Ready for what, Mother?” Rose responded in confusion. She had no idea what her mother was referring to.
“For Lord Rockgonie’s arrival, of course,” her mother responded in shock. “Didn’t you get the note and his letter that your father left you? The Earl is calling on you this afternoon.”
With the anticipation and resulting mayhem from reading the Marquess’ letter, she had totally forgotten about Lord Rockgonie’s appointment with her today. She hadn’t even gotten around to reading his letter.
Her head and shoulders dropped in depression.
“I do not want to see him, Mother,” she said after a brief pause. She didn’t think she had the strength to deal with the Earl today.
Not today. Not any other day.
When there was no response, she raised her head to see the look of shock plastered on her mother’s face.
“Mother, did you hear me? I said that I do not want to see him,” she repeated. This time, however, she got a response. And it was one she hadn’t expected.
“Stop this foolishness this instant,” her mother thundered, towering over her. “What do you mean? You want to destroy your father’s efforts?” her mother continued.
“I do not want this, Mother. You and Father have clearly not taken my wishes into consideration. Both of you do not care for how I feel,” she protested, bursting into tears from being overwhelmed by everything.
Her grief at the Marquess’ letter also came rushing to the surface. She placed her head in her hands and sobbed lightly at the hopelessness she felt. All she wanted to do was run into the arms of Lord Walsrock and be comforted.
“How you feel? Enough of this foolishness, daughter. You are no longer a child. Conduct yourself like the lady that you are.”
Her head came up at her mother’s rebuke to find the lady turning red in fury.
“I have indulged your opinions and excesses for far too long and I have no one but your father to blame for letting you get away with just about anything. You concern yourself with gentlemen’s matters while entertaining fantasies that should best be left as dreams. And in all this, you have forgotten your place or what is required of you as a lady.”
Behind her mother, she could see Elsa shifting uncomfortably. It was obvious her lady’s maid would have preferred to be anywhere else but here at this moment.
“Your father and I have gone to lengths to find you a suitor and save you from the shame of spinsterhood and what do we get in return? Sadness! Tears! Resistance! Ingratitude!” her mother continued with her tirade.
She could do nothing but watch as her mother continued to rebuke her.
“This foolishness can no longer be tolerated. Get up and get yourself ready to answer the Earl when he comes calling. And let this be the last time you make mention of such nonsense,” her mother said.
Her mother turned to face Elsa and barked out an order. “Assist your Lady in her preparations. Lord Rockgonie will be here soon and she must be ready by the time he arrives.”
“Yes, My Lady,” Elsa curtsied in response.
Lady Somerholm turned back to face Rose one more time.
“You are courting and getting married to the Earl. I suggest you begin to make peace with this fact because it is not going to change. Not while I have anything to say about it,” her mother bellowed.
Lady Somerholm turned then and began heading for the door, causing Elsa to step to the side away from her path. She paused midstride as something on the ground caught her eye.
“What is that?” she remarked, pointing to a folded piece of paper on the floor.
Rose’s gaze followed the direction her mother’s hand pointed. There was a brief confusion which cleared in a moment as realization dawned on her.
My letter to the Marquess.
Her heart skipped several beats. In Elsa’s uncomfortable shuffling, the letter must have fallen out to the floor from where she’d tucked it under her garment earlier.
If her mother discovered the contents of the letter and her correspondence with the Marquess, all hell was going to break lose. Her dread drove her to her feet.
“It’s a letter from my mot
her, My Lady,” Elsa replied instantly, bending over to pick it up. “She isn’t feeling well and has requested that I come see her at my earliest convenience.”
Her mother stared at Elsa for a brief moment which seemed like an eternity to Rose. Satisfied with the maid’s response, she spoke.
“You can go see your mother tonight when your Lady retires to bed. Do make sure, however, that you are back in the morning, all right?” her mother responded.
“Thank you, My Lady,” Elsa responded in feigned gratitude for Lady Somerholm’s generous consideration. Rose, on the other hand, fought the urge to heave a huge sigh of relief by pursing her lips.
With her directive made, Lady Somerholm resumed walking and finally left the chamber.
As soon as the door was shut, Rose let out the sigh of relief that she had held in. It materialized as a low whistle.
When her eyes made contact with Elsa’s, nervous laughter began to spread between them.
“Oh, my!” Rose exclaimed.
Chapter Ten
Kenneth stared out the window of the study at the meadows below. There were a few servants scurrying about their business in the distance even as his mind wandered, paying no attention to the little details in front of him.
It was evening and the sun was in the final stages of its journey, heading toward the horizon.
His hands where clasped behind him as he stood akimbo, his mind a million miles away.
He’d dismissed his valet hours earlier as he’d craved to be alone and undisturbed, his mind still reeling from yesterday’s events at parliament and at the gentlemen’s club.
Future son-in-law?
He began relieving the experience at the club all over again, as he had done on many occasions since last night.
When the Earl of Rockgonie had walked in, Lord Somerholm had greeted him heartily with the tag of future son-in-law.
At first he had thought his ears and mind were playing tricks on him, but as he listened further to their conversation, he realized that this was no mind game. The love of his life was betrothed to his peer. And what was worse, was that she had kept this from him.
Both Lords had gone on talking and he listened, as Lord Rockgonie had gone on to apologize for his absence at the ball. The way and manner he’d done so, suggested that this wasn’t the first time he was apologizing for it.
His words also suggested that there had been a plan to announce their betrothal to London’s high society at the ball, the same ball in which he’d danced with her twice.
So that’s why she wasn’t dancing with anyone. She was waiting for her betrothed.
He and Rockgonie needed no introduction as the Earl was one of the silent opposition members he had in parliament, even though Rockgonie’s support earlier had caught him completely unaware.
Yet, Lord Somerholm paused in the middle of their conversation to introduce Rockgonie to him with the news of him being betrothed to his daughter, Lady Rose. The Earl of Somerholm was delighted.
Any other iota of doubt he still held on to was shattered in that instant. As he uttered his congratulations with as fake an excitement as he could muster, he felt his heart sinking.
She lied to me.
“I was thinking of calling on Lady Rose tomorrow afternoon and came over here to seek your approval.” Lord Rockgonie had gone on to say to Rose’s father, as soon as he was done receiving Kenneth’s felicitations.
“That would be splendid. Not the first meeting we had hoped for, but one that is equally convenient. Just write a letter that I will leave for her to prepare her for your arrival,” Lord Somerholm had said with glee.
Rockgonie had gone on to accept Somerholm’s conditions before Kenneth had decided that he had seen and heard enough for one day.
He’d excused himself from the conversation under the pretext of going to get some air.
“Leaving so soon?” Lord Calbrook had asked from his game of quinze, his mood already in danger of turning foul.
“Just stepping outside for a bit,” Kenneth had responded and continued his exit as quickly as he could before another Lord could succeed in stopping him in his tracks.
By the time he got out of the club and into his curricle, the rage at what Rose had done consumed him. He’d managed to stay in control of his rage till he got back to the manor and into his bedroom.
And still her deceit had haunted him all night and well into this morning.
At some point during the night, he’d even wondered whether this had all been a ploy by her and her father to ruin his reputation. Ensnare him with her wiles and charms and get him to be discovered in a compromising and messy situation. London’s grapevines would have been agog with the gossip and his reputation would most definitely have been ruined beyond repair.
He’d ultimately decided that wasn’t the case, as there was no credible logic that would have supported such an action. An attack of such nature at him would have left her reputation in tatters as well, thus making it impossible that this had been their plan all along.
Eventually, with nothing else to go on, he’d made the decision to write the letter and absolve himself of any knowledge of her deceit in case news of their brief romance ever came to light.
The truth was that he had not known Lady Rose was betrothed. If news got out about their correspondence, he was most likely going to be hounded by society like she was. He couldn’t afford that. He was not going to go down with her if their correspondence was ever discovered.
The pain still tugged at his chest as he scribbled down words. Finally, on his fourth attempt, with discarded papers strewn all about the table, he figured he’d written the letter as perfectly as he could.
He’d dispatched Leonard almost immediately and was in the study when Leonard had returned with the news that he’d handed the letter over to the lady’s maid.
It was then he’d told his valet to leave him be with his thoughts for the rest of the day. There had been a little protest from Leonard, but ultimately he had prevailed on that debate.
And now, hours later, he was standing at the window and still having his thoughts run wild.
“Would you spare a moment to talk to your Mother, perhaps?”
His mother’s voice behind him stunned him out of his reverie. He spun on his feet instantly to face the Duchess, who had walked in on him.
“Mother!”
“I hear you’ve been walking around in a daze since yesterday as a result of the outcome of your bill in parliament,” his mother said, walking toward him at the window.
“Where did you hear that?” he asked.
“I am the mistress of this manor, Son. I hear everything that goes on within these walls. Nothing escapes my attention,” she responded, as she arrived at his side.
The look he saw in her eyes was one of pure concern. His mother was worried about him. With all his engagements and busy schedule, it had been a while since they’d settled down to talk. It had also been a while since he’d seen that look of worry in her eyes.
“I’ll be fine, Mother. It’s nothing I cannot handle,” he responded in soft defiance.
“You do not have to pretend to be strong to me, Son. I am well aware of your strength and capabilities and most certainly do not doubt them. However, even strong people have their own moments of weakness. It doesn’t make them weaklings. It only makes them human.” She finished her sentence and placed her hands gently on his arms.
One more look into her eyes and he began venting. She just stood there looking at him and stroking his arm in solidarity while he ranted on about everything that had happened in parliament yesterday.
“And if that wasn’t enough…” he paused himself in the nick of time and sighed, before he began talking about his adventure with Lord Somerholm’s daughter.
Unfortunately, his mother had picked up on the unfinished statement.
“What else?” she asked.
“Nothing, Mother,” he said after a beat. “Yesterday just didn’t go as ant
icipated.”
“Well, you do know you can tell me about the lady as well, right?” she said in response.
Kenneth’s mind went blank with shock. He was able to conceal the expression on his face, however, revealing nothing of the dread that was brewing within.
Does she know?
Was it possible that his mother knew about his correspondence with Lord Somerholm’s daughter?
There is no way she could have found out. Or is there?
A Ravishing Lady For The Rebellious Marquess (Steamy Historical Regency Romance) Page 8