Page 96 of His Grace, the Duke
She tried to give him a reassuring smile, even as her pulse raced. Something was wrong with James. He wouldn’t make this kind of show otherwise. Something was definitely wrong, and she desperately needed to know what it was.
“I’ll be fine,” she murmured.
Giving them both a last look, Burke dropped her arm and stalked off after the retreating dinner crowd.
Wasting no time, James held out his hand. “Come with me.”
45
Rosalie
Rosalie followed atJames’ side as he led her down a back hallway of the house. It was clear he wanted to get as far from the dining room as possible. “Where are we going?”
“In here,” he replied.
She gasped as he turned sharply to the right and opened a door, leading her into a small, unused parlor. It was dark inside, the curtains shut tight, and the furniture covered with white sheets. James walked over to the window and tugged back one of the curtains enough to let autumn moonlight filter into the room. It gave all the white sheets an odd, silvery sheen.
Rosalie suppressed a shiver that raised gooseflesh down her arms. She wasn’t dressed for autumn without a fire. She wore only a red satin evening gown. The cut was such that she wore no chemise, only half stays and a pair of silk drawers over her stockings.
James stepped past her over to the fireplace. After a moment, a little pop of yellow flame danced to life on the tip of a taper, and he lit a few candles. The mirror hanging abovethe fireplace reflected the light, making the room glow a little brighter.
“Could we light a proper fire?” she murmured, giving her evening gloves a little tug at each elbow.
“It’s not set for a blaze,” he replied. Instead, he shrugged out of his evening coat, handing it out to her.
She kept her arms crossed. “I’ll be fine.”
“Don’t be stubborn,” he growled.
“If I’m about to be excoriated for something, I’d rather not be wrapped in the comfort of your coat.”
He tossed the coat on the back of one of the sheet-wrapped chairs. “I don’t want to fight. I just need us to talk with no prying eyes or ears.”
“Then talk,” she pleaded. “I can’t stand this. Are you angry, are you not? Am I sorry, am I not? Are we fighting, are we not? I’m exhausted. Please, justtalkto me.”
He reached into the “V” of his waistcoat and pulled out a stack of letters. He set the stack down on the edge of the side table.
She glanced down at them, a shiver of warning racing down her spine. She recognized the blue ribbon tying the offensive little bundle together. Her heart thundered in her ears as she gripped the back of the closest chair. “Did you—”
“No, Rosalie. I did not rifle through your things.” He pointed at the stack. “This was all George.”
Relief was quickly replaced by annoyance. “Why would he go through my things?”
“Because he has no understanding of the laws that protect for things like personal property.” He raised his eyes to her, his gaze sharp as glass. “And because, like me, he knows there are things you are keeping from us.”
“James—”
He took a step closer. “Why did my mother pay all your family’s debts? She spent seventeen thousand pounds without asking me. I need to understand why.”
Seventeen thousand?Heavens, the duchess never told her the actual figure, and Rosalie had been too much of a coward to look. She gripped tighter to the chair in front of her as hot tears of shame burned in her eyes. “James... I’m so sorry.”
“I don’t want apologies, I want an explanation,” he growled, taking another step closer. “On my watch, my family estate hemorrhaged seventeen thousand pounds. I have to understand why. Please, Rosalie... tell me something.”
“I didn’t know the full figure,” she whispered. “I couldn’t bear to know.” She paused, desperately trying not to break. “You’ve read them?”
“Not all of them.”
“But you read enough...” He gave a slow nod.
