Lady Rosabella's Ruse - By Ann Lethbridge Page 0,93

seen a woman as determined as Lady Rosabella.’

Chapter Sixteen

For the first time in three days, Rosa felt as if she had time to think. Penelope handed her a cup of tea. ‘Everything is arranged, then?’

Rosa nodded. The solicitor had just left. Earlier a jeweller had valued the stone at ten thousand pounds. A fortune. Such a sum carefully invested in the Funds after the debts were paid would mean that she and her sisters would lack for nothing.

The best part was knowing Father had not forgotten them. Knowing his love had remained strong and true, even if the form of it had been a complete surprise. Everything had finally worked out just as it should. She should feel happy. Carefree.

She didn’t. She felt as if her heart had been torn in two and might never feel whole again. She’d let herself fall for a man without any heart at all.

She took a sip of tea. ‘Yes, that is everything.’ She managed a smile, even if it was a bit wobbly. ‘I can’t thank you and Mark enough for all your help. If there is anything I can ever do for you, please do not hesitate to ask.’

A sad little smile crossed her friend’s face. She straightened her spine. ‘I don’t think there is anything anyone can do.’

They both knew she referred to the strained relations between her and her husband.

The same fate awaited her if she married Garth. A pang of loss stopped her breath. For all that she knew the kind of man he was, she missed him. She missed his touch, and his laughter, when he wasn’t playing the cynical nobleman. She’d thought the face he showed to the world was a mask, but she’d been wrong. The charming honest man he played when he was alone with her was a front. The face he used to seduce women. The true man was the one she’d seen with his mother.

The choice was to shut him out of her life or let him break her heart over and over again. Once was enough.

Penelope put down her tea cup. ‘He came again this morning.’

Garth. No, she really must think of him as Stanford now. ‘I heard.’

‘He says he will come every day until you see him.’

‘He will be spending a great deal of time at your front door.’

‘Mark said he has something he needs to say.’

She’d heard that, too. Instinctively, her hand flattened on her stomach. She put down her cup with a sigh. ‘I suppose I should tell him myself.’ It would stop him from bothering her. It was the only reason he had for persisting in his suit and with that reason gone he could continue on his merry dissipated way.

‘It would be the kind thing to do.’

But scary. Garth was very persuasive when he had her alone. Charming and seductive. It had been that way from the first. Just hearing his voice from a distance made her insides clench and her hands tremble with longing.

Surely not? She’d had time away from him, enough distance to recognise her weakness and to come to terms with what was, rather than what she dreamed could be. He would never love her. It was not what he wanted. She was not what he wanted. Not really.

‘Next time he calls, I will see him, if you will stay with me.’

Penelope winced. ‘He won’t like it, but I will, if that is what you want.’

‘I do.’

‘When did you want to look at houses?’

Several possible properties had been brought to her attention by the lawyer Mark had retained.

‘Tomorrow. After I have seen Garth.’

‘Are you sure you do not wish to come out to dinner with us tonight?’

‘No, thank you. Your advice is wise. I should wait until next Season before going out in society. Get established. Make some morning calls with you, if you are still of a mind, and then seek a sponsor for the presentation of my sisters at court.’

‘Then you won’t mind if I leave you now to dress for dinner?’

‘Not at all. I think I will just take supper in my room and seek an early night. It has been a long and tiring few days.’

Penelope stood and leaned over her, giving her a kiss on the cheek. ‘I am so happy everything worked out so well for you. I just wish…’ She shook her head. ‘Never mind.’

She left the room in a rustle of silks.

With the owners out and supper over, the house was quiet and still. Rosa still