Read When Seducing A Duke for Free Online Page B

no matter how few regrets she had about it.
    Her mother adjusted the black silk of her skirts. She refused to come so far out of mourning as to wear any kind of color. Fortunately, she was one of those women who looked rather fetching in black, giving a kind of sad elegance to her appearance. Rose fancied not even Queen Victoria herself could find fault in her mother’s mourning of her husband. Her black hair was pulled back in a tight chignon that would have looked severe on a less striking woman. Her skin was so fair—more so than Rose, who favored her father in coloring as well as looks. And her eyes were as green as spring grass. So lovely, was her mother. It almost hurt to see her looking so happy. She deserved to be happy.
    “And what will you wear to the balls, Mama?”
    Her mother shrugged. “I’m sure I have several gowns that will suit.”
    All black. All simple and plain. Her mother wouldn’t want to be noticed, and that fact alone would garner her unwanted attention. Her looks would guarantee gentlemanly stares. Only the black armor she wore would protect her.
    Leaning across the short distance between them, she seized her mother’s hand, careful not to wake the little gray terrier snoring on the seat beside her. “You will let yourself have some fun, won’t you?”
    Smiling as only a mother indulging her child could, her mother placed her free hand over Rose’s. “Of course.” Meaning she would take the brunt of her own happiness from whatever joy Rose managed to find.
    Not that Rose should take responsibility for her mother’s happiness, of course. That wasn’t the expectation and Rose knew it, but that didn’t stop her from feeling the heaviness of the burden upon her shoulders.
    “Perhaps you could call upon some old friends,” she suggested, leaning back against the cushions as the carriage rocked, bouncing lightly over the cobblestones. “Renew old acquaintances.”
    Her mother looked vaguely surprised by the notion. “Why, yes, I suppose I could.” She smiled. “It would be lovely to see some of those ladies again.”
    The pressure around Rose’s chest eased, pressure that she hadn’t even noticed until it was gone. “I’m certain they would enjoy seeing you as well, Mama.” The ones who had been true friends would anyway. Others might care about Rose’s father’s loss of fortune and cut her mother, but there would always be those who could overlook that in favor of the Duke of Ryeton’s guardianship.
    Good lord, the list kept growing.
    Rose stretched her back. How much further was it to Ryeton House?
    Her mother must have noticed her discomfort. She cast a glance out the window at the passing scenery. “We’re almost there.”
    The next thing Rose knew, they were rolling between the thick stone columns of a gate. The wrought iron swung closed behind them, and they continued up a smooth gravel drive that led to a shady courtyard.
    Ryeton House. Her heart gave a tremulous thump against her ribs. They had arrived.
    What did she hope would happen when they entered the house? That Grey would come to meet them, realize she was his lover from the night before and fall prostrate at her feet? Maybe he would beg her to marry him as well, giving her no choice but to fully defy her father’s wishes and consent to be his wife.
    What she would truly like was to face Grey and not feel as though the world was quivering beneath her feet when he looked at her. She would like to know that the degree of emotion she felt for him could be felt for another man as well. She had to hope that was true.
    A footman in the Ryeton livery opened the door and released the steps for them, then reached in a gloved hand to help first her mother, then Rose from the carriage. Her mother held Maurice, the terrier, against her chest as she stepped out into the afternoon air.
    Rose followed. The air was reasonably fresh compared to the stuffiness of the carriage, but not as sweet as she was used to in Kent. Still,