“I can imagine red,” Violet said in her practical way, “but what I cannot imagine is Mum allowing you to retrieve this gown without her.”
Rose turned so Madame could detach the stomacher. “Rowan was very ill. She’d seen the gown already for three fittings. And it’s not as though I had to come alone. I have you two.” She glanced over her shoulder and smiled.
Violet snorted. “This is the second time within a week you’ve dragged me out overnight. Ford is going to be very relieved when you’re finally married.”
“Rand, too,” Lily put in. “He had to travel back to Oxford all by himself.”
“Good God, he’s a grown man.” Rose carefully stepped out of the gown. “You two cannot fool me. I know you’re having the time of your lives on these adventures.”
Now both her sisters snorted.
Minutes later, a footman carried the boxed gown to the Trentingham carriage. “The Strand,” Rose told the driver.
“If you wish to visit the shops,” Lily said, scooping up her cat as she climbed in, “the Royal Exchange would be better.”
Rose pulled a scrap of paper from her purse to check the name and direction. “I wish to visit Abrahamson & Company, the Strand near Charing Cross.”
When the door shut behind them, Violet snatched the paper out of her hand. “Goldsmiths? You want to buy some jewelry?”
“No. Mr. Abrahamson has my money.”
“I knew that name was familiar.” Lily stroked her cat. “He’s the man Father sent a letter to when I needed my inheritance.”
“Oh, that’s right.” Violet focused on Rose. “Why do you want money?”
“It’s my money. Does it matter?”
Violet and Lily shared a look but dropped the subject until a while later, when Rose came out of the goldsmith’s shop with a bag so heavy she could barely support its weight. She climbed back into the carriage and dropped it to the floorboards with a thud, dropping herself onto the bench seat with a “Whew.”
“How much money is that?” Lily asked.
Rose ignored the question, instead looking to the footman. “Windsor,” she ordered.
“Windsor?” Violet’s jaw dropped open. “You told Mum we would stay at the town house tonight. I heard you with my own ears.”
“Well, I wasn’t about to tell her I’m spending the night with Kit.” She hadn’t planned to from the outset, but when the combination of Rowan’s deception and collecting her sisters resulted in a late start that would make an overnight stay necessary, it had occurred to her that she could spend that night with Kit.
An unexpected bonus, and one to which she was very much looking forward.
“Windsor,” she repeated, settling back as the footman closed the door. It would be a lengthy ride, but toward Trentingham, after all, so her sisters had no real reason to protest. They’d arrive at their respective homes earlier tomorrow than if they’d stayed the night in London.
Lily toed the heavy bag with one red-heeled shoe. “How much money?”
There was no point in lying. “A thousand pounds. Do you know, I had no idea how heavy—”
“A thousand pounds?” Violet’s eyes widened behind her spectacles. “Egad. Whatever will you do with all that money?”
“I’m giving it to Ellen. Kit’s sister.”
“What?” both her sisters burst out. The cat jumped from Lily’s lap and cowered under a bench seat.
“I’d planned to give Ellen all ten thousand, but the goldsmith convinced me it would be too much to carry.” Rose rolled her shoulders, still feeling the strain. “So I’m giving her just the thousand with a note from Mr. Abrahamson promising the rest is forthcoming.”
Violet slumped against the coach wall. “You’re giving Ellen Martyn ten thousand pounds.”
“Ellen Whittingham. And I’m telling her it’s from Kit. At least I hope she’ll believe it’s from Kit. He had promised her eleven—”
“Are you out of your mind?” Lily interrupted.
“Yes,” Violet snapped at the same time Rose said, “No.”
“It’s Ellen who’s lost her mind,” she continued and proceeded to tell her sisters the long, sad story. “Can’t you see?” she concluded. “I think her pregnancy must be affecting her brain.”
Violet shook her head. “I never felt better than when I was carrying my children.”
“Not everyone is so lucky. When Mum’s maid Anne was last with child, she was always at sixes and sevens. Practically useless, but as soon as—”
“Have you considered,” Lily broke in, “that Ellen might simply be a spoiled brat?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I have. But Kit is perplexed and hurt, and I believe if she’d been like this always, he’d be exasperated and angry instead. And Ellen is really nice. Mum quite likes her.”
Violet took off her spectacles and polished them on her skirts. “And you believe Kit is totally blameless in this?”
“Of course he isn’t. In his own way he’s as stubborn as his sister. But I cannot blame him for the way he feels, and I cannot stand to see him so unhappy. It’s like a dark cloud hanging over my wedding. The only way to solve this is to give Ellen my inheritance and make her think the money came from Kit. Then she’ll talk to him and everyone will be happy.”
Lily scooped up the cat again. “But you’ll have given up your inheritance!”
“Don’t be a goose. Kit will replace it. If Ellen would only speak to him again, he’d be happy enough to hand over her dowry.”
“Has he said so?”
“Not in so many words. But I know him,” she added, lifting her chin.
“You cannot know him.” The poor cat let out a pathetic meow as Lily clutched it tighter. “You haven’t lived with him for even a single day. Goodness, I’ve been married to Rand nearly two months now, and he surprises me all the time.”
Violet slid her spectacles back on. “I’ve been living with Ford for four years, and sometimes I still wonder—”
“I know Kit,” Rose repeated. “No matter that he hasn’t said so, there’s no chance he meant to keep that money from his sister forever. Why should it matter whether
