Page 45 of Surrender to the Earl (Brides of Redemption #2)

All of these thoughts were on her mind when a boldly handsome man stepped into her path and forced her to come up short in surprise.

Though he was tall, it was not his height that was overwhelming; it was his very presence, as if he knew he commanded attention and used that to his advantage.

He wore snug trousers, polished boots, and an expensively tailored greatcoat that she suspected did not need padding in the shoulders.

To her surprise, he doffed his top hat and gave her a brief bow, which so shocked her that she almost turned around to see if someone stood just behind.

He had light brown hair that could almost be called sandy, tousled artfully by the wind.

His chiseled face had harsh lines where a woman’s would have soft curves, a nose that commanded attention, and lines about his eyes as if he smiled much of the time.

Those eyes were blue and alive with interest and amusement as they took all of her in.

She hugged her cloak tightly, and though she was far too curious, she attempted to move around him. “Excuse me, my lord.” For he had to be a peer, of that she had no doubt.

He grinned. “Miss Faith Cooper, I believe?”

She drew herself up, forcing down a frisson of nerves. “We have not been introduced, sir. This is most improper. Please step aside.”

“Then allow me to introduce myself. I am Rothford. Have you by chance heard of me?”

In that moment of charged expectation, she thought she sensed a faint feeling of uncertainty emanating from him, but that had to be wrong. For he was Rothford—the Duke of Rothford—and such a man was at the top of the social ladder, of the House of Lords, and even of life itself.

She sank into a curtsy but could not resist glancing up beneath her lashes to stare at him once again. Why was such a man introducing himself to a lady’s companion? “Your Grace, surely you have me confused with someone else.”

“You are Miss Cooper?”

“Yes, but … why would you know of me? I am newly arrived in London with my employer and his family.”

She glanced around, certain that people must be staring. Strangely, the two of them seemed to be almost alone on this path. And since he knew of her, this could not be accidental.

“I have made it my business to find you, Miss Cooper,” he said, still in that amiable tone of voice.

He came no closer, so she did not feel she had to run, but could only stare at him with growing confusion. “To find me, Your Grace? But why?”

“I served in the Eighth Dragoon Guards with your brother.”

His voice gentled with regret and sorrow.

Faith inhaled at the twin stabs of grief and frustration that always battled within her.

Mathias’s death more than two and a half years ago had stripped away the one source of income she and her mother had lived on.

And then memories of her brother’s rare letters flooded back.

He’d mentioned the duke by name more than once.

“I see by your expression that I have the correct Miss Cooper,” the duke said kindly.

“I have spent the six months since my return from India looking for you. I knew the northern shire Cooper was from, but not the parish, and it took some time for my man to locate your village. But of course, you were already gone.”

Her village? she thought, as a cold shiver of wind seeped inside her cloak. What had he heard about her there?

“I offer you no cause for alarm,” he insisted.

She schooled her features into impassivity, something she was usually so good at. “You have confronted me in a public park, Your Grace. That is suspicious enough.”

“True,” he said with regret. “But once I discovered your place of employment, I thought it would seem unusual if I were to call upon a woman employed by Lord Warburton. Would you have preferred that?”

His tone was wry, and she knew he teased her.

“Such behavior on your part could very well have jeopardized my position,” she responded coolly. “But so can meeting a man alone in Hyde Park.”

He looked around. “I did not think we’d be quite so solitary, that’s true.”

“Then let us be brief. You have not answered my question, Your Grace. Why have you been looking for me?”

“To offer my condolences, of course.”

She blinked at him. “You could have written a letter.”

The warmth in his eyes faded into sobriety. “That would be far too easy, Miss Cooper, and in no way respectful to the memory of your brother. We served together, and I was lucky enough to survive. Sometimes I believe I’m too lucky,” he added with faint sarcasm.

Faith could only stare at him. Whatever was he talking about? Why would a peer question the blessings in his life while blindly risking her very reputation? “Thank you for your kind thoughts, sir. If that is all …” She gathered her skirts and made to step around him.

“Wait,” he said, reaching out as if to take hold of her arm.

She pulled back, frowning, and he put up both hands.

“I don’t mean to be rude or cause you problems, Miss Cooper. In fact, I want to help. I’d like to offer my services in any way that would be beneficial to you.”

“Your services?” she echoed, almost gaping at him. This all felt so very wrong. “I need nothing from you, although I do appreciate the offer.”

She didn’t need a man to save her—that was in her past. She stood on her own now. He didn’t try to stop her as she sailed past him, head held high.

“Miss Cooper,” he called, “this will not do.”

She paused and glanced back at him over her shoulder. “It will have to, Your Grace. Any further meetings between us would be highly inappropriate and unnecessary. Thank you for your condolences. Good day.”

She walked off, her stride brisk and direct, that of an accomplished servant rather than the gentleman’s daughter she had been raised to be.

As she followed a curve in the path, she risked a look behind her.

He hadn’t followed, but he was still standing there, watching her, his expression bemused but determined.

She should probably worry about that show of determination, but couldn’t believe he was serious.

Yet her mind was flooded with curiosity. He’d been a cavalryman, she realized, her pace slowing as her mind settled. Why had a duke—or the heir to a dukedom—bought a commission in the army?

She tried to put away her interest when she reached the bench where her friends sat. Their expressions lightened with welcome upon seeing her, and relief flooded through her.

They were impoverished gentlewomen just like her: Jane Ogden, with a slight limp since childhood, worked as companion to an elderly woman; and Charlotte Atherstone, a chaperone nearing her middling years and well respected for her unmatched ability to keep her charge protected, even as she guided her into a proper marriage.

Faith liked Charlotte’s work best and aspired to such a position.

It felt … motherly or sisterly to help a young lady find the perfect man, the perfect life.

It was almost what she was doing with Adelia, but she herself didn’t have the vast understanding of the peerage that Charlotte had, her own mother being so disinterested.

So they had long discussions where Charlotte talked and Jane and Faith absorbed.

Relationships among the peerage could be so complicated, but it was the sort of puzzle Faith enjoyed.

They all had the same afternoon off each week, Wednesday, and had randomly met in Hyde Park when a chill wind had blown off Charlotte’s bonnet, and the younger two women had ended up chasing it.

It had been refreshing for all of them to meet like-minded souls.

Though they’d only met two months before, they felt almost as close as sisters.

Charlotte smiled serenely as Faith approached. “We feared we would not see you today. So Miss Warburton could do without you after all.”

Faith sat down on the same bench as the two women, trying hard not to look back the way she’d come. If the duke had followed her, she didn’t want to call attention to him—and surely he wouldn’t approach her in front of witnesses.

“Miss Warburton is attending a musicale at her aunt’s this afternoon,” Faith said.

“Plenty of relations for her to talk to. But tonight, the family and I will be attending the Earl of Greenwich’s ball, her first engagement of this kind.

Miss Warburton is understandably excited.

I had much to prepare this morning before I could leave. ”

“You are her companion, not her lady’s maid,” Jane said disapprovingly. “I cannot believe they did not bring enough servants to London with them.”

Faith shrugged. “I am grateful for the work, even if it goes beyond what I was told. And I’ve told you how satisfying it will be to me to help the girl find maturity and happiness.”

“But without the extra salary, I’m sure,” Charlotte said, frowning.

Faith was glad for the sympathy of her friends, but she steered the conversation away.

They discussed Jane’s elderly employer having her first visit from a relative in more than a month—the three of them occasionally visited the woman together, cheering her up—and how Charlotte’s young lady had received a second inappropriate proposal that had to be turned down.

“She is devastated, of course,” Charlotte said.

“She doesn’t understand that these men are beneath the expectations of her family, beneath her in means and in placement in Society.

I heard the poor girl crying in her bed last night.

She’s afraid she will never find a husband and doesn’t want to hear that I believe she simply needs to be patient.

To a fresh young girl, who am I but an aging woman who never managed to marry? ”

Though they gave each other sympathetic nods, Faith was having a hard time concentrating. She couldn’t forget the strange meeting with the Duke of Rothford. She wanted to question her friends about him, but how to bring him up without sounding suspicious?

“Who do you think will be at the ball this early in the Season?” Faith asked, feeling foolish and curious all wrapped together. “I heard the Duke of Rothford has come to Town.” So very subtle, she told herself with an inward wince.

Charlotte stiffened. “The Duke of Rothford? What do you know about him, Faith?”

“Nothing much,” she answered truthfully.

“Though he’d been with the army in India for many years, people still whisper about the exploits of his youth,” Jane said eagerly.

Alone much of each day, Jane loved to gossip good-naturedly whenever she had the chance. But then a chaperone or companion needed to know the background of every eligible man her charge might meet.

“I forgot you have only recently come to London,” Charlotte said to Faith.

“Perhaps word did not spread so far north about the faithless young man who gambled and spent money on entire wardrobes of garments that he boasted he only wore once or twice before casting them off. He participated in drunken duels, wild horse races, and hosted legendary parties.”

Such a man had tracked down the sister of a fellow soldier to ask how he could help? It made no sense. Unless of course he had other reasons …

“And there were women,” Jane said in a breathless, low voice. “Indecent women who became his mistresses—not that he ever had one for long.”

A coldness settled deep in Faith’s bones at the thought of those desperate women cast off at the duke’s whim. “But … if he was such a wild young man, heir to the dukedom, why did he purchase a commission?”

“Because he wasn’t the heir,” Charlotte explained patiently. “He had two older brothers.”

“I’m certain his father insisted he join the army,” Jane said firmly. “How else to control such a young man? He could hardly be a minister.”

“But how did he inherit the title with two brothers ahead of him?” Faith asked.

Charlotte’s expression faded into sadness. “A truly tragic story. Last year fever swept the Chamberlin household, and both the duke and his two older sons died within hours of each other, while the youngest son was still in India.”

The three women sat quietly for a moment in solemn thought, even as birds trilled around them and distant voices were raised and lowered as if floating on the wind.

Faith understood what it was like to be told that your only sibling was dead.

But did Rothford feel the same sorrow as she?

How could he—he’d ended up with the title of duke, in control of vast estates occupying far corners of Britain and the world.

While she’d had to make a decision that banished her from home forever.