You make hats, her inner voice said. The nicest wardrobe, the biggest house, will not change who you be. Charles will never marry you.
“You are brooding,” he said.
She looked over to see him smiling, as if he knew how peculiar it was for him to make that accusation instead of receive it. She had to laugh.
“Let me see if I can guess what occupies you.” He leaned forward and looked into her eyes in that disconcerting, piercing way of his. “You are thinking that you will hold her back, no matter what you do for her.”
It touched her that he guessed. That he knew. She could not agree and keep her composure, so she only looked back at him. That connected gaze and their close proximity sent a little buzz to humming through her.
“It is not so hard to imitate a lady. It merely takes a bit of practice. Such a change does not make you one, but it prevents people from marking you otherwise too, until they know your history.” A slow smile broke. “Even that has been known to be altered.”
What an astonishing suggestion. It was too late to create a new history for herself with regard to Charles and his family, but for her sister’s sake—
“Chase? Is that you in there?” The woman’s voice all but shouted in Rosamund’s ear. She looked over to see another coach so close that she could serve coffee to its inhabitants.
“No, that’s Kevin,” a younger voice said. “Kevin, how odd to see you here. You never come to the park at this hour.”
Two women’s faces filled the other carriage’s window. An older woman with dark hair squinted to see Kevin. A younger woman with blond hair looked directly at Rosamund herself. They both wore bonnets that did not flatter them, in Rosamund’s opinion. Expensive, though. She took note of the intricate pleating on the underside of the dark-haired woman’s brim.
Across from her, Kevin stifled a groan. He slid to the window. “Aunt Agnes. You are looking well.”
“You are probably shocked to see I am alive. It isn’t as if you ever call when you are in Town.”
“I have been very busy.”
Her gaze shifted from him to where Rosamund sat. “I can see. Isn’t that Chase’s coach?”
“It is. I am escorting one of his houseguests this afternoon.”
“Are you going to introduce her? Bad enough you have reduced yourself to trade, but must you also adopt the rude behavior of your fellow tradesmen?”
Rosamund saw how Kevin’s smile formed a thin line. He looked back at her with something akin to an apology. “Aunt Agnes, Felicity, may I introduce you to Miss Jameson? Miss Jameson, this is my aunt, Lady Agnes Radnor, and my cousin’s wife, Mrs. Walter Radnor.”
Two frowns. Two pensive faces. Then two startled expressions turned to each other. “Did you hear, Felicity? That is Rosamund Jameson,” Lady Agnes said.
“I heard. Oh my.” The younger woman stared hard at Rosamund. “Oh my.”
“How dare Chase not inform us all that she has been found?” Lady Agnes said loudly.
“You will have to ask him,” Kevin said. “Now, we are due back at his house—”
“Nonsense. Stop that carriage so I can make Miss Jameson’s acquaintance.” Lady Agnes loudly ordered her own carriage to pull out of the stream. “A whole year we have been waiting. I had come to believe she would never be found. Dolores will be—well, shocked to say the least.”
Kevin cursed under his breath. “There is nothing else for it now. Allow me to apologize in advance, Miss Jameson.” He shot open the carriage trap door to give the coachman directions to turn out of the line at once.
“Must we do this?” Rosamund asked while the carriage maneuvered to a place to stop.
“Why would they want to talk with me? Lady Agnes did not look happy even to see me.”
“My aunt never loses an opportunity to feed her own bitterness.” He opened the door and stepped out, then offered her his hand.
She climbed down, then set her skirt to rights. “I don’t understand.”
He scratched the side of his head. “The thing is this. If you had never been found, eventually your inheritance would have been split up among all of us.”
In other words, the whole family had been hoping she was dead.
* * *
After examining her from head to toe, Lady Agnes deigned to speak. “Well, Miss Jameson, it took long enough to find you.”
“Had I known a fortune waited, I would have been found sooner.”
“Indeed.” Again that long inspection. Her expression said she was not impressed. Rosamund noticed those eyes narrow and pause on her bonnet. Too good for such as her, those eyes said.
“She lives in Richmond,” Kevin said. “Hence the delay. She never saw the notices in the London papers.”
“The major papers can be had all over England,” Lady Agnes said.
“I suppose if someone hopes to inherit an unexpected fortune from a stranger, that person would arrange to procure and read every edition,” Kevin said. “Miss Jameson is not that person, it appears.”
His aunt was no fool and knew he was mocking her. A nasty glare flamed above her pursed smile. “Apparently not. You are rather old to be unmarried, Miss Jameson. Considering that there is little to complain of in your appearance, I find that most odd.”
“Aunt Agnes,” Kevin admonished.
“I have been devoting meself to other things, Lady Agnes,” Rosamund said. “I’ve a millinery shop that requires attention. Looking for a husband has fallen aside as a result.”
“A shop girl. Well. Did it not astonish you to discover the duke’s bequest? It was certainly most peculiar to us.”
“To me as well. I scarcely knew him.”
Deep, penetrating inspection now. “And how, may I ask, did you scarcely know him?”
“No, you may not ask,” Kevin said. “Let us all take a turn before Miss Jameson decides the entire Radnor family is odder than the bequest.” He turned with deliberation and stared at his aunt until she fell into step with him.
That left Rosamund walking beside the younger woman named Felicity, who was the wife of one of Kevin’s cousins. She was a pretty woman, with fragile features. She reminded Rosamund of those little china sculptures, the ones that always had tiny, pointed noses and blank, blue eyes.
“That is a very handsome bonnet you are wearing,” Felicity said.
Rosamund immediately felt guilty for her unkind thoughts. “Thank you. I made it meself.”
“What a talented person you are! Of course . . . you won’t have to make your own anymore, will you?”
“Oh, but I want to. It is me trade.”
Felicity laughed. “Come now. With your fortune you can purchase any hats or wardrobe you want for yourself and can give up being in trade altogether.”
“I don’t think so. I enjoy it too much.”
Felicity blinked hard.
“How sad that you are unmarried as yet. I expect that will be quickly remedied.”
“The solicitor warned me about fortune hunters. I think it be best to avoid them, don’t you?”
“It depends on their own fortunes.” She slowed her pace, dragging Rosamund back with her. “Kevin has probably been rude about part of that inheritance. I would apologize for him, but I have given up doing so. Although this one time it is perhaps understandable. He didn’t care about the money, you see. Only that invention, and that the duke left half of it to a stranger.”