As Hetty helped her into the elegant creation, Natalie reflected that the maid seemed content with her life. Perhaps English commoners weren’t necessarily unhappy with the class system here. Though they’d never become nobles, they could still improve their situation through hard work as Hetty had done. In that sense, they were no different from the less fortunate in America.

“Lud, you’ll be the prettiest lady tonight. Come and see, miss. Won’t His Grace be pleased?”

Walking toward the mirror, Natalie bit her lip to stop a denial that the duke would have any particular interest in her appearance. It would be useless to prevaricate when the truth must be obvious to the entire household. Although no one knew of the intimate night that she and Hadrian had shared, he had appointed himself her devoted companion, escorting her and Leo to Astley’s Circus to see the performing horses, to the Tower to view the menagerie of wild animals, to the Thames for a boat ride. They had gone riding in Hyde Park, sometimes with Leo, though often just the two of them, early in the morning when they could enjoy an exhilarating gallop. Hadrian also had convinced her on several occasions to join his mother and a small party of guests for dinner in order for Natalie to meet select members of the ton so that she wouldn’t face a vast sea of strangers tonight.

He was courting her, she knew with a certainty that touched her heart. She had let herself be persuaded to put off a final decision about the marriage until after the ball. And he had made it clear that it was too risky for them to share a bed again without a betrothal. Pregnancy would compel her into wedlock, for neither would he abandon his child to bastardy.

Nevertheless, three days after their tryst, she’d mourned the onset of her courses. It made no sense, for she ought to have been thankful. Instead of making matters clearer, their assignation had only caused a bigger tangle of her thoughts and emotions. He had never spoken of love, and at times, she wondered if he kept the deepest part of himself hidden from her. There seemed to be an elusive missing piece in their relationship, something that made her hesitate to commit herself.

Yet there could be no doubt that he cared for her. Or that she craved him more than ever. Hadrian was everything a woman could want in a husband: considerate, witty, sincere, protective, exciting.

Alas, he was also an English duke.

How different things would be if he were a commoner. Then she could coax him to emigrate to America, where they could live happily ever after as husband and wife. But that was a foolish dream, for he would not be the same man. His high rank had created the circumstances that had shaped his character—inheriting the dukedom at age five, growing up under Lord Godwin’s harsh tutelage, being denied his mother’s love and companionship …