“He offered to release you?” Lily looked puzzled. “But you’re still betrothed—aren’t you?”

Rose exchanged a knowing glance with her sister. “Yes, George, why is that?”

“Ohhhh,” Lily said on a long note of discovery. “You like the duke, George.”

“I do not,” George said emphatically. “He’s arrogant, high-handed and bossy. He thinks he knows what’s best for everyone, and he does what he wants and everyone else has to jump to his command.”

Lily gave her a considering look. “That’s quite a list. What do you think, Rose?”

Rose said archly, “Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”

George continued, “He’s selfish and closed-up”—she tried to think of more grievances she had against the duke—“and he’s possessive. When he thought I’d run away to Bath—I’d gone with Aunt Dottie—he came chasing after me and ordered me into his own carriage—even though I was already on my way back to London.”

“He thought you’d run away?” Rose echoed.

“Yes, with a rake.”

“Which rake? Do you even know any rakes?” Rose asked. George ignored her.

Lily said thoughtfully, “Possessive? I rather like the thought of possessive.”

“You can have it, then,” George retorted. She was feeling oddly defensive. “I don’t like it. It makes me feel . . . I don’t know, trapped.” Though that wasn’t quite the word. “I need to be free.”

“And yet when he offered you your freedom, you chose to remain betrothed,” Lily pointed out. “Why was that?”

“Yes, George, dear,” Rose cooed. “Why was that?”

George pondered the question. Truth to tell, she still wasn’t quite sure why she’d allowed the betrothal to stand when she’d been offered a clear way out. She gave an awkward shrug and wished she’d never begun this conversation. It was taking her into uncomfortable depths.

“I suppose I was used to it by then. I didn’t want to make a fuss.”

Rose burst out laughing. “Not want to make a fuss? You? You’ll have to do better than that, George, dearest. This is us, recall? We know you.”

“All right, then,” she said grumpily, “I decided I want a baby.”

“Well, of course you do. We all do, especially after seeing Emm’s darling little boy. Isn’t little Bertie just adorable?” Lily gushed. “Those big bright eyes.”

“No, it doesn’t wash,” Rose said. “If it was just the matter of a baby, George could have chosen any one of the perfectly nice—and easy to control—men who’ve been mooning after her all season. It doesn’t explain why she stayed betrothed to the duke—seeing she ‘dislikes’ him so much. Or claims to.”

“There’s the kissing,” Lily suggested. “Remember, when he kisses her, her knees turn to jelly.”

“How do you—? They do not!” George protested.