It wouldn’t be long before her disappearance from the ballroom would be noticed, but another maid had been instructed to inform Lord Daley had she had retired with a megrim. The young man could be counted upon to spread the news faster than a fishwife in the local market. With luck, the hard-to-fool duke would assume that she’d gone to bed, and Rawley would confirm her malady, if necessary.

“So the Duke of Thornbury?” Cora asked.

Bronwyn jumped as if the utterance of his name could summon him like the unholy wraith he was and met her maid’s eyes. “What about him?” she mumbled.

“You like him,” the maid said pointedly. “You’ve always held a tendre for him since last season and this is the most time you’ve spent in his presence, and he’s no longer married.”

Bronwyn opened her mouth and shut it. It was impractical to argue. Cora had been with her so long that, of course, she would know of her adolescent infatuation. Bronwyn had doodled the man’s name many a time in her private journal. It was beyond infatuation now, however. She had coupled with the man. Her feelings were complicated.

“He has…other interests,” she said.

Like his duty and locking up the Kestrel.

“What happened between the two of you?” Cora asked. “Noel seemed to think there might be an announcement at first, when we left England, and then in the last few days on the return, it was the opposite.”

The breath left her in a whoosh. “An announcement?”

Cora rolled her eyes, a smirk overtaking her lips. “That man devours you with his eyes when he thinks no one is looking. I’ve watched the two of you dance around each other for days. There’s something between you. Even the hardiest cynic could see it.”

The feeling squeezing her heart spread to the rest of her body. Bronwyn felt guilty for running, but it was clear that the man was married to his duty, even though he was supposed to be retired from his position. His desire for her was caught up on his desire to apprehend his target. “It’s too hard to explain or to make sense of,” she whispered. “A convoluted mess.”

The coach rolled to a hard stop, making them both gasp, and the door was opened by the coachman. “Come now, my lady,” he said, putting out the stool.