Her resolve was rewarded when the Duke of Chalkley arrived at her home unexpectedly that afternoon. They took tea together in the drawing room, chaperoned by Rosa’s lady’s maid. Eustace wore a beautifully cut grey morning suit, the sleeves fashionably puffed at the top, along with a luxurious waterfall cravat fastened with a jewelled pin. His pale hair glinted in the afternoon sunlight slanting through the windows and when Rosa presented him with the sketches of peacocks, he gazed at them like he’d never seen a drawing of a bird before.

‘But these are extraordinary,’ he finally said, with unexpected warmth. He was usually so cool and possessed and proper – everything that an English duke should be. It was rare to hear emotion in his voice, and Rosa glowed with pleasure to hear his admiration for her skill.

‘It is nothing, your grace,’ she said modestly, waving the praise away as her mother had taught her to do. A gentleman must always be flattered and made to feel superior, wherever possible.

Eustace fixed his blue gaze on her. ‘Can you really create something so beautiful?’

‘You will have your party of peacocks before the end of the Season,’ Rosa promised.

‘I am astonished by your skill, Miss Warren,’ he said frankly. ‘Simply astonished.’

He handed the drawings back to her, and his mauve glove brushed against her hand, butter-soft. She wondered if the rumours were true that the duke changed his gloves at least five times a day, and that every pair was scented.

‘I have not come here today to discuss the garden, however,’ Eustace went on. ‘In fact I came to see your father. And I’m pleased to tell you that only a short while ago he gave me his blessing to call upon you in an official capacity.’

Any lingering thoughts of James scattered like startled birds, as Rosa clasped her hands in her lap and tried to look demure as she thanked Eustace for the honour. She could hardly believe it, but there was a duke sitting in her drawing room wanting to court her, and Rosa knew exactly what she needed to say, how she needed to behave and who she needed to be in order to successfully reel him in. If she had her way, then she would have a proposal before the year was out.

The Duchess of Chalkley …

In the weeks that followed, she took to uttering the words to herself in private at odd moments of the day, and it seemed that no orchid had ever smelled as sweet as that title tasted upon her tongue.