“WHO MADE THIS APPLE TART?” THE DUKE ASKED — THEN HE SAW THE WIDOW NO ONE HAD EVER THANKED

Chapter 2

She felt it land on her like a change in the weather.

Rosalind had spent eighteen months learning to make herself small in rooms. It was not a talent anyone had taught her; it was a technique she had assembled out of necessity, piece by piece, the way a woman learns to walk on ice. Lower the eyes. Soften the shoulders. Let the moment pass over you and go looking for someone more interesting.

She did all of it now, out of instinct — and it did not work.