Page 51 of Claws and Contrivances
Mr Aubrey didn’t respond to the suggestion. By now, though, Rose had learned enough about his quiet stubbornness that she wasn’t even slightly surprised that when they reached the bottom of the stairs and she turned in the direction of the pantry, his footsteps followed close behind.
With Carys still close enough to overhear, Rose kept her mouth firmly closed ... but her own steps quickened into a purposeful stride as she formulated her plan and argument. She waited until they’d passed through enough doors in the maze of low-ceilinged rooms to ensure privacy and then came to a firm halt, ready to set out all of the rational and logical reasons why they should separate and split the search between them.
Mr Aubrey spoke before she could begin. “Please forgive me.”
His words were simple, but the sincerity behind them was unmistakable. Caught off guard by the rawness of his tone, Rose made the fatal error of turning and looking up to meet his intent gaze.
She couldn’t look away.
“I could see that you were distressed,” he said, “and you had every right to be. Please believe that it was deeply painful not to be able to share the full facts as I understood them with you. I should have infinitely preferred to disclose everything from the start – even more so once we found that fourth empty cage today.”
“Never mind.” Rose tried for a bright, dismissive tone. It sounded tinny in her own ears, but she forged on nonetheless. “I understand you’d made a commitment to my uncle, and it isn’t as though you owe any special faith to me.” Her smile slipped as her throat tightened. “I am quite aware that our betrothal is a sham.”
His frown deepened. “I believe it is legally binding, actually. Until you choose to call it off—”
“That is not the point.” Still, she had to swallow down a jolt of panic at the unwanted reminder. How much time did she have left to think up an escape route for both of them before Aunt Parry ordered the banns to be read? Eleven more days.
She would do it, somehow. She would find a way to save him along with the dragons and Miss Thomas, and she would find a guiding purpose for her future that didn’t rely upon her aunt and uncle’s generosity.
Somehow.
“What I meant to say,” Rose continued tightly, “is that I don’t expect you to treat me with any particular consideration. Despite what everyone else may think, I am perfectly aware that I’ve foisted myself upon you ever since your arrival. You must be wishing yourself well rid of me by now.”
“Quite the contrary. Did I make you think as much?” His cravat shifted with the movement of his throat. “I know my demeanour can be ... off putting, as are my manners, but I deeply regret if I’ve ever caused you, by my words or deeds, to believe I found your company objectionable.”
“There is nothing off putting about your demeanour or your manners.” Setting aside her own concerns, Rose frowned up at him. “Simply because your mind is sometimes occupied with more important matters—”
“They aren’t more important!” he blurted and then jerked to a halt, his head physically rocking back in shock. “I mean to say ... they’ve always seemed more important than anything else. And they are deeply important to me still, of course. And yet ...!” His eyes widened and his eyebrows rose, as if he were marking some astonishing epiphany. His next words came out in a near whisper. “So are you.”
Another frozen piece of Rose’s heart melted, inexorably, at his words.
This kind, brilliant scholar found her of interest. He knew the truth about her disastrous past mistakes, and yet he still called her important to him ... and he always kept his word, no matter how painful he found it.
Rose’s chest twisted with a sudden, exquisite agony as a terrifying epiphany of her own arrived.
Over the past few days, she hadn’t merely been so reckless as to imagine a connection with this man. Apparently, she had learned nothing from her family’s downfall, after all, about the dangers of dreaming too deeply beyond the bounds of logic and common sense ...
Because she was falling hopelessly in love with him.
Chapter 24
“Rose? Rose?” Mr Aubrey’s voice broke through Rose’s horrified realisation. “Are you well? Did I say something amiss?”
“What? No! Nothing. Everything is ... exactly as it should be. No.” She swallowed hard, panicked warnings screaming deafeningly in her brain. “As it must be.”
“It ... must?” Mr Aubrey’s head tilted, his eyes narrowing.
“I’m very well!” Firmly quelling the rioting voices of panic in her head, Rose gave him a decisive nod. “And ... oh, and you needn’t worry,” she added hastily as she finally recalled their topic of conversation. “Of course I understand why you kept your word to my uncle. I would never hold such a point of honour against you.”
“Thank you.” He was still frowning, though, as if he could somehow sense all the fear and confusion thrumming inside her. “I assure you, though, I would not agree again to such a commitment now that I know you better.”
Oh, no. She couldn’t possibly listen to any more of this – not without losing all decorum and doing something utterly ruinous, like flinging herself against his chest. His very lean, very firm, very touchable ...
No! She swung around with a desperate swish of skirts. “No time to waste! We need to find that dragon.”
As soon as they did, she could confirm Rhiannon and Griff’s safety and then spend the rest of the day hiding with them in her bedroom, cuddling them for every bit as long as it took to come to her senses again.
She was so focused on that plan that she nearly missed the muffled chortle in a corner of the last room she strode through on her way to the pantry.
