Page 76 of A Duke for Stealing
“Well, now that you are feeling better, I should get back to my paperwork,” Everett stated, rising from the floor.
“No, no, not yet!” Leah insisted, “This means that we can finally play the game we want to play.”
“We were too scared before,” Diana piped up. “But not anymore.”
“And pray tell, what game is that?” Everett asked, bracing his hands on his hips as he looked down at his niblings.
“Hide and Seek.” The twins answered in unison.
Finally, Everett looked at Rose again. It was something they had both noticed and wondered about- how the twins knew what to say when they spoke in unison. It was as if they could somehow read another’s mind, and she knew that Everett found it just as fascinating as she did.
“You have not played with in days,” Leah stated, her tone flat and accusatory when she saw Everett looking as if he were about to say no.
He raised a single brow.
“Are you trying to make me feel guilty?” Everett asked.
“Yes,” the twins replied in unison, and Rose could not help but burst out in laughter.
“What?” Rose asked when Everett glared at her. “At least they were honest.”
Everett grunted, but by the look on his face, Rose knew he’d felt called out.
“We shall play hide and seek,” he said with a relenting sigh, “But just for another hour. I do have to finish my work.”
“Yayyyy!!!” The twins shouted in unison again as they joined hands.
“Very well, Uncle Everett. You and Lady Rose go hide. Diana and I shall count to one hundred, and we shall come find you.”
As the girls turned their eyes to the wall and began to count, Everett and Rose walked back out into the hall.
“Well, where shall we hide?” Rose asked, giving him a smile.
Everett’s returning smile was brief as he took a step away.
“Actually, I believe the twins would have more fun if we found separate hiding places. Why do you not go down that way, and I shall head down this hall.”
Rose’s smile faded, and she barely began to nod before Everett turned his back to her and went down the hall. Rose felt her heart sink as she watched him. She needed to get to the bottom of Everett’s issue- but for now, she needed to play the girls’ game and hide.
She wanted her hiding spot to be somewhere the girls would be able to find her, but not too obvious. So she walked past her rooms and several others, then turned the corner to the next hall. She slowed a little as she stepped into the space. The house was vast, but her work and needs had kept her cloistered either downstairs or in the three familiar rooms that were her own, the twins’ nursery, or her library. She hadn’t been in this particular hall since Everett had first brought her to Stapleton.
The memory of their first kiss that day flashed in her mind, and she shook her head to dispel it. After a little more wandering, she picked a room in the middle of the hall and went inside. Knowing she didn’t have much time left before the twins came to find her, Rose hurried to the closet and closed herself inside. Just as she did so, she heard one of the twins shout, “Here we come!”
She backed away from the door, arms stretched behind her, and almost screamed when she felt hands wrap around her wrists.
“I thought we were going to hide separately,” Everett’s voice came by her ear. He then released her.
She breathed a sigh of relief at hearing his voice, then whirled around and thumped him on the chest.
“You frightened me!” She whispered vehemently. “I did not know you were in here. I thought you were going down the other hall?”
“Yes, but the other halls connect to this one, remember?” He whispered back, giving her an annoyed look.
She sighed and returned it.
“Well, we are here now,” she whispered back, “And the girls have started searching. It appears we are stuck.”
Everett’s eyes narrowed, and with a frustrated sigh, she turned away from him. This was not at all what she had been hoping for.
