Page 79 of A Duke for Stealing
“I am sure it is not a fever,” Rose replied, trying in earnest to reassure them. “I will go to his office after we finish eating and see if I can find him.”
“May we come with you?” Leah quickly asked.
Rose hesitated, then shook her head.
“You two have your lessons to get to today,” Rose told her. “And I shall want a full report at lunch time about what you learned this morning.”
Both girls lowered their heads. For the next several minutes, neither of them said or ate anything else. Rose did not seem to have an appetite either, so she felt she would be a hypocrite if she chastised the girls for their still-full plates.
“Alright, my darlings,” Rose sighed, setting down her unsipped cup of tea, “I believe it is time we all get our day started. Run along upstairs now. I am sure Miss Holliday is waiting for you.”
Both girls slid out of their chairs, came to Rose for their goodbye kiss, and then took each other’s hands and left the dining room. When they were gone, Rose picked up the cold plate of food and eating utensils that had been set for Everett, placed a napkin ontop of it, and went to his office. She did not want to give him the chance to send her away, so instead of knocking, she opened the door and walked right in.
What she saw made her worry at once. Dark circles hung below his eyes as he gave her a weary glance. His normally neat hair was mussed. His rumpled clothes and the familiarity of them indicated that he had not changed since yesterday. It was almost unusual.
“I am afraid I do not have time to talk today, Rose,” he stated, casting his eyes back down to the paperwork before him.
“Or eat, as it would seem,” Rose replied. She held out the plate before as if it were a peace offering, but Everett did not raise his eyes to her again.
“I am not hungry,” he grumbled.
Rose sighed and set the plate down on the nearby stand. The Rose she had been a month ago would have just turned around and left him to his solitude, but she was that woman no more.
“Look at me,” she said softly.
When Everett ignored her, she came around to his side of the desk and reached down. To her relief, Everett did not jerk away as she caressed her palm over his stubbly cheek, but instead sighed, closed his eyes, and leaned into it. With care, she liftedEverett’s face toward hers. Finally, he opened his eyes and saw the tortured man she was married to.
“We must speak,” she gently insisted. “You have not been yourself as of late.”
The tortured look in Everett’s eyes dissolved in a second, replaced with a carelessness that was once all too familiar. He pulled away from her touch, stood, and took several steps back.
“I am myself,” he responded, his tone stiff. “Who I have always been.”
Rose shook her head, but did not move toward him.
“I do not believe that. You were changing. For a while. Into someone else. With me and your niblings. And you were not cold before. Not like this.”
“Yes, well, I fear I have made a dire mistake,” Everett replied curtly, crossing his arms over his chest.
Rose frowned at his guarded stance and words. Those arms had been open once. For her. For the twins.
“And what mistake would that be?” Rose asked, taking a step forward.
As she did so, Everett took an immediate step back.
“I believe I have led you astray,” he replied, then worked his jaw left and right, as if he were chewing over thoughts.
“How so?” She asked, already feeling that pain in her heart as she had the day before.
“It is clear that I have you thinking that this marriage is more than what it is,” Everett answered. “You were right yesterday. We were friends before. You saved me from marrying a woman who would have made a laughingstock of my life. You willingly played an act so that I could walk away from such a scandal unscathed.”
He paused, swallowed what looked like a lump in his throat.
“I will always be grateful,” he murmured. “For that and what you have done for my nieces and my Dukedom. You have done well here, Rose.”
Rose felt her eyes grow watery and her throat closed, but she blinked back her tears and cleared her throat.
“But that is not the issue, is it? The issue lies between you and me, and what we have become.”
