Page 80 of A Duke for Stealing
“We have become nothing,” Everett snapped.
“You think because I find you becoming there is something more than a lustful need?”
Rose’s furrowed brow as his hurtful, dismissive words caused another crack in her heart.
“Since you are asking, yes. Idothink we have become something more,” she replied, her tone defensive. “And I do not believe that I am alone in feeling this way either, Everett. You talk to me. You tell me of your life. You have protected me from gossip, you even got jealous when Tristan- a man I have always known to be the picture of etiquette- who paid me an innocent compliment!”
She had not meant to shout, but her voice, her insistence, rose with every word she spoke.
“You have misread things,” Everett retorted gruffly, “Our marriage is a piece of paper. Nothing more!”
Rose took a step back, his words feeling like a slap to her face. A look of worry passed through Everett’s eyes as she did so, but in a moment it was gone, replaced with a scowl. He remained unmoved.
“Is that truly how you feel?” Rose asked, her voice growing hoarse from her unshed tears. “There has never been a time when you needed to be more honest, Everett, so tell me now, is that how you truly feel?”
Everett’s scowl fell into a look of hesitation. He pressed his lips together, ground his jaw.
“Yes.”
The word sounded forced. Untrue. Yet it was his answer. One Rose could not refute. She’d asked for his truth, and this is what he’d chosen to give her.
Rose closed her eyes, warning her tears not to shed. She sniffled, suddenly feeling unable to catch her breath. Yet still she raised her chin, and even though her eyes were watery as she opened them again, she did not allow a single drop to fall.
“Then I apologize for the misunderstanding,” she replied, her voice quivering.
Everett’s brow tensed as guilt passed through his green eyes, but he only nodded.
“Well, I believe I need a few days to think about this. Give myself a chance to reorganize,” she went on.
No longer able to keep looking at him, Rose cast her glance to the door, then started walking toward it.
“I will be in London for a while,” she said.
Rose reached for the doorknob, but Everett’s hand closed over it, stopping her. She looked up at him, surprised that he would bother to do so, and saw a look of devastation on his handsome face.
“Rose, wait-”
“I am not abandoning the girls, so spare your lecture,” she cut him off. “I will be back. That’s what you worry about, isn’t it? Your nieces missing me?”
The devastation in his eyes worsened even as he nodded and rasped out, “Yes.”
Rose moved his hand off the doorknob, ignoring the sparks from their touch, and threw the door open wide.
“I will explain to them,” she said.
Rose then hurried down the hall. Her held back tears finally broke free of their dam, and as they trekked down her cheeks, Rose silently damned herself for thinking a man like Everett could ever change.
“Wait,” Everett whispered.
He started hurrying down the hall after Rose, but as he heard a sob slip from her throat, he froze. His heart ached in his chest as he felt torn between his old self and this strange new one. He did not know which one was truly him, and it was driving him mad. Love, from what he understood, was accepting someone for who they were, and if Rose truly loved him, she would not be pushing him to change.
So he stayed still, watching her until she disappeared into the twins’ nursery, and then went back into his office. When he got to his desk, he sat down and put his weary head in his hands. He’d spent all night thinking about what he should do, what he should say to Rose, and what he shared today had been that final decision. Therightdecision.
Yet if it was so right, why then did he now feel worse than before?
Everett rubbed his temples. Shook his head as if that would somehow magically dissolve such intense feelings, and then picked up his pen, determined to get back to work.
Instead, he spent the better part of the day sitting in still silence, wondering over and over what he’d just done.
