Page 88 of A Duke for Stealing
Rose cleared her throat and shook her head, still hiding most of her face behind her fan.
“Forgive me. I just need a moment to myself.” Rose implored.
Before Ophelia could even offer to go with her, Rose was gone, walking briskly out of the ballroom.
“Well, you have made a right mess of this, haven’t you?” Ophelia asked, turning back to Everett.
Everett cocked his head and worked his jaw back and forth as he gave her ado not startlook.
“I am trying to make it right,” he grit out. “I know I made a mistake.”
“Very large one, I should like to point out,” Ophelia remarked. “Honestly, I do not know why she went to such lengths to protect you. You have hardly proven yourself worthy of such.”
“I know,”Everett seethed, feeling his sadness tick toward anger. Recognizing this, he drew in a deep breath through his nostrils as he rubbed his temples and let out a slow breath through his mouth.
“Pray, forgive me,” he implored when he looked at Ophelia again. “You do not deserve my anger. The only one that deserves it is me.”
Ophelia’s brows perked with surprise.
“An apology? Well, that is not what I expected from you. Perhaps you are changing after all.”
Everett let out a weak laugh. Even if that were true, did it matter anymore?
“Teasing aside, I came over to speak with you, not Rose,” Ophelia went on, “She just appeared so upset that I had to investigate her well-being first. Now that she has requested some privacy, though, I believe we should have a must-needed conversation.”
“If you are here to put me to the rack for hurting Rose, I will not stop you,” Everett replied wearily, “I simply ask that you wait until we are in a less crowded space.”
“Tempting,” Ophelia mused, eyeing him up and down. “Alas, no. That is not what I am here for.”
Everett raised a wary brow; he took a step toward Ophelia to ensure no one was paying them any mind.
“What is it, Ophelia?” He asked in a low tone.
Ophelia’s musing smile dropped as her eyes filled with determination.
“It is about our Rose,” Ophelia answered, “I fear that her new reputation may put her in danger.”
The urge to protect came over Everett quickly and strongly; his expression became deadly.
“Whatreputation?”
“It is bad,” Everett,” Ophelia warned, “And what is more, I know who started it."
“Stop,” Rose sobbed, leaning heavily into a marble pillar in the empty hall. “Stop this right now.”
She gave the demand to herself, trying to stay the tears that had been threatening to spill for so long. She couldn’t take it. The look of longing on Everett’s face. The imploring tone in his voice for them to talk. She loved him. Irrevocably. But she needed to keep those feelings in a dark, far-away space until they didn’t seem so large and consuming.
“He is just flirting,” she whispered to herself. “It’s all he does. Do not take it so personally, you wet rag.”
Yet even as she said the words, her tears poured down her cheeks, and no amount of self-chastising was going to stop them. She leaned her forehead into the cool marble pillar and sobbed openly. Being around him was hard- so much harder than she had ever predicted it would be. Not allowing herself to fall under his spell again was even harder.
He could seem so warm, so genuine when he wanted-
“Tears of boredom, I assume?”
Rose let out a sniffled gasp as she heard the man’s voice intrude upon her thoughts. She quickly pulled away from the pillar and dabbed her eyes, trying to destroy the evidence of her broken heart.
“Allergies,” she lied, snapping her fan across her face. “They are so bothersome this time of year, are they not?”
