Page 32 of The Marquis' Game of Seduction
Without waiting for an answer, he turned around and started to stroll down the garden path toward the moor. Rose walked slowly beside him, still feeling a light ache in the back of her head with each pound of her foot. She slowed a bit, and her face scrunched. Colin’s eyes traced her expression and he said, “You’re still in a bit of pain, aren’t you?”
“Only the slightest,” she said. “Really, it’s nothing to complain about. I imagine that it’ll be all a distant memory by the time the new week begins.”
“You’d tell me if we need to go inside. Wouldn’t you?” he said.
“Of course,” Rose lied.
They stepped out from the last garden. Rose’s eyes crept toward the side, where she spotted the tree that had fallen apart during her wild expedition for the tower. The edge of the tree, where the limb had torn off, was bright white, showing the inner guts of the well-worn tree. She shivered and ducked a bit to the left, not wanting to approach the line.
“Rose. I wanted to talk to you about something,” Colin began.
The autumn wind crept around Rose’s ears, sweeping her hair to and fro. She blinked her wide eyes at Colin, waiting.
“I wanted to apologise to you. For what I said to you the other day,” Colin said.
Once out in the open on the moor, Colin turned fully toward her. His body towered over hers, dark, and foreboding, and muscular, his eyes ferocious and difficult to read. Yet nothing about his manner told Rose that he was out to hurt her. Quite the contrary. It seemed he wanted to keep her close to him. Protect her.
“It’s quite all right,” Rose whispered.
“No. It’s really not,” Colin affirmed. “I was terrified and under-slept and quite unsure of myself. Perhaps you’ve noticed, but I really struggle with… saying the appropriate thing.”
Rose gave him a slight smile, yet didn’t insist he was wrong.
“All right. So you agree,” Colin said. He let out a little laugh and his eyes glowed with warmth.
The air between them grew taut. Rose’s fingers twitched along her skirts. She struggled to breathe.
Then, she blurted, “Would you have any problem with my teaching Anna how to read and write?”
The words seemed to be a sincere shock to Colin. He tilted his head for a moment, as though he was struggling to remember just who Anna was. He furrowed his brow and then spread out his hands and said, “Goodness. Of course. I don’t even see why you thought you had to ask…”
“I simply don’t want to overstep,” Rose said. “My duty here is for Duncan. And I know that.”
Colin clucked his tongue. “Anna doesn’t know how to read and write?”
“I suppose she never got the chance to learn,” Rose said. “She’s lived here for quite some time, but I don’t know the story of her life prior to your estate. It seems that she’s been through a great deal. At the orphanage, we had little to do—and I chose to fill my time with literature and writing. Other girls across the country weren’t so lucky.”
“Imagine calling yourself lucky, as an orphan,” Colin said.
Rose shrugged and turned her eyes to the ground. Colin reached forward and cupped her elbow for only the slightest moment. Then, he dropped it, as though he hadn’t touched her at all. Rose thought she might scream with confusion. Her mind whirred with panic.
“I don’t suppose you wish to tell me… why it is Anna wishes to learn to read and write?” Colin asked. “She’s never expressed this before, as far as I know.”
“Are you suggesting that you’ve always had a vested interest in Anna’s education?” Rose asked. She felt an immediate stab of regret, sensing she’d gone too far. But she swallowed and gave him a little smile, then said, “If you must know, my lord, she wishes to learn to read and write for the purpose of love.”
Colin let out a laugh of surprise. “What do you mean? For love? She wishes to read literature about love?”
“Perhaps I’m betraying her,” Rose said. “But in fact, a man has caught Anna’s eye, and he’s begun to send her little letters…”
“Love letters!” Colin said, incredulous. “My goodness. What a genuinely beautiful thing.”
Rose furrowed her brow. “I cannot tell if you’re being sarcastic or not, good sir. But I must assure you that it truly is genuinely beautiful, and I wish only to assist Anna in her quest to write him back. It must come from her, and her alone. Her hands have felt so tied in the wake of this newfound love, for she can do nothing about it but receive the letters and wait for him to lose interest or hope.”
Colin seemed to turn this information over in his head. He brought his hands to his hips. “You’re altogether too kind, Rose.”
Rose felt her cheeks flush red. The compliment from Colin was almost too genuine, too sure.
In the wake of her blush, Colin reached out and cupped her elbow once more. The motion was too exact to have been an accident both times. Rose’s eyes dripped down to stare at this tender motion. Then, he allowed his hand to drop once more. An awkwardness folded over them, like a blanket over the top of a little fire. Rose’s cheeks burned even brighter; she could sense it. She draped her hand over her cheek and willed the color to go away.
