Page 31 of The Marquis' Game of Seduction
Luckily, Rose found her strength within the week. She appeared at the breakfast table in the kitchen just after seven in the morning and found Judith up, fully dressed, her hair piled atop her head. Her quill scribbled across a pad of paper. Once more, it seemed she was writing a list of tasks for the day. When Judith felt Rose’s presence, she drew her eyes upward. Her lips parted in surprise.
“Rose. I didn’t imagine you’d be out of bed quite yet…” she said. She burst up from her chair, casting it toward the ground. To Rose’s immense surprise, then, the woman draped her arms around her and hugged her close.
It was the kind of hug one might get from a mother. The kind of hug that Rose hadn’t been allowed to have throughout her youth. She dropped her cheek against Judith’s shoulder and inhaled her very subtle perfume.
“Well,” Judith said. She yanked back and swept her hands across her skirt to smooth it. She seemed oddly embarrassed about her sudden act of emotion. “I’m grateful to see you’re better. I really was quite worried the other night. However…” She licked her lips and furrowed her brow. “Duncan has already started eating his breakfast this morning. He’s eating alone, and I imagine that he would love your company. He hasn’t been able to stop speaking about you since your accident. Always asking about you. I think he thought that—because his mother has been so ill—perhaps you would fall very ill, as well. I informed him it was quite different.”
Rose told Judith she understood. She tapped into the dining room to see little Duncan sitting at the table alone. His fork toyed with his eggs, and his toast remained un-eaten, the raspberry marmalade glistening atop the butter. He let out a heavy sigh, his eyes still on his plate. Rose ducked up behind him and splayed her hands over his eyes.
Immediately, Duncan’s little body grew very tight, his back straight up and down. His own sticky hands dropped over hers.
“Who is this?” he demanded. “Who is doing this?”
Rose made her voice very deep and dark and gritty. “I’m your worst nightmare,” she said.
Duncan let out a wild laugh. “No. I don’t believe it.”
“Why wouldn’t you believe me?” Rose asked, her voice still masculine and rough. “I’m your worst nightmare, and I’ve come to take you away…”
Now, Duncan used the last of his child’s strength to rip her hands off his eyes. He turned around, his eyes saucer-like to peer up at her. Then, he lurched forward and wrapped his arms around her waist and held her like that for a long moment, like if he let her go she might disappear for good.
“Come now, Duncan. You can’t hold onto me like this forever,” Rose said, chuckling.
Duncan slowly allowed his arms to drop. He blinked up at her and said, “I’m terribly sorry. I just didn’t imagine I’d see you so soon.”
The words were so delicate, so charged with emotion. Rose swallowed hard to keep from crying. Then, she said, “Very well. I’ve come to eat with you. Would you mind?”
Rose sat next to Duncan. One of the cooks swept in with a little plate of toast and eggs and a cup of tea. With the intimacy of a mother and a son, or a brother and a much older sister, Rose and Duncan ate together, crunching their toast and scattering crumbs.
Duncan explained to her the various worlds he’d played in with his toys—a world of pirate ships and exploring new worlds; a world of the Americas and their colonies; a world that resembled the West Indies, which, when Duncan described it, made his face look tense.
“You miss it there. Don’t you?” Rose asked.
Duncan nodded. “It was all I ever knew.”
Rose and Duncan wandered back up to the library. There was a solemnity to their walk this time, perhaps since it was the first time they were allowed to walk together in several days. Rose felt she wouldn’t take it for granted again. Once there, Rose asked Duncan if he wanted to first begin with a round of hide and go seek, but Duncan informed her that he would much rather write and draw pictures that day.
“There are so many stories from my adventures,” he told her, speaking, of course, of his imaginary ones. “I need your help if I’m going to express the stories correctly.”
Rose beamed at him as they sat. He dipped his quill into the little pot of ink and began to carve out a story of himself—of Captain Duncan on the open seas. His words curled around an enormous picture, a pirate ship, a much larger man than Duncan currently was, wearing a pirate eye patch. Each word on the page sizzled with life and imagination and creativity. Duncan stretched out the lesson longer than he normally wanted to, as though, for the first time ever, he truly appreciated the beauty of learning.
Just before lunch, there was a creak at the door. Rose turned her head swiftly and gazed out at the Marquees himself, dressed immaculately in a black suit, his black mane swept back over his ears. He looked in on them like he hadn’t wanted to be discovered. And Rose held his gaze for a long moment, until Duncan’s head sprung up and he whirled around to discover his uncle.
Despite the wretched way Colin had been treating his young nephew, Duncan still greeted him with a bright, “Hello, Uncle! Good afternoon. Would you like to hear my story?”
For a moment, Colin seemed not to know how to proceed. It seemed the question was harder for him to answer than anything in his much more difficult position as Marquees. He cleared his throat and his eyes turned from Rose to Duncan and back. Then, he stepped forward.
“I would love to, Duncan. However, just now, I have a rather important matter to discuss with your governess,” he said.
Rose’s heart leaped into her throat. She struggled to keep her face calm. “We’re just wrapping up the lesson for the morning. Perhaps we can take a walk prior to lunch?”
“That should suit,” Colin affirmed.
Rose’s mind raced. This was rather perfect, as she still needed to discuss the idea of lessons with Anna. She’d thought she would have to track Colin down again (hopefully without wasting too much time, since Anna’s situation was rather time-sensitive). Yet here he was. And he looked at her like she was the only person he wanted to see.
Rose walked Duncan back down to Judith for lunch. Then, she swept out of the door to find Colin upon the stone path between the gardens. The autumn wind tossed around him, catching his coattails, and above him stretched the most glorious late-year blue sky. Rose tugged her coat around her, wrapping it tightly around her neck. Then, she took a little breath and stepped toward him, until there were only a few inches between her chest and his.
“Shall we?” Colin said.
