Page 41 of Rose and the Rogue
“Oh, Rose,” Poppy repeated sadly. “Don’t ever say that.” She sat on the edge of the bed, and found her cousin’s hand. “If you doubt him, just tell me. I’ll make sure he understands that you don’t wish his attention.”
“But I do wish it,” Rosalind burst out again, thoroughly miserable.
“If…” Poppy began hesitantly. “If he did ask you to become a…lover, and not a wife, what would you tell him?”
“I don’t know,” Rosalind sighed. “I know what I should say.”
“But you are attracted to him,” Poppy said in understanding. “And you long for a life outside our tiny world, so you would consider becoming a man’s mistress, not merely for the excitement, but for the change.”
Rosalind was silent for a long moment. Then she asked, “How do you understand so much?”
“I watch the world for the both of us,” her companion replied. “And I think a lot. A lot more than any of our parents would approve of.”
Rosalind hugged her cousin tight. “I’m sorry to bring all this upon you. I suppose time will sort it out.”
“Sooner rather than later, I hope.”
Rose sensed that Poppy also had something on her mind. “What is it?”
“I had a letter from my mother,” Poppy said. “She told me that the new business is doing very well, with more orders and customers than they intended.”
“Isn’t that good news?”
“On the surface, yes. But what she’s really saying is that she wishes I’d come and work at the shop and the warehouse with them.”
Rose didn’t like that at all. Losing Poppy when she needed her more than ever? “If the business is doing so well, can’t they hire help?”
“My understanding is that they’re doing well enough to need more help, but not quite well enough to pay what they’d need to hire the right person to do the extra work.”
Now Rose understood. This wasn’t a matter of taking on a shopgirl. Poppy was extremely clever and had a good head for figures. Her mother was hoping she’d become the sort of accountant-secretary-and-shopgirl, a role that no man would accept and few women would be prepared for. It was the sort of role that required a blood relative, who would do it for love and not the salary.
“Well, you must do as your family wants,” Rose said, wishing she had another answer.
“I’m not leaving you,” Poppy replied fiercely. “Especially not at this point, with all this…excitement going on. But I do worry about Mama, and how they will manage the business. My stepfather is wary of taking out a loan—it’s too likely that one ends up shackled to the terms.”
“But we must do something! It isn’t right for me to hold you here if you’re needed elsewhere.”
“I’m needed here more,” Poppy said. “If not for me, who would watch out for you? We’ve got rakehells coming out of the woodwork and a phalanx of suitors springing forth from the shrubbery. What a Season!”
“It’s more interesting than I ever guessed it would be,” Rose admitted. “But interesting is just another word for confusing.”
Poppy kissed her cousin good-night, promising that the next day would be better. “Everything will get sorted one way or another.”
Rose just hoped she was right.
Chapter 14
The next morning, Carlos was sitting in Adrian’s very comfortable parlor. Overnight, the weather had turned British, drizzling cold rain on the city. A fire had been laid to fight off the drafts of the big house. On mornings like these, Carlos missed the warm breezes off the ocean, and the palm trees surrounding the house.
He stared into the fireplace, the flames reflecting against his eyes, turning them gold. Anyone watching would have thought that the man had a lot on his mind.
In fact, he had only one thing on his mind, and that thing was Poppy St. George.
That girl had spirit. He liked the way she snapped back at every barb. He liked how fiercely she protected her cousin. He liked that her name was Poppy. He liked that her lower lip stuck out when she was thinking hard.
In short, Poppy St. George had shot Carlos in the heart before he had a chance to defend himself, and the result was that every time he tried to think of something else, he found himself picturing her, laughing at some comment, or regarding him with a quizzical smile.
It was damned inconvenient. He had real problems to consider. Not just helping Adrian to counter the gang of idiots working to ruin a girl for fun, but also the ordinary problems of his family’s various business interests and a few other matters that he kept more or less private, since they were not entirely legal.
