Page 61 of An English Rose for the Highlander
“He attacked a Scottish keep just before sunrise with a band of mercenaries, Mother. Yes, something happened. He attempted to kill Dominik. But the Viscount was bested, and my husband took the final blow when Lord Egerton sought to harm me.”
Horatia pulled Rose into her arms, holding her tightly against her chest for several long moments. Even her father came closer, squeezing Rose’s shoulder as the room fell into silence.
“He is dead then,” Horatia confirmed, and Rose nodded solemnly. “What a terrible end. Oh, how I do wish he had been a better match.”
“Mother,” Rose chastised, “he was a cad and a heartless aggressor. Ambrose deserved what he got. He had poisoned animals here at the keep to get the people to distrust me, he spied on us for months, and then he set fire to a castle full of people in the dead of night. There will be no light of heaven for that man.”
“Rose.” Horatia clutched at the front of her dress.
Her parents looked scandalized momentarily, then they both seemed to consider what they had heard, nodding their heads in unison.
“I suppose you are right,” her mother corrected. “Though that is a harsh way to put it. Still, he tried to hurt our child. It is indeed better that he should be removed from the world where he can no long causesuch trouble.”
Rose nearly laughed. Her mother always had such an interesting way of making the horrendous circumstances around them seem like nothing more than a mild inconvenience.
“Perhaps,” her father added, “it would be best if you returned to England, where you are safe.”
“You wish for me to leave Scotland?” Rose cocked a brow, regarding both her parents as they stared at her, grim looks now painted on their faces.
A lump formed in her throat as the room grew quiet. She looked down at her hands. Rose had tangled her fingers together in the folds of her dress, soothing herself by working the fabric between them. Should she consider it? She’d been so torn about what to do regarding the danger she put Dominik in. It hardly occurred to her to protect herself from something.
It was she, after all, who’d brought calamity down on her husband’s doorstep.
“Returning with us to England will keep you safe, dear.” Horatia reached for one of Rose’s hands as the women sat near each other, taking hold and squeezing. “This country is not a place for high-born women of society. It is too rugged and wild. There is still so much to be seen regarding the attack on the castle as well.”
That made Rose’s heart lurch in her chest, a significant ache accompanying it. Fiona had said something similar when she sat at Dominik’s bedside. The closest thing to a friend Rose had here asked, “What happens to the Laird now that an Englishman has been killed?”
In truth, Rose did not know. But there would be something coming down the line. English justice was rarely malleable and often resolute. He had killed Lord Egerton. Yes, Dominik haddone so because the man attacked his keep, but Rose was unsure if the Crown would care about that rather important detail.
All her choices appeared to be terrible ones. Rose did not want to leave Dominik behind. She knew now more than ever that she loved him with her entire soul. But risking his life or his standing was something she would never forgive herself for doing. Putting him in jeopardy would be so much worse a crime than leaving him, wouldn’t it?
What will the Crown do?
It was a question she could not answer herself, and one she was desperate to see resolved. Rose’s affiliation with Lord Egerton was what started this entire mess, and she worried that because of her connection with him, the authorities would be even less lenient and forgiving of the Laird.
“Darling, we just want what is best for you,” her mother offered, still squeezing Rose’s hand. “You must not allow yourself to be swayed by ease or distraction. You must put your safety first.”
Rose didn’t often put anything of her own first. She had spent years caring for her parents, putting their standing and protection above her own happiness. She had denied herself dozens of times in the course of her life, always putting the people closest to herfirst.
Even now, this decision was not about her own safety. It was about Dominik’s. She needed to do whatever she could to ensure his well-being, didn’t she? As his wife, as someone who lovedhim, was it not more important to ensure that he would live and prosper despite how much the idea of leaving him pained her?
The world felt small, as if its borders were closing in on her. It felt less impressive and beautiful, only a shell that she was forced to tread on each day, forced to endure. Would her life never be free of complications? Would her happiness never be assured?
Rose honestly thought it was different this time. When she had become closer to Dominik, as the two of them had walked the slow, winding path of romance, Rose had seen light in her future instead of darkness. Her heart had been full and light at once, uncontrollable, and yet so beholden to a single person.
But there was darkness now.
Every step she had taken to make the situation right, everything she had done to ensure the happiness and livelihood of the man she loved, had crumbled in one evening. It felt as if nothing she did would matter, the stars had aligned against her, and the only way to keep her dear husband free of the terror that followed her was to break him free of it.
“Perhaps you are right.”
It was all she could bring herself to say, the thickness of her throat and the stinging of her eyes haunting her every second.
“Of course, darling.” Horatia patted her hand. “We will be here for you as you have been there for us.”
It was strange to feel such remorse and sorrow when she was in the face of her mother as she admitted to Rose’s long work caring for her parents. It should have been a joyful moment of vindication. But Rose felt only pain, only the fear of what loomed ahead of her and the desperate need to get away from it.
That would not happen. Rose was well and thoroughly trapped.
