All the Things You Never Knew (12 page)

Rose touched her lips and watches as Leon clumsily slid out of her window and crept out into the darkness. She could still taste and feel the imprint of his lips on hers. It had been so long since she’d been kissed. Even Lord Lansing didn’t get the opportunity yet to kiss her like Leon.

Because I love you…

Those words shined on Rose like the rays of a glowing sun on a midsummer morning. Did he really mean it?
Lord Lansing had told her the same, but it hadn’t meant this much to her.
And why didn’t Leon finish telling her of his intentions?
So many questions were rising to her head.
Why did he tell her not to marry Lord Lansing? He didn’t seem to care before. He even said he wasn’t going to attend her wedding. What has gotten into him now? Was it because he had too much to drink? She knows he can get a little tick off when he’s drunk and speak of unexpected things. His
‘I love you’
probably didn’t mean as much as she’d hope either. It’s best if she doesn’t raise her hopes so high, but that’s highly impossible because since his return, all she can ever think about is him and everything that they had shared in the past. All anger had seemed to vanish. It does spark back at times but she’s not as infuriated as she had been back then.
Don’t marry that Lansing…
Lansing.
Rose still has to deal with his lordship. For sure he’s going to call upon her on the morrow. She can’t decide on what to do now about their engagement.
He sure wasn’t as faithful as he had claimed to be.
No man is ever faithful
, she reminded herself.
Walking back to her bed, Rose slowly lies down and closed her eyes to think. Her marriage with Lord Lansing was to take place in three months. She was most delighted to wed him before Leon showed up and turned everything around. She has to delay it, for she can’t fully make a vow at the altar that her heart is contradicting with. Tomorrow if Lord Lansing comes, if he dares, that is, she would work it out with him. There’s shouldn’t be a rush in the marriage. Plus, there’s plenty of time to spare.
Susannah was probably right.
Her heart could still change.
Leon’s back, you know,
the most maddening part of her mind spoke. She knows he’s back that’s why everything was so difficult. Her life and decisions would have been so much easier if he hadn’t. Perhaps if he had been more open, everything would have been all right.
Why can’t he just be truthful and share his thoughts with her? No matter what happens, no matter what the hardship is, no matter the price, she will pay just to know what’s inside his heart and what he truly wishes. Everything in the past, she’s able to forget as long as he is honest with her. Madness comes and goes, but it doesn’t stay forever. She can live up to meet his criteria if she wishes, whether he likes it or not.
Yes!
A brilliant idea came to her. She would try to make Leon reveal himself. She knows he is hiding something with those understatements that he never clearly goes into explicit details. She would use the Marquess of Lansing to resent him. If he really cares and love her like he had said, everything should go smoothly.
Rose smiled to herself again and pulled the cover under her chin.
She had denied Leon of everything but a part of her heart is still open.

Hargate Inn

“I’ve tried,” Leon said, falling exhaustingly onto the bed with a grunt. “I need to sleep.”
“Whoever told you to drink so much?” said Longsword, as he flip through another old
Times
paper. “You won’t be able to tell Lady Rose anything with that head.”
He had told her the most important thing though.
“It’s late anyway,” said Hargate. “Time to get a good night’s sleep. It’s nearly two in the morning.”
“Sure.” And before Leon knew it, he was off into the darkness.

The Duke of Hargate and Earl of Longsword left the room to which Leon slept in, and went out into the hall.
Hargate Inn was usually a busy and crowded place but tonight it seems to be more on the down side and relaxing.
“We did try our best to get Heartily and Lady Rose back together,” said Longsword as they walk into the salon. “Though our– or rather your technique wasn’t as successful as we had predicted, it was well worth it.”
Hargate sighed, and hung his head wearily as he sat down on the couch. “I guess everything should be all right.”
“You sound a little despairing, what’s wrong?” Longsword asked, settling down on the couch across from Hargate.
“Nothing,” he replied, rubbing his forehead. “Gareth, do you think you could help Leon on with Lansing’s case for a couple days? I have some businesses to tend.”
“Businesses? Like what? Need Heartily and I to come along?”
“No,” Hargate shook his head. “It’s…part of my role in the House of Lords.”
“House of Lords, huh? If that’s the case then good luck.”
“Thanks,” Hargate answered, and flip out his pocket watch to check the time. “I think I’m going to skip sleep tonight and go out on my mission from the Lords,” he said, getting up.
“Why not wait till tomorrow?” Longsword asked.
“I want to get it over with,” Hargate replied. “Tell Heartily tomorrow that I’ll be back in a fortnight or two.”
“It’s that big of a deal?”
“Yes.”
“Heartily just got back, and now you’re leaving. Makes me feel like an idler with nothing much on my case.”
“You can always go out to search for more countesses,” Hargate put in helpfully with a smile.
“I have decided to give up on that,” Longsword answered with a breath of resignation. “There are no women that would meet my criteria.”
“Really?” Hargate arched an eyebrow at him and laughed. “Interesting. Didn’t know you have set qualities for women.”
“No, not women. A bride, actually,” Longsword said.
“Matters not.”
“So you’re heading out?”
“Yes.” Hargate fixed on his waistcoat and tidy up his cravat. “It’s a quarter pass three so I must get moving.”
“I totally hate you and Leon for leaving me all the time, Laguna. But all right. I’ll see you soon then.”
“Please call upon me if there’s any emergency. I promise to make it in a flash.”
“Got it.”
With a nod of farewell, Hargate grabbed his hat from the stand by the window and slipped out, leaving Longsword behind.

“How are you feeling?” the earl asked Leon the next morning as they sat down for breakfast in the dining room of Hargate Inn.
“Much better,” he replied, taking a drink of his cup of water. Alcohol is not in his favor at the moment after last night. “Where’s Laguna this morning?” he asked, when he realize that Hargate didn’t rise to join them.
“He said he had some business to deal with through the House of Lords,” Longsword replied, taking a bite out of his buttered toast. “He said he will be back in a fortnight or two.”
“That’s way too long,” Leon replied, rubbing the side of his head.
“He said he will make it if we have any emergency,” Longsword added. “Besides, aren’t we going to take one step at a time to obliterate that marquess?”
Leon thought about it for a moment and replied, “I guess.” He still hasn’t explained everything to Rose to get her to understand his intentions; slowing down the mission a bit won’t hurt as long as he knows where his target was.
“So, what to do today?” Longsword asked. “Any plan?”
“Plan?” Leon had thought of going back to explain everything to Rose, and this time
finish
it before leaving. Instead of saying so, he just shook his head. “Nothing at the moment.”
“I’m thinking I should return to Somerset for a couple of days to check on my estate,” Longsword said after a while. “Since you still have to go through the ‘
amorous
’ process of your mission, I figure it should be fine.”
“Of course,” Leon nodded. “And besides, you are an earl after all. A bastard like me can’t be keeping you around.”
“You are
not
a bastard,” Longsword declined. “Technically, yes; but in truth, no.”
“And to think I’ve been calling Lansing a bastard all along when I’m the real one,” Leon laughed. “He can throw it back in my face.”
“And you can extend your fist to his in return if he dares,” Longsword put in. “You are not what you are known to be.”
Leon just shook his head. “You have no idea.”
“I don’t need ideas; I just know,” Longsword smiled. “Anyway,” he went on changing the subject. “If it’s fine with you I’ll be off to Somerset by noon and returning back in a day or two.”
“Do what you have to do,” Leon said, pouring himself another glass of water. “Just keep your ears open.”
Longsword merely laughed and nodded. “I will.”
Leon feels a little insecure to have his two companions going away, but he would handle whatever he can.
First on his list…
Rose
.

Dawson House

The Marquess of Lansing stood rather nervously as Rose approaches him and tugged uneasily at his cravat.
You should be afraid, you rotten lord
, Rose thought to herself as she sat down on the couch across from where he stood. She had expected this.
Lord Lansing had called upon her early that morning, most predictably to apologize. Rose isn’t going to give in that easily if that’s what he’s planning.
Lord Lansing cleared his throat and with a formal greeting bow, sat down across from her. “I’m guessing you’re still infuriated by yesterday’s…uh…incident.”
Rose merely looked at him and scoffed. “You wish. I’ve forgotten it entirely overnight.” And she did if not fully, for she has other things to worry about. Whatever his lordship did is not really at her interest or concern.
“That’s good,” Marcus said, looking more relieve. She would sure like to throw a tantrum but sees no use for it.
“I have to make it clear that us men needs to go out elsewhere to release ourselves since we can’t stay trapped in as a celibate until we get leg-shackled,” he went on saying. “I’m hoping you will under–”
“I get it,” Rose answered. She doesn’t want to waste time on such a topic.
“Even better then!” the marquess cheered. It seems he wasn’t really into apologizing but trying to make the situation better with what he thinks to be a reasonable statement. “So I’m guessing our wedding would still go–”
“No,” Rose cut in with a shook of her head. “Our wedding is to be put off.”
“What–Why so?” he asked, eyes widened in disbelief. “We had the invitations made.”
“I don’t think it’s the right time,” she answered, though that’s not really the reason. “I figure we should wait… a couple more months. I’ll ask Susy to send in apologetic letters to the recipients.”
“Because of yesterday, isn’t it?”
Quite obviously
, she wanted to say, but shook her head. “No. Just a change of mind.”
“Rose,” he said, reaching over to take her hand.
Rose pulled back and said, “No.” She is not going to let him touch her. Sure she had liked him before and allowed him a hug or two with a kisses here and there, but now it‘s the total opposite.
“I know I made you lost your trust in me, but yesterday the Duke of Hargate came and…well, he made an offer that I can’t deny,” Lord Lansing explained.
“An offer you can’t deny, huh?” Rose raised a questionable eyebrow at him. “Too dally with some harlot? I think you made that choice yourself. His Grace couldn’t have forced you to.”
“Well,” he tugged at his cravat again and cleared his throat. “He’s a duke, and you know it’s not good to decline–”
“No explanation needed,” Rose said with a sighed. “Let’s space out for a few months. I don’t think marriage is a good idea at the moment.”
“But I don’t–”
“Please, or I’ll jilt you all together,” she answered, irritated that she didn’t think before she spoke.
“You–”–he seem about to burst but stopped himself– “Now that’s a little overdoing don’t you think?” he said more calmly.
“I see it the right thing to do, m’lord,” she answered, and with a wicked smile added, “And you can gain all the pleasures you want. I will not deny you of your satisfaction. Just don’t go digging in the wrong place.”
“I guess I like that,” the marquess said after a moment of consideration, rubbing his hands together with a smile curved on his face.
Rose can see it now with the look on his face that he is not one that she can put her trust or faith into–or rather spend the rest of her life with.
“An agreement then, is it not?” she asked just to clarify things.
“Fine,” he said. “But you have to promise not to be a fallen woman on our wedding night.”
Not to be a fallen woman?
Rose almost laughed at his lordship’s absurd demand. He has the right to go fuck around but she can’t? So unfair–not that she had planned to do such a thing, mind you. She can surely keep her virtue intact until their wedding night, except there’s not going to be a wedding–not with him anyway.
Yesterday she had decided that she would make herself happy. She would marry and choose the one she loves. Her father is going to be disappointed, but she wants to–she
has
to. She spent the whole night lacking sleep thinking about her future. She had waited a whole decade for a moment she had been denied, and over a person she can never have and who would never truly accept her for whatever reason. But she would make it work.
Besides, Leon had tried to tell her something, and that something sparks a little something that she can’t define in herself. If only he wasn’t so much of an idiot as to make himself drunk before confronting her. She had been angry, yes, but that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t listen. Well, on second thought, she might not have if he was sober so that’s out of the way. She would listen now
if
he decided to tell her again.
“So how long are the
few
months that we’re holding the wedding off?” Lord Lansing asked her quite ecstatically. “Five? Seven? A year?”
Rose hadn’t yet decided on that. “Half a year?” she replied with a shrug.
“Fine with me,” Lord Lansing answered cheerfully. “Not that I don’t want to marry you, that is,” he added quickly as if to not make her doubt him from his excitement.
She knows he was pleased with her proposal; she was too.
“You may leave now, my lord,” she said as politely as she could to not make it sound like such a rude remark. “I will call upon you if I think otherwise.”
“My pleasure then, Lady Rose,” he said, standing up to give her another formal bow. “Until we meet again.”
Rose allowed him a kiss on the hand, and then led him off with a dismissal wave.
“Nice day to you, m’lord.”
She waited until he had left and jump up on her feet in joy.
She did it!
She had the advantage and she took it! Now she’s able to do everything she wishes, well, maybe not everything, but she’s free from the marquess to do what she needed to for a while.
Next in her scheme, find Leon and make him
speak
! She has the perfect plan to make that work.
“Is that his lordship that just went out?” came Susannah through the door into the sitting room where Rose was beaming. “Is everything okay?”
“Oh, Susy!” Rose exclaimed at the sight of Lady Susannah and rush up to hug her. “I have a plan, Susy. A brilliant one.”
“If it’s about his lordship, then don’t tell me,” said Susannah. “It would make me sick.”
“No, silly,” she laughs. “I’m not marrying him anymore.”
“What?” Susannah just stared at her blankly. “Are you sure?”
Rose gave her a wicked smile and asked, “Susy, what do you think about writing apologetic letters to announce the end of my engagement to Marcus?”
Susannah gasped and then returns the devious grin. “About time.”