Page 10 of A Duke for Stealing (The Devil’s Masquerade #4)

“Please keep a watch on the door,” Rose implored. “Let them have an hour or so to themselves, but then try to insist that they have their lunch. If anything goes wrong, do come to me.”

“As you wish, Your Grace,” the nurse replied.

Rose took one last glance at the closed pink door, wishing she had the magic words to soothe the rage in Leah’s heart and the fear in Diana’s.

Jaw clenched, fists curled, Everett stalked through the manor trying to find Rose.

He’d searched her quarters, the room she’d made her personal library, which was now filled.

He knew, because he received the latest bill from the book seller.

It was no small sum she’d spent on titles.

When he did not find her in either place, he went to the girls’ room, the solarium, and the sitting room.

Finally, he heard a buzz of laughter and chatter coming from the dining room, and that was where he found her and several of his staff, smiling and chatting gayly as if they were all old friends.

“Oh, Your Grace, it was an absolutely beautiful evening,” Mrs. Mulberry praised. “I believe it was the finest appreciation festival yet!”

Festival? What festival?

“Do you truly think so, Mrs. Mulberry?” Rose asked eagerly. “Oh, I was not sure about adding the games for the children and the gifts, but I thought it would be a lovely touch.”

“Oh, it certainly was,” Mrs. Mulberry agreed. “Did you see the farmers’ eyes when you gifted them all a bottle of whiskey? They looked utterly astonished!”

Everett cleared his throat, and the talk ceased immediately. Everyone’s eyes fell on him, and they all quickly bowed- except for Rose. She merely stared back at him. Back straight. Chin high. A single light brown brow raised in intrigue above her blue eyes.

“What has happened?” He demanded to know. “What is this festival, and please pray tell how much of my whiskey was given out to farmers?”

Rose turned to Mrs. Mulberry and the other servants, smiling brightly.

“Thank you all for your help today. It would not have been a success without you. Please give His Grace and I the room.”

Every servant smiled and bowed toward her before they left. Some, Everett noticed, even whispered their thanks.

“Explain,” he demanded once they were alone.

“You received my invitation,” Rose said with a small shrug. “Therefore, you know what the festival was for. It was a shame you chose not to come. It was quite a lovely evening.”

Everett ground his teeth, working to steady his rising temper.

“You were serious about that?” He grumbled.

“The late Duchess was, and therefore I decided I should be too,” Rose replied calmly, “And I am happy that I did. Our people were loyal because of the gratitude they had been shown by the late Duke and Duchess, and now that loyalty will be shown to us!”

Everett crossed his arms and began tapping his foot. He could not argue her logic, and it annoyed him.

“And what is this whiskey spoken of?” He demanded next.

“You and our friends own over five breweries,” Rose replied with a shrug, “I suppose that if you wanted to restock the supply you have here, you could do so easily. Or, if you were serious last week about not drinking as much, perhaps this would be an opportunity to keep the manor free of it.”

Everett’s mouth fell open as his mind sprouted multiple questions.

“How did you know how many breweries I own? Are you saying the manor is completely dry of whiskey? Who gave you the authority to give out a bottle from my personal collection?”

A smug smirk appeared on Rose’s lips, and Everett’s frustration grew as he found her utterly delicious to look at with such an expression.

“I have known you, Tristan, Hugo, and Dominic for years now. I am getting to know Alistair better as well. I have attended multiple dinners where you have discussed your successes. Did you really think I was not listening?” She asked.

Before he could retort, Rose went on.

“No, the house is not dry. There are five farmers who provide goods to our manor, and I gave a bottle to each head of the family and each grown son.

Thirteen bottles in all were gifted. You still have several cases of whiskey in the spirits room.

As for permission? I alerted you to what I was doing.

I invited you to join me. To help me. You refused, and I did not hold that against you.

But I did, however, take authority to make all decisions regarding this festival.

“Responsibilities such as these? They are precisely what you brought me here for. They what you tasked with, what you deemed more necessary than the care of your nieces.”

“Yes, my nieces,” Everett said quickly. Finally, he could arrive at the issue that caused him to come find her in the first place.

“What of them?” Rose asked.

“The nurse told me what happened,” Everett explained. “With Leah’s tantrum. I told you not to bother them anymore, and not only did you disobey me, but you also coddled that girl when there should have been discipline! You proved my point that such a responsibility is not fit for you.”

Rose walked toward him with an even, confident stare and stopped right before him with her hands on the hips of her pink gown.

His eyes roamed down to her breasts, drawn to the soft appeal of her cleavage, and when he inhaled, he caught the sweet scent of rosewater and lilies.

It dizzied his head, and though he tried to hold on to it, it stole some of his logic.

His hands itched to reach out to her. To feel the pink softness before him.

“Have you hired a governess?” She asked softly.

Everett forced his eyes up to hers and was nearly knocked back by the intense blue of her eyes. Had they always been such a deep blue?

“I beg your pardon?” He asked.

“A governess,” Rose replied slowly, trailing a hand up her bosom to circle around her bare neck. “Have you hired one?”

Everett’s mind was losing track as he watched her delicate fingertips swirl around the expanse of flesh around the hollow of her throat, her collarbone, and then finally settle around the graceful column of her neck.

He swallowed hard, trying to ignore the erotic possibilities of what he would do if it were his hand there.

“No,” he rasped. “I have….been busy.”

“Well then,” Rose said, then let out a breathy sigh that made her breasts rise and fall in a sinfully delicious way, “I do not see how we are still arguing this point.”

Everett needed to get a hold of himself.

He was in a losing battle with his primal urges, and even he could see it.

When he’d first entertained the idea of being faithful, it was nothing but a flimsy possibility.

Still, as he settled more into his brother’s work affairs, he’d found no time at all to dally as he used to, and had, without meaning, remained loyal to his new wife.

Two weeks. Had he ever gone so long without the touch of a woman?

Not since he was a boy, surely. With his money and charm, he’d never needed to go more than a day and a half, and even that was stretching it.

Perhaps he would have more luck controlling those needs if Rose were unattractive to him, but the damned thing was, the more he argued with her, the more alluring she became. The more he noticed about her body.

“Are you listening?” Rose’s harsh tone broke his thoughts.

“No,” he admitted, and dragged his gaze from her throat to her blue eyes. Resentment burned in them, and dash it all if that didn’t make him want her more.

“In fact, I was just thinking about how little I actually knew about you,” he went on.

Some of the resentment in Rose’s gaze dampened, replaced with curiosity.

“And pray tell, husband, what is it that you thought you knew about me?” She asked.

Everett reached out to where her hand was still laced around her throat. Satisfaction shot through him as he heard her breath hitch when he grazed his fingertips over her hand.

“You were always so prim and proper before, Miss Gravesmoor,” he murmured, tracing his fingertips over each of her small fingers. “So willing to correct one of your friends when they spoke out of turn or behaved impolitely. So very worried about rumors spreading.”

“I am still that person,” she replied. But her voice was breathy. Uncertain. As if she were not sure, she still believed it to be true.

“If that is true,” Everett rasped, letting his fingers splay over hers and squeeze, “Why do I always find you disobeying my orders?”

He squeezed her throat. Gently. Just a small flex of his hand, and he was rewarded with the softest, most alluring whimper that had ever graced his ears.

“Do you not want to behave for me?” He asked, reaching up with his other hand to secure her elbow. With a gentle tug, he had her fingers slipping out from underneath his, giving him full access to her throat.

“Do you not want to show me you are still that very good girl?”

He watched in pleasure as Rose’s pupils dilated; heard her breath grow shallow; saw a deep red blush bloom on her beautiful cheeks. Everett flexed his hand just a little tighter, and he was rewarded with another whimper.

“Stop this,” she whispered, and he felt her pulse jump beneath his palm. “I know what you are doing.”