Page 12 of A Duke for Stealing (The Devil’s Masquerade #4)

Even though she had been positively livid with him before, the utter devastation that stretched across Everett’s face had Rose’s heart breaking for him. She could have sworn she heard a pain-filled sigh leave Everett’s lips as he hung his head.

“I know,” he answered in a tortured whisper. “I know.”

Mad at him or not, Rose could not bear to turn away from the heartache inside the room. She gave a soft knock at the door as she opened it wider, and mustered a soft smile as she walked in.

“What’s this now, girls?” She asked, her tone gentle.

Leah yanked her head up from her fists and glowered at Rose as she sniffled. Everett’s head rose too, and to her shock, she saw his eyes red-rimmed and glistening.

“What are you doing here?” Leah demanded through breathy snobs.

“I have this Rose,” Everett stated, trying his very best to sound authoritative, “Just go back to bed.

Rose paid them both no mind as she ventured into the room and knelt by Leah’s bed. Diana, upon seeing her, slid from Everett’s lap and crawled into Rose’s.

“We were having nightmares, Lady Rosalind,” Diana explained through her breathy sobs. “Of the fire. Of what it must have been like for our parents to be trapped.”

“Oh, sweet girl,” Rose consoled, hugging Diana tight, “Well, that is not well at all, is it?”

Both girls sniffled, and even Leah shook her head.

“It was so terrifying,” Leah replied. “One minute, Mama was holding me. Then next she was trapped in the fire, crying for help. I tried. I tried! But I could not move in my dream.”

Rose reached for Leah’s hand and squeezed it tightly.

“That does sound tremendously scary,” she agreed. “But do you know what I just heard?”

Leah lifted her head toward Rose, looking a little less wary.

“What?” She asked.

“That even though you were in a gravely horrid situation, you were still trying to help your Mama escape,” Rose explained.

“But it was just a dream,” Leah said, shaking her head. “We were not there to actually help. When the real fire happened”

“It is brave to try to protect the ones you love, even in dreams,” Rose replied. “Even if you could not move, you still tried to break free. That means a great deal.”

Leah’s expression softened a little more.

“It does?”

“Of course it does,” Rose assured.

Her little face crumpled again. “But it does not stop us from missing them.”

“No,” Rose sighed.

She took a risk and rose with Diana to sit by Leah’s pillow. She reached out an arm to her, and while the little girl was hesitant at first, she eventually buried herself in Rose’s other side.

“But I shall tell you both a secret,” she whispered, holding the twins close. “When we miss someone, that keeps them alive in our hearts. Their memory can never fade, and they get to live forever as a part of us.”

“They do?” Diana asked, looking up at Rose in wonder.

“Oh, certainly,” Rose replied, “Do you girls not know of the little match man?”

Both girls shook their heads.

“Who is he?” They asked in unison.

Rose spared a glance toward Everett. He looked utterly exhausted and at a loss for what to do, but he gave her a nod of encouragement.

“Well, you see in every church there is a priest, yes? We all know that. But what many do not know is that in every church is a little match man. No bigger than a mouse…”

Rose told the story, making it up as she went, of a little man who lived in a church with one sole purpose: to ensure that the candles lit for loved ones were never extinguished.

Even as the girls began to close their eyes and lean heavily into her, Rose continued the story to the very end.

When she was finished, both girls were deep asleep in Rose’s arms, their cheeks dry, and their frowns gone.

Seeing that they were back asleep, Rose looked up at Everett and noticed he was staring at her intently. Not with that burning passion from before, or with annoyance at disobeying him. No, it was as if he were looking inside of her, trying to determine what it was she was made up of.

“We should get them back to bed,” she whispered.

Everett finally blinked, then nodded. He rose quietly and with the utmost care, took Diana out of her lap and carried her to her bed. As he did so, Rose gently laid Leah’s head back onto the pillows, kissed her forehead, and carefully tucked the covers around her.

“I need a drink,” Everett stated, his voice low as they stood outside the twins’ room.

Normally, Rose would once again point out his mission to drink less, but this time, she merely nodded her head.

She understood the urge. Understood how hard that moment probably was for him if his lost expression was any indication.

She went to continue on to her room, but felt Everett’s hand grab her own.

It was not rough or seductive- but gentle.

Imploring even. She slowly raised her eyes to his and saw something she’d never seen there before: loneliness.

“Have one with me.”

Even though it wasn’t necessarily a question, Rose could not help but pick up the pleading in his voice.

The Everett, she mused, was a vastly different man from the one who had attempted to seduce her in the dining room.

This Everett, the kind, caring uncle, was a man she liked.

She marveled at his duality and wondered which one was his true self.

“Very well,” she whispered back. “I suppose I could use a thimbleful of something myself.”

A ghost of a smile fluttered across Everett’s lips, then he shifted his hand in hers so he could lace his fingers through her own and led her to his office.

“I never fancied myself good with children,” Everett said as he poured their drinks.

“You have seen me with Seraphina’s and Amelia’s. Amelia’s little sisters, too.”

Rose managed a smile as she sat on the couch.

“Yes, you do seem to get a little stiff around them,” she agreed.

Everett turned back to her with both drinks in hand and smirked.

“Ever the honest lady,” he remarked, bringing them over.

He handed her one of the glasses and then sat beside her, palming his own. Rose looked warily down at the one in her hand, sniffed it.

“What is the matter?” Everett asked, swirling his own glass.

“Is this whiskey?” She asked.

Everett chuckled, took a sip.

“It is,” he agreed after swallowing.

Rose shook her head.

“I have never had whiskey before. I had believed that it was an impossibly strong spirit.”

“It certainly is. With enough, it can turn the smartest man into a twit and the chastest nun into a lady of the night,” he replied.

Rose stared at him wide-eyed, and he laughed again.

“You have no need to worry,” he assured her, “What I gave you will get you close to neither. It will just warm you a bit.”

Rose’s look turned wary, but she raised the glass to her lips and took a small sip. The spirit made her lips buzz, and the taste was awful- but as it slid down her throat, it filled her with a fuzzy warmth. She took a breath, centering herself, and drank the last of the small pour he’d given her.

“Your cheeks are turning pink,” Everett teased, taking her empty glass. “It must be working.”

Rose nodded, then let out a cough as the spirit curled around her belly.

“That is what you drink so often?” She asked, feathering her hand over her throat. “How do you stand it?”

“The bitterness grows on you,” Everett replied, then set the glasses on the end table. He then leaned back into the couch and sighed. “Sometimes it can even be a welcoming sensation, depending on how rough a particular day was.”

“And this evening,” Rose ventured, relaxing into the couch herself, “It was rough for you?”

Everett nodded, then pinched the bridge of his nose as if trying to disperse a headache.

“Life changed so very fast, you know. I spent the last decade or so doing precisely what I wanted, when I wanted, with whom I wanted. It did not matter, as long as I was contributing to the family fortune,” he paused, letting out a heavy sigh.

“Then suddenly that life was taken away,” Rose offered.

He looked at her, his green eyes weary, and he nodded.

“My brother Paul was seven years older than I, and aside from that, I did not know much about him.

Just that he and our mother lived in the country home, and Father and I lived here in Stapleton.

Also, that one day, Paul would inherit the dukedom, and not me.

Which was fine. I was the second child. I did not expect any less.

“Then father died. Paul became the Duke. And I? Well, I was preoccupied with enjoying my life in London. I never once thought Paul would perish before me. Even though he was older, I was far more reckless, as you know.” He paused, letting out a tired laugh.

“Then suddenly Paul dies too. As does his wife. And not only do I go from Marquess to Duke overnight, I go from estranged uncle to responsible guardian. So much. So quick. The girls and I do not know another. They’re angry they lost their parents.”

Rose took in the utter sadness in Everett’s eyes, felt a wealth of empathy swell up in her heart for him.

Like many others, she had thought Everett was simply a reckless, flirtatious fool with the good luck to be born with a title and a fortune.

Now, though, as she searched through the absolute pools of loss that were Everett’s eyes, she considered that perhaps there was more to him than that.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Everett asked, spurring her from her thoughts.

Rose suddenly went stiff. She’d been staring at him intently as she was listening to him, and did not even realize it.

“No reason,” she replied, moving off the couch. His eyes followed her, a glimmer of the man she knew in those green depths.

“You have pity for me, dear wife,” he said, a smirk drawing on his lips.

He reached for her hands and pulled himself to the edge of the couch.

“It’s alright, I understand. Take pity on me,” he encouraged. “Pity me enough to provide me with an enjoyable distraction.”

Knowing what he meant, Rose let out an annoyed sigh and rolled her eyes.

“You are more than just a rake,” she replied, shaking her head at him. “You must know that.”

He shrugged, massaged his thumbs over the back of her hands.

“Perhaps I am. But for tonight, it is a rake I wish to be.”

He pulled her closer, then tugged at the skirt of her nightgown.

“Come, undress. Let us discuss my role as a tutor again. I am in need of my wife,” he urged.

Despite his bluntness, Rose found herself laughing as she pulled his hands away from her skirts and tucked them into his own lap. She then placed her hands on his cheeks, tilted his head down, and kissed his forehead. Everett looked up with wide, shocked eyes as she stepped back.

“What you need is a good night’s rest, Everett,” she said, putting enough space between them so that he could not reach for her again.

There was more she wanted to say, to chastise him about. For now, though, she would simply let it at that.

“Good night, Everett,” she said as she reached the door.

He was still looking at her with a shocked expression as she turned to look at him one last time.

“Wait,” he said quickly when she was done waiting for him to bid her good night in return.

She turned to him once more, a single brow raised in question.

Everett’s eyes slowly wandered down the length of her body.

“Thank you, Rose,” he said, his tone surprisingly sincere.

She gave him a small smile and dipped her head in a bow.

“You are welcome,” she answered.