Page 3 of A Duke for Stealing (The Devil’s Masquerade #4)

CHAPTER TWO

“ I am a wretched person.” Rose groaned the words under her breath.

“What was that, Rose?” Amelia asked.

Realizing she’d just muttered her thoughts aloud, Rose quickly shook her head, picked up the soft pink skirts of her gown, and hurried to catch up to her friends.

“Nothing,” she replied.

Amelia raised an eyebrow as they joined the slow, finely dressed crowd making its way into the large stone church.

“Rose, are you quite alright? You do not look like yourself. Are you feeling well?”

“I am,” Rose answered quickly. She brought her fingers up to her mouth to chew on her thumb, realized she was wearing white satin gloves, and quickly put them down, twisting her fingers nervously into her purse strings.

“She is quite well,” Ophelia spoke up, throwing Rose a quick look. “Life with her Mama has just been…busy.”

Amelia, Seraphina, and Theo all turned to Rose with sympathetic looks.

“Yes,” Seraphina whispered, “We heard what happened last week. She took that awful spill. We hope she is well-recovered.”

She wasn’t. In fact, Betty had yet to have a sober moment since.

Yet Rose would take worrying about that over the worry of the secret she held.

At least her mother’s tribulations were her norm.

In truth, though, she’d lost sleep after discovering Harriett’s secret, and the decision on whether or not to let Everett know weighed heavily on her with every passing day.

Now here they were, at the wedding in question, and Rose’s nerves were fit to be tied. Should she stop it? Or should she just let it go? Let the lives of those getting married play out without her interruption.

“Rose,” Ophelia whispered loudly.

She jerked her head up and saw that her friends were near the open double doors of the church; all of them looking at her with growing concern. Hurriedly, she passed through the crowd now separating them, offering profuse and multiple apologies she had to shoulder past.

“Rose, why do you not take Dominic’s other arm?” Amelia offered. “If you are not feeling well, he will have no trouble leading us to our seats, will you, Dominic?”

“Not at all,” Dominic replied, extending his free elbow to Rose.

Rose moved to take Dominic’s arm, but at the last moment, she pulled her arm back and gave them a tentative smile.

“I shall join you all shortly. I need a moment of refreshment,” she said, taking a step away from her friends.

“Well, we shall join you,” Ophelia said, already moving toward Rose.

“No,” Rose answered quickly, taking a quick step backward, “I should like to go by myself. I will only be a moment, I promise you.”

Ophelia gave her a wary look, as if her friend knew what she was about to do. Before she could say or do anything else, however, Rose darted away from her friends and followed the hall to the back rooms of the church. Ophelia might be fine keeping the secret, but Rose decided she was not.

Rose moved quickly, taking advantage of the empty halls to run in a rather unladylike fashion and peek into the rooms until she found the one Everett was nestled away in. When she finally found him alone, she closed the door behind her in a hurry, taking a moment to catch her breath.

“Rose,” Everett blurted, turning away from the standing mirror. His brows drew up into pure surprise as he looked her over. “What are you doing here?”

“You,” Rose said through deep breaths. “I must speak with you.”

A playful smirk alit Everett’s lips as he slid his hands into his pockets and strolled lazily toward her.

“What have you got to say, my lovely Rose?” Everett asked, his voice full of amusement, “Are you here to profess your desire for me? Beg me for one moment of bliss before I adorn the shackles of matrimony? How cheeky. I love it. Very well then, let us have a go.”

Rose shot him a dirty look. Of course, Everett would jump to that conclusion. He was the most infamous rake of their little circle.

“Do pretend you have the capacity to be a gentleman,” she replied, having caught her breath. “That is not what I am here for-” she paused, then added, “That is something I will never ask for. Especially of you.”

Everett’s smirk slipped into a half-hearted frown of bemusement.

“No need to be hurtful, Rose,” he chastised. He then turned back to the mirror to continue inspecting himself, “Especially today. You have no idea how long I have dreaded this occasion.”

“Could you please be serious for a moment?” Rose snapped.

Everett’s green eyes glanced at her through the mirror, a single brow raised.

“Oh, I am being most serious,” he replied, “However, this marriage is simply a fact of my new life, so I must go through with it.”

He then let out a dramatic, woeful sigh and went back to his preening.

“So tell me,” he went on, adjusting his cravat, “If you are not here for my favors, what has barging in here like a madwoman? We are not close.”

Rose paused a moment. It was true, they really were not even friends. They knew of each other and were in the same circle.

“Well?” Everett asked.

His prodding renewed her annoyance with him, and she threw him another dirty look.

“I need to tell you something,” she stated.

“Come on, then, out with it,” Everett quipped.

“You should not get married today. Not to Harriett.”

Everett scoffed, looking completely unfazed. “Oh? Pray tell, why? I assume it is not so that you could take her place.”

“Would you stop being so nonchalant about this?” She hissed.

He turned on his heel, giving her a rare look of pure irritation.

“Would you stop being so coy and just tell me why you are here?” He retorted.

Rose drew in a breath, ready to tell her secret, when the door opened. She panicked as Tristan and Theo appeared. In turn, both of them froze, their eyes going wide.

“Rose, what are you doing here?” Tristan asked. “You should not be here. Do you have any idea of the damage you could do to this wedding if you are seen?”

Again, Rose’s annoyance spiked.

“I am well aware,” she hissed.

“Is something going on between you two?” Theo asked, her eyes darting between Rose and Tristan.

“God, no,” they both replied in startling unison.

Rose turned to glare at Everett and was only greeted with a cheeky grin.

“So out with it, Rose. Tell me why I should not marry Harriett,” Everett insisted.

She tried to say the words. Tried to form them on her lips and profess the truth of what she’d heard. Yet now with three sets of eyes set upon her instead of just one, Rose found herself unable to do so.

“Just…do not marry her, Everett,” she finally said, giving him a pleading look. “She is not good for you.”

Everett smirk faded into a look of disappointment.

“I doubt that any woman truly is,” he said, his tone surprisingly soft and forlorn.

It was the first time Rose had ever heard him sound sincere, and even though he annoyed her to no end, she suddenly felt a swell of empathy for the man.

“Rose, come along now,” Theo urged, taking her arm. “You and I must find our seats.”

Rose felt Theo pulling her out of the room. It was the right thing to do. To leave. To let Everett marry Harriett. She’d tried to tell him. That was all she could do. Still, as Theo pulled her backward, Rose gave her warning one more attempt.

“Do not marry her, Everett. Call it off now. Before anyone need get hurt.”

Everett’s gaze turned deeply curious as he watched her being pulled out of the room, but no more was said, and a moment later, Rose was walking with Theo back to the prayer hall.

“What in heaven has gotten into you?” Theo whispered fervently. “I have never seen you like this before!”

Feeling utterly defeated, Rose simply bowed her head and followed Theo to their seats. The rest of her friends gave her curious looks as they filtered into the pew, but Rose kept her head down.

Breathe. You just have to breathe. Stay calm. Stay silent. You tried to tell him. Ophelia was right. This is obviously not your business!

Rose repeated the words to herself over and over again, even as the ceremony started and Harriett had made her way down the aisle and had joined Everett on the raised stage to begin their vows.

That’s it. Just stay quiet. Get through this. Even if it will hurt Everett. Even if the silly man who’d made her laugh and annoyed her like a brother will be connived by a woman he thought he could trust. Even if he-

“If anyone knows of any reason why these two should not be joined in holy matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace,” the priest spoke to the crowd.

Rose froze, forgot how to breathe. Seconds. She just had to stay quiet for a few more seconds.

“Well, with no one to object, I-”

“Wait!” Rose shouted, the word bursting from her like a cry for help. She shot to her feet, not at all sure how she’d gotten her legs to move in the first place.

Silence so loud it was deafening flooded the church as all eyes, including Harriett and Everett’s, turned to her.

Rose opened and closed her mouth a few times, still shocked at what she was doing, and began to stammer.

“I-I- I do, Your Holiness,” she finally worked out.

The priest raised a brow as he lowered his bible.

“Speak your protest, madam,” the priest commanded. “Before your peers and God.”

Harriett was positively fuming as she stared daggers at Rose, but Everett actually looked as if he were about to burst into laughter at any moment. Tristan, at his side, was looking at her as if begging her to say something or sit down.

“I love him,” she blurted out.

Gasps filled the chamber as Rose’s mind whirled. I love him. I love him?! Of all the things she could have said, that was what her brain came up with??

Everett’s laughing stopped as he looked at her with momentous surprise, but Harriett’s expression was one of pure fury.

“Quiet yourself, Rose Gravesmoor,” Harriett commanded. “And sit down!”

“Rose, truly, you should sit down,” Ophelia whispered at her side. “I fear you have suffered from some sort of-”

“I love him,” Rose repeated, louder this time. “And he loves me too!”