Page 28 of Trapped with the Beastly Duke

Rose nodded and allowed herself to be steered towards the garden. As they walked together, she found the other woman’s easy charm utterly disarming.

How unlike her brother she is.

While the Duke was hard edges and cold solitude, his sister was the opposite. She shared his high cheekbones and sharp features, yet her eyes were so full of warmth and kindness that she was impossible to resist. While he was closed off, curt and aloof, she was effusive and open.

“You know, I once climbed to the top of that tree.” Olivia gestured to a particularly gnarled-looking apple tree.

“Did you?” Rose found it easy to imagine this lively girl doing something like that.

“Indeed, I did. It was my sister Marie’s fault. She told me that I was too old to do something like that and that I must be a lady now.” Olivia shook her head in disgust. “I was only ten!”

“And how old was Marie?”

Olivia flushed. “Two, I think. But she was a very precocious toddler. Actually, sheisa very precocious child.”

“You let a child goad you up a tree?” Rose laughed.

“I do not like to be told what to do.”

“I am beginning to see that.” Rose smiled. “I fear I have grown so used to being told what to do that I scarcely know how to do differently.”

“Are you telling me that if I simply demand you call me Olivia, we might have skipped this Lady business?” Olivia’s eyes widened in mock outrage.

“Perhaps I am getting better at standing my ground,” Rose teased. “Tell me, was climbing the tree everything you had hoped it would be?”

“I suppose that depends on your point of view. On the one hand, I do love proving people wrong, and I did get to the top of the tree. On the other hand, the decision may not have been the wisest.” Olivia blushed again. “You see, although I reached the top of the tree, no sooner had I turned to gloat than the branch beneath me snapped.”

“Oh, goodness!” Rose clapped a hand over her mouth. “Were you hurt?”

“I might have been if Alexander had not been there to catch me.” Olivia shook her head. “I hadn’t even realized he was in the garden. I barely had a chance to scream before he caught me in his arms.”

Rose flinched. “It is fortunate that he was there.”

“Yes. It was.” Olivia smiled sadly. “He was shaking. I have never seen him like that before. He set me on the ground and checked me for injuries. I was crying because I was terrified Father would be angry with me for breaking the tree.”

“Your father?”

“Yes, it was a few months before he died.” Olivia’s voice was soft. “I remember begging Alexander not to tell him, asking him not to be cross with me.”

Rose shivered as she imagined the cold face of the Duke staring into the pleading eyes of a child. “I cannot imagine he responded kindly to such pleas.”

Olivia tilted her head, a look of confusion in her eyes. “Do you really think my brother would be so cruel?”

Rose flushed. “Was he not?”

Olivia shook her head. “No. He told me that trees could be replaced, but there was only one of me. He said he would keep my secret, but that Father would understand.”

Rose’s eyes widened in surprise. “And did you ever tell your father?”

Olivia nodded. “Yes. He asked the next day what had happened to the apple tree, and I told him. He simply told me to be more careful and choose a sturdier tree next time.”

She laughed sadly, and Rose put an arm around her. For a moment, they sat in companionable silence.

“It is hard to imagine your brother as you have described. It is so far removed from the man I know.” Rose frowned. “Did your father’s death change him so much?”

Olivia pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Yes and no. My brother is not the callous brute everyone makes him out to be. Father’s death hurt him more than I think he cares to admit. It wounded some fundamental part of him.”

She paused, as if considering her next words. “I do not remember much of the night Father was killed. I only remember what happened afterwards. I remember Alexander and the way he promised to protect me. It was as if he put on a mask to hide himself from the world…”