If I lost her, it might be my fault thistime.
No. Screw all those stupid insecurities. If she didn’t feel that way about me, she didn’t feel it. But she had to at least know how much she meant tome.
I sat up and reached for myphone.
Chapter Nineteen
Rose
The moment after Dad left the house, a porter in tow with his luggage, a quiet descended in the hall. The three of us who’d come to see him off didn’t seem to know what to say to each other all of asudden.
Derek ran his hand over his ash blond hair. “Well, I have a property to gather some details on for work, but I expect that’ll only take a couple hours, if you wanted to do something later this afternoon.” He gave me a gently questioninglook.
Mouldy cinders, I had to offer something. “Maybe we could…” What to suggest that didn’t make me cringe? I’d have offered a stroll into town, but then we might run into one or more of the guys, and I couldn’t be sure how I’d handle myself then. Or how they’d handle themselves, if it happened to be, say, Damon. Derek and I had already taken so many turns through the garden he probably had every flower memorized. The thought of being confined in a car with him had me suppressing ashudder.
Oh! “You mentioned that concert recording you wanted to show me,” I said. “We could dust off the DVD player.” And watching TV meant I could do more observing him and less trying to think of things tosay.
“Sounds like a plan,” Derek said. He leaned in to give me a kiss, so abruptly and so unexpectedly my head flinched to the side. His lips brushed mycheek.
I blushed with a flip of my heart that wasn’t at all pleasant. I had to makesomeappearance of still seeing him as my consort-to-be, or he or Celestine or both of them would realize something was verywrong.
“Sorry,” I said with a quick smile. “My nerves are all over the place this morning. Didn’t see thatcoming.”
Derek chuckled as if it didn’t matter. I offered my lips to him, and he gave them a peck that didn’t provoke too much of a cringe. For the first time in my life I was grateful that my stepmother was around, so he didn’t go for anythingmore.
Celestine had stepped to the side to watch Dad’s car leave for the airport through the big picture window in the living room. As Derek ambled off, I edged closer to her. If Master Courtland had discovered the attempted robbery, I had to think he’d have told her. Did she know yet? Did she suspect it’d been me? I’d been careful sneaking out yesterday evening, but I couldn’t assume I wassafe.
I waited until the car was out of sight before I opened my mouth. My stepmother turned in the same moment and startled as if she’d forgotten I was there. “Rosalind,” she said with a twitch of her hand over her glossy bob. “I’m sure we’ll get along until hereturns.”
As if you could call what we did at any time “getting along.” She did seem to have a bit of an agitated air about her. I cleared my throat. “I was just wondering, do you know if Master Cortland will be back today? I was thinking it’d be a nice day for a walk over there if he’shome.”
Did her eyes widen slightly at that question or was I just imagining it? Her lips pressed flat, but that was pretty much Celestine’s standardexpression.
“I don’t keep that close accounting of his schedule,” she said. “I only heard he was going to be away for some time. You could always call the house and see, youknow.”
“Right,” I said, with an apologetic dip of my head. “I’ll dothat.”
Except I absolutely definitelywouldn’t.
“What now?” Philomena murmured, appearing next to me as I headed up the stairs. “Shall we tie them to chairs and interrogate them with hotpokers?”
“Have you been getting caught up in stories that aren’t yours?” I asked. “Where did that comefrom?”
She grinned. “Oh, it’s just something my older brother used to threaten me with when I was getting up to a little too much secret mischief. He was just joking. At least, I think hewas…”
“Well, I think going straight to physical torture might be a little extreme.” And also it wasn’t as if I could have gotten a direct advantage over Celestine while she had her magic and my spark was dim. I bit mylip.
In the upstairs hall, Meredith was just ducking into her office. Without really knowing what I intended to do, I meanderedover.
I stopped in the doorway, watching our estate manager as she gestured at one of her filing cabinets. A drawer slid open and a folder jumped out. “There you are,” she murmured, grabbingit.
She bent over the papers, her pale hair drifting across her smooth face. A lump rose in my throat. Meredith had been the closest thing I’d had to a mother most of my childhood. I couldn’t even remember my birth mother, who’d been taken by a sudden and aggressive cancer when I was a toddler. But she was still my father and stepmother’s employee. What could I tell her that would make this whole conspiracy soundbelievable?
She turned and raised her eyebrows at the sight of me. “You’ll give me a heart attack, standing there so quiet, Rose,” she said with a littlelaugh.
“Sorry,” I said. “I was just wondering…” Could I ask if she’d noticed Celestine and Derek talking at all when I wasn’t around? No, that might sound as if I suspected them of some kind of intimate dalliance. I restrained a shudder at the thought. Maybe I could ask about Derek’s activities as if I were trying to arrange some romantic surprise forhim?
Before I could decide, the floorboards creaked down the hall. I glanced over. Celestine had just come up the stairs. Our gazes locked, and then hers slid from me to the room I was standing outside of. A prickle ran down myback.