《The Beauty Of Rose》P A R L E R
Advertisement
I LOOKED AT HIM expectantly. "Yes?"
"We'll leave after breakfast. We were supposed to leave yesterday but..." Matthew let his words hang in the air. My stomach dropped in disappointment. Brisbane Manor was another world. I didn't want to return to real life.
"Alright." I smoothed invisible creases in my dress. "You should go get ready."
Matthew's lifted in a half-smile. "I know, I look horrid."
I couldn't resist giving him a small grin. "I need to finish getting ready too." We exchanged a reluctant goodbye before going off to our respective rooms. Once I'd put the finishing touches on my appearance, I dallied making it to the dining room. I savored each slow step for I knew as soon as breakfast came to a close, we would be off to our respective houses. Besides, I didn't want to suffer through table discussion with my husband and mother-in-law. It was downright uncomfortable.
When I arrived in the dining room, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was late. Everyone was already seated and chatting comfortably—Matthew was even smiling. "Goodmorning," I greeted.
"Goodmorning, dear," Lord Thomas returned. "We were just discussing the traveling paths this morning."
I did my best to ignore the sting of disappointment that snaked down my spine. "Were you?"
"Yes," Matthew replied. "Archie said that the roads are too dangerous to traverse by carriage. Apparently, they're a lot of broken trees and things down the path."
"Oh," I said, trying my best to my voice light and free of excitement. "So, we aren't leaving today?"
"Correct," my husband affirmed. "I thought we'd stay the weekend as planned. That'll give enough time for the debris to be cleared."
The conversation proceeded normally from there, free of any heated accusations or awkward moments. I was actually enjoying myself until Lady Thomas posed a comment at me directly.
"I hear you love gardens, Rose. Matthew told me of your famous rose garden at Whitfield mansion," she said.
"Roses are my greatest love, ma'am."
"Mary," she corrected. "I know your garden surely puts mine to shame, but would you like to take a walk there? You can give me some tips."
That was the very last thing I wanted to do. I suspected a private conversation meant nothing more than a lecture about my dissolving marriage. But what choice did I have? "I would be honored, Mary."
We bid the men adieu and went outside to walk about the gardens. I felt my heels sink into sticky, deep mud as we sauntered about the grounds. I didn't even look at my dress, which I knew was becoming soaked as we walked on. Mary seemed to pay it no mind. "I owe you an apology," she finally said, once we reached a crop of petunias.
Advertisement
"It's not needed."
"It is." The woman got her knees and proceeded to pluck flowers from the ground. I stared at the mucky ground with profound distaste before reluctantly following suit. "I should've never blamed the state of your marriage on you alone. I know I would've lost my cool if my mother-in-law had done the same." I remained silent. I was pleasantly surprised with the tide of conversation. Mary glanced at me with Matthew's glimmering ocean-blue eyes. "I'm sorry, Rose."
"Thank you, Mary," I replied smilingly. "Not many mother-in-laws apologize when they offend their daughter-in-laws."
Mary laughed. We picked about a dozen flowers in comfortable silence. "I was also being hypocritical. I've never been a proper mother-in-law to you, Rose. I never asked of you or invited the two of you on holiday. It was wrong to suddenly blame marital problems on you, especially when I knew his attentions lay elsewhere."
The mention of Victoria during a rather pleasant time left a better taste in my mouth. "It's okay. You're forgiven." I aggressively plucked a poor flower from the ground, dragging the stems along with it. "It was my family who sold me, after all."
Mary gave me a concerned sidelong glance that I pretended not to see. It was if we silently agreed not to press that particular subject forward. "If you want any help to save the marriage Rose, just ask."
"There is nothing you can say to your son to halt the divorce. I know you've already tried."
"Pressing Matthew is not the solution to the problem," Mary agreed. "It's getting rid of the tart, correct?"
I tensed. "He loves her."
Mary sighed, with a shake of her head. "I believe he once loved her. But it's plain to see that the two of you are in love with each other."
I burst into a sarcastic peal of laughter. "We are not in love." In lust, maybe. Uncomfortably and inexplicably attracted to each other, sure. But love?
"A man simply driven by infatuation doesn't sleep at the foot of a woman's door to read her to sleep. Not at his age, anyway."
"We were both just trying to sleep," I pointed out. I didn't want to ask how she knew. For whatever reason, this accusation of love was making me cross.
"Some brandy and a sleeping tablet would've done the trick," Mary indicated. I frowned, despite myself. Why hadn't I done that in the first place?
"He's assured me that you'll be well protected after the marriage is dissolved."
"Matthew is behaving like a gentleman, that is all."
"Rose," Mary began softly. Her voice was downright motherly. It turned my head to look at her, even though I wanted to do the opposite. "I won't pretend my motives are altruistic. The marriage of my son to a courtesan will bring definite shame to my family and I will do everything in my power to avoid it."
Advertisement
"There's nothing I can do to help you," I cut in.
"But I see the way you look at him," she continued. I felt a tingling heat ripple through my body. "And I see the way he looks at you. I know the both of you are blind to it, such are the truths of fresh love. But I, a meddlesome mama, am not. So if you would like my assistance in making that woman disappear just say the word."
I stared at her expectant face in wonder.
"Will you say the word?"
🥀
"Have you ever tried whiskey in your coffee?" Lord Thomas asked his step-son. Matthew tore his gaze from the window. The bizarre question temporarily took his mind off wondering what his mother was doing with his wife.
"God, no," Matthew answered.
"You should try it," Archie suggested lazily. He rang the bell for a servant. A servant boy appeared with a tumbler of whiskey on a platter.
"You jest." Matthew's eyes darted to the crystal blue skies. "It's not even eleven o'clock."
"You're just like your mother," Archie laughed, pouring a dark golden stream in his cup. "She abhors it."
"It's abhorrent." Matthew watched his step-father stir a spoon in his drink, before taking a sip and releasing an exaggerated sigh.
"As an gentleman would, I must ask you. Your mother made me promise I would," Archie began.
Matthew sipped his own coffee, eyes on the whiskey tumbler. "We don't have to talk about it."
"I promised." He grinned. "She can tell when I'm lying."
"I'm going to dissolve my marriage and make sure she's taken care of in every respect for the rest of her days. I will marry my betrothed and be a respectable father."
"Hmm."
Matthew rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to change my mind."
"Wouldn't dream of trying to change your mind," Archie said. His voice was genuine. "You're a grown man capable of making sound decisions."
Matthew was both relieved and surprised to hear those words. "Exactly."
"I have to ask how long it's been, though."
"I've been with Victoria for years now."
"I mean your wife. How long have you been in love with her?"
Matthew swallowed his coffee with such speed it induced an embarrassing coughing fit. When it was over, he was teary-eyed.
"Shall I ask the question again?" Archie queried patiently.
"You may not," Matthew rasped. There was a definite attraction between the two of them. And he cared for Rose more than he liked to admit to himself. But, he did not love her. He could not. " There is no love between us."
"Is that why you slept outside her door with a book in your lap last night?"
Matthew silently cursed the gossipy, servant girl that had found him that morning. "That was nothing."
"Actually, I think it means a great deal more than you'd like to admit."
Matthew scowled at his step-father who only cheerily smiled back.
"You can pretend it's not true. But it's plain to everyone—servants, nobles, and gentry alike."
"Pardon me?"
"How do you think your mother got the idea to invite you here?"
Matthew petulantly shrugged. "It reached her that I was going to marry my mistress."
"It also reached her that you ravished your wife in an infamous spa house."
Matthew felt himself go red. He hadn't considered that the entire kingdom might actually he gossiping about his wife. The news was mildly alarming. Victoria had no polite society friends, but news always travels fast. What if she learned about he and Rose? "I didn't ravish her. We only kissed."
Archie looked at him with laughing eyes as he sipped his tea. "I'm sure."
"It's true," Matthew insisted. He was suddenly overcome with a desperate need to correct the story. "I wouldn't just take her in savusauna."
"Why not? I've taken woman in many unorthodox places. Why I—"
"Stop!" Matthew exclaimed. He was sure he would be positively sick if Archie continued.
"I wasn't even..." Archie gave a brief chuckle. "Alright, fine. Forget me and your mother and past lovers. Why wouldn't you just take her there?"
Because she was untouched, Matthew thought. Because her first time deserved more than a thoughtless escapade in steamy room. "Because," he answered stoutly. "I wouldn't."
"Alright," Archie said pleasantly in a tone that told Matthew he completely believed the rumor and not his step-son's word. "Fine. Let's talk about something else. I think I've tortured you enough."
"What else are we going to talk about? It's the whole point of these separate interrogations," Matthew remarked.
"One Hector Axel. I believe you know him."
Advertisement
- In Serial19 Chapters
Innocent Bet
Summer Rich. Just your typical 16 year old girl, just a little more rich. Not popular, but not unknown either. Cheerleader, but not a snob or stuck up. Not shy but not really outgoing either, she's an Ambivert. Not smart but is an Honors student. She's basically average. Luke Matthews. Popular, cocky, arrogant, bad boy, all of the above 17 year old boy. Basketball player, the best on the team. Has an attitude with everyone except hot girls. He's also super smart. Everyone looks up to him like he's a king. Summer and Luke's friends all come together to make a bet on who is gonna have the other wrapped around their fingers. They both agreed to it, whoever loses has to twerk to a song the other person selects during half time.
8 74 - In Serial54 Chapters
Billionaire In Love | ✓
#9 In Romance •Billionaire Auden Milson gets everything he wants. Except her heart. What happens when a badass woman, whose eyes remind you of a secretive cunning cat, in nothing but a wedding gown, munching on a kitkat, walks down the street barefoot, on a windy day without a care in the world, with her high-heels dangling from her fingers, catches the eyes of the infamous strikingly handsome Auden Milson? He falls in love. He falls in love hard.
8 178 - In Serial16 Chapters
the female lead is the real villian
"eloria? eloria~ elo..ri...ia..~" "stop it, stop it stop it stop it please just stop it!!" it felt so real...ah, xilver! and...whose tha- her world starts to change when one night a strange clone of herself appeared in her dreams, and one the night without a moon at that! the strange lady starts appearing in many sorts of dreams after that, but somewhat after drinking water that xilver always happen to keep at the table beside her bed, it seems like all the fear vanishes. until one day, one her day of work her head starts to ache to the point where she faints, and her memories start altering, making it difficult for eloria to differentiate between herself and that girl. after months, she consouls her brother and soon she appears in a completely different world where shes the imperial general of an entire magic empire? "what the hell, why so many students?!" staying there with her brother and getting the explanation she was joping for, she realizes that shes the female villian who is also the female lead, and has to control her own magic from going beserk or everything might repeat itself, so what will she do?
8 154 - In Serial59 Chapters
Shadow in the North
What if a work of fiction wasn't fiction at all? What if we only thought it was fiction because it was written down, and we were separated from it by the page? Isabel Darrow, troubled by her past and feeling disconnected from the world, likes her doctor's suggestion that the world of fiction might become reality. She likes the idea of waking up in the middle of her favourite book with the handsome, brooding Mr Thornton glaring at people in his mill yard, but she doesn't worry about the foul air of dirty, smoky Milton, because it's not real, and it was written over 160 years ago.But then she takes a trip to Oxford, and gets waylaid along the way, finding herself greeted at a smoky train station, by a man called Mr Hale, who claims to be her godfather. When Isabel meets Margaret and first sees Mr Thornton, she's determined to help the course of love run a little more smoothly for the two stubborn lovers. But Gaskell hadn't accounted for a second young lady in the Crampton house, and whilst Isabel tries to adapt to a life where women have no independence or equality, Milton must adapt to her. The question is, will Mr Thornton adapt to her, or Margaret, first?
8 139 - In Serial35 Chapters
RANK
Alpha of the Darks, Vince, imprints on Nya but keeps it a secret.ExcerptVince was resting in bed running the day's events through his mind when his heightened sense of hearing was alerted to the sound of ruffling sheets. Little feet hit the ground telling him it was a female and the odd placement of footsteps lets him know it wasn't Malina. He rises and when he widens his bedroom door Nya's scent flooded through his nostrils. He clears his throat instinctively and follows the smell into the hall. There he finds her coming straight towards him. He was surprised she was up this soon. She should have been out until the morning at least. Her foot was healed and her clothes were changed from earlier. She was now wearing a fitted cotton t-shirt, soft plaid shorts, and her hair was tied up in a messy bun. "What are you doing?" He folds his arms and angles his brows. She keeps her same pace beelined to him.Never, has he ever had the thought of taking a step back when being approached; until now that is. He hesitated. He firmly refused to let anything make him back down. This was his house, his rules, and she had no power over him. His focus inadvertently fell to her breast that lacked cover from a bra, and then to her smooth thighs, and like he has absolutely no control, to her toned calves. She was a foot away when the moon's glow from the skylight illuminated her face. His heart skipped a beat. It had never done that before. Then his train of thought went right off the tracks. He didn't realize how thick her lashes were, or how perfectly red her lips were stained. Where earlier she was pale, she now had a flushed pink color. The darkness from under her eyes was gone and her cheeks were slightly fuller too.He blinks away his unwanted thoughts when she stops inches from him.With a neutral gaze, an expressionless expression almost, she makes a sudden turn and goes around him. "What the f**k?" She was sleepwalking he registered.
8 118 - In Serial54 Chapters
He calls me Angel
"You like tasting yourself, baby?"She didn't have time to answer, as she moaned against my lips, when a second finger entered her wet core. "Vaffanculo!" She cursed, writhing with each new thrust."Yeah, I'd like that," I said against her lips.~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•Erika Ricci, 24, never expected a patient like him to knock her off her high horse.Brandon A. King, 26, was immediately attracted to the young physician. His charming ways lure her in, but will his past and all the secrets he keeps to himself drive them apart?Scalpel meets fists and guns.Once they collide like wild fire, there's no turning back. ~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•#1 IN FIGHTCLUB (June 3rd 2021)#1 IN FEMALEDOCTOR (Nov 22nd 2021)#2 IN FIGHTFORLOVE (Nov 22nd 2021)#74 IN LAWYER (July 31st 2021) Copyright © 2020 by Dear_joanna. All rights reserved. !!Contains mature themes & language!! Pictures used in chapters belong to a their rightful owners.
8 122