All the Things You Never Knew (16 page)

For a moment Rose just looked at Leon blankly in shock, not knowing what to say.
Had he really just ask her to marry him?
Didn’t he tell her that he wasn’t safe for her?
Rose wave the question out and look back into Leon’s eyes.
Was he truly serious or was it because they had just made love and he felt guilty for taking her innocence? Most men are like that, but then Leon is not most men. He’s just…him. And if he’s true to the question, why should she reject?
“Yes,” she answered cheerfully, pulling him close. “I will. I have dreamed of it, Leon. I will. If that means you will never leave me again, then I will. I will marry you.”
That brought a beam from him and he drove into her again since he never did withdraw himself from her.
“I love you, Rose,” he answered, claiming her mouth.
She loves him, too. She can say it a million times and still it would be true. She love his kisses, his touch, his lovemaking, his everything! There’s no man that she would love more than her Leon. Even if he’s taken for a bastard, it doesn’t matter.
Why would she need a nobleman when she can have one so charming and wrong in all ways? He’s capable of doing the things any living male can. She doesn’t need anyone else. With Leon, she should be bliss and satisfy for the rest of her life.
“I’m really going to have to get rid of Lansing, then, if I’m to win your hand,” Leon said to her after they have reached another highpoint. “Probably have to persuade your father, too, huh?”
Rose smiled at him, and rubbed his back.
She loves the feel of him. It brings joy and warmth to her. She just wished that they can stay like this forever.
“You do,” she answered, bringing her fingers to trace the contour of his face. “Father’s not going to let me break off this engagement easily. I doubt Lord Lansing will too. I’m expected to be his wife. I can’t easily back out of it like some theater performance.”
“I can help you,” Leon put in, raising some hopes in her.
“Can you really?” Oh, how she wish he could.
“I can do anything if it’s for you,” he answered, rolling off her and pulling her into a warm embrace. “But I need you to help me.”
“Help you?” She looked inquiring up at him and asked, “What is there that I need to do?”
He rubbed his chin briefly as to think and then snapped his fingers.
“I need you to just try and delay your wedding for as long as you can until I get Lansing off,” he told her. “I plan to do it quick. After that, we can proceed on to having our own ceremony.”
“I already told him that I want another half year to think about it,” Rose replied, trailing her fingers down his smooth muscular chest. “Plus, I heard he got…beaten pretty badly at the brothel. That should add to the delay.”
She felt Leon tensed suddenly and cursed out as she spoke those last two sentences.
“Oh, damn it,” he said, throwing an arm over his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, securing her arms around his neck.
“Rose, I’m sorry,” he said, looking down at her. “I was the one who did that to him.”
“Did you?” That stunned her for a moment and then indignation followed, making her pull away from him to sit up. “And why were
you
at the brothel?”
Had he just deceive her?
Please, don’t let that be it.
She had just given him her body, love, and soul. He can’t betray her again after all she had given him. He just can’t do that to her.
Realizing Rose’s anger, Leon got up and pulled her back to him. “Don’t think wrong yet, all right,” he said as she reluctantly sets her head back down on his chest. “I didn’t go there to do what you were thinking.”
“And what is it that I’m thinking?” she asked, annoyed from his reply. She hates the talk of brothels. It angers her every time, especially when he’s in it.
“Like what you always thought,” he answered. “But I assure you I was being honorable this time, basically because I was drunk.”
“Basically because
you
were drunk
?
How unreasonable,” Rose humphed. “If you weren’t, then you would have been doing exactly what I was thinking. Why were you drunk anyway, may I ask?”
“Because of
you
,” he whispered, nuzzling her against the neck. “You made me that way.”
“How so?” she wondered. “I never told you to drink.”
“You made me need to drink; otherwise I will be dying a slow death of grief and pain from your killing words that day in the woods,” he said, stroking his finger through her hair.
“Really?” It made her glad to hear, despite the fact that he got himself foxed over it. “Yes,” he answered with a devilish smile. “You shall have to pay for it now and marry me for the pain.”
She laughed out at his charming remark and kissed him. “I shall be glad to.”
“I left Lansing in a really bad state, you know,” Leon told her as he caresses her back slowly. “For a moment I thought I had killed him because he made me so angry.”
“What did he do?” she asked, curious about the reason.
“He tossed you aside for those whores at Phillipa’s,” he said despairingly. “I couldn’t tolerate that after what you’ve said to me. He
can’t
do that to you!”
Ugh! That place again.
“Oh.” How charming of him to do such a thing for her sake. Perhaps he really did love her as he had said.
“So…you thrash the life out of him for that, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” Leon answered bleakly. “I couldn’t…I couldn’t control myself. I
have
to kill him or get as close to it as possible to be satisfy.”
“You’re so sweet, Leon,” she said, moving herself to sit on top of him. “That must have been the best thing any man has ever done for me.” She bended down and kissed him soft and slow, feeling his arousal coming alive against her bottom.
“You’re not angry…are you?”
Rose smiled and shook her head. “Why would I be when you’re doing the honorable thing of beating up an unfaithful betrothed? I am most pleased.”
“You are?”
“Yes,” she nodded, and bended down to whisper in his ears, “Should I prove it to you, again?”
He laughed at her response and adjusted himself inside her, fondling with her breasts as she moans in joy. She should really keep her pleasure to herself but he made it impossible to not cry out to their love.
“You know, we’re probably waking up the whole city with your cry,” Leon joked as he thrust into her, slower and faster at the same.
Darn, he had made her forget about everything.
“Be quiet,” she managed to say and lean down to claim his mouth to hers once more.
Oh, she can never get enough out of him. How embarrassing it will be to think back after all this is over. But with him taking her high to ecstasy, every discomforting feeling was soon forgotten.

Lansing Villa

of Lansing, as he looks down at his son’s unconscious body that laid before him on the couch. “Who did this to him?” he asked the startle servant that stood beside him.

“A young gentlemen at the brothel, m’lord,” the servant answered shakily.
“What is his name? How dare he step down on my son so low?”
“Not sure, m’lord. The men in the brothel identified him as a friend of the Earl of Longsword and the Duke of Hargate by the name of Leon Heartily.”
The old marquess tensed and narrowed his eyes as he heard the name. “Heartily you say?”
“Yes, m’lord.”
The old marquess threw his head back and laughed.
Leon Heartily.
No doubt he’s the son of Rafael Windsor who had lived under the false name of Solomon Heartily, the one he had been trying to find for years ever since that day he obliterated the boy’s father.
Little Leon Heartily.
How much does that boy know of his plan to attack his son?
He had used his son Marcus as a cover for him while he stands behind to watch for any sign of the returning Heartilys who are actually bastard Windsors that had no clues.
He intended to have it that way, but he need to get his hands on them.
They had what he had been seeking for years, those little bastards.
How lucky of him to have one roaming back into his clutch.
“Where is that bastard now?” the old marquess asked the servant. “Ask a runner to find him. I’ll like to have a word or two with that Heartily bastard. He’s going to pay for this.”
“Yes, m’lord!” the servant nodded and rushed out to send for a runner as requested.
The old man turned to look at his son’s bloody state and cursed to himself.
He had been trying to keep hidden for as long as he could as a dead man, but his foolish son had failed him.
He must rise out of his tomb and handle things on his own.
Why should he be afraid of a little Windsor? He had finished the whole generation off already.
This tiny one won’t stand a chance.
He even tried to use the little old flame of that bastard to try and woo him closer.
That was the only reason he was making his son marry the chit.
Besides, Viscount Herring was in debt to him too. Using his daughter in a little scheme won’t hurt, but it seems that won’t be working anymore. He’ll have to find a different use for them. As for now, he’ll have to get that little bastard and show him a little of his wrath.

* * *

Leon left Rose early before dawn arise after a series of love making and promised to get back to her as soon as he can.
“I will be waiting,” she had said as she sends him off down her window, smiling languidly at him.
Damn it, he’s already missing her.
He just wanted to run back and have her once more. His lust had turned him greedy. He can’t think of anything else. Well, at least he had come to serve his purpose and achieve a little something more.
He must remain abstinent until he accomplishes his task. After that is over, he will have Rose to be his wife and they will live a happy life together till the end of time. He was astonished to have her accept his proposal in such haste without hesitation.
I have dreamed of it, Leon,
she had said, making him grin crazily to himself as he strode back to Hargate Inn to rest. It proves that he was not the only foolish one that had waited for the impossible.
He
would make it a possibility now for Rose and himself. Nothing is to ever come in between them again.
Even if he fears for her safety, she would be more in danger without him by her side. He had beaten that ass of a marquess and all. He would not be too pleased to have Rose’s lover thrash him to death like that. Her protection now is in high need of his. He shall act cautiously to prevent her from being the target of any harm. If anyone ever happens to hurt her, he would not rest until he has thrown that person out to the end of the earth.
That,
he would do for sure.
“You seem quite in a good mood,” came a deep voice that startled Leon as he enters the inn.
He whirled around to see who it was but was knocked out cold from behind before he had the chance.

Rose couldn’t stop smiling to herself as she thought back to the passionate night she had shared with Leon. It was the best thing she had ever experienced in her life. She wonders if she would ever feel this way if it was to be Lord Lansing caressing her and–Ugh! The thoughts disgusted her. She shouldn’t think about him.

She should be thinking about Leon and her future since he had proposed to her and she accepted it.
She was going to be his
wife!
Lord that excites her more than anything. She’s going to be known as Mrs. Heartily. Mrs. Rose Heartily. Not any Lady Lansing or Marchioness of Lansing. Just plain wonderful Mrs. Heartily. She loves it!
“Are you okay, m’lady?” asked Frances as she looks at Rose.
She had totally forgotten about the presence of her maid, who was accompanying her through the stroll at Hyde Park. She had risen rather late that morning and thought to have a walk in the park to waken herself.
“I’m perfectly fine,” Rose answered, inhaling in a deep scent of the autumn breeze that’s coming up fast. “It’s such a beautiful day, won’t you say? Look at the falling leaves with their bright orangey color and yellow specks.” She bended down to scoop up a handful and threw it up in the air with a laugh of delight.
“I say that’s most unlady-like,” Frances replied, brushing the falling leaves off her. “Your mother passed away with a list of duties for me to keep you well-trained and marriageable. Though I am nothing more than a maid to assist you, I’m also like a mother to guide you. You will soon be married to his lordship. You can’t throw leaves out in public or smile musingly to yourself without any proper reason. People would think you are not right in the head.”
Rose merely rolled her eyes at such absurdity and continued on her walk while Frances continues to babble.
How she wish she could just have a normal life. Perhaps she will be free after she marries Leon. She wants to be as far away from this aristocratic society as possible. Leave the
ton
and everything to rot. Why should they care about her action when it’s not their life? Why must she disguise herself to make everything perfect when it’s not?
Stupid regulation of the
ton.
Rose decided to take a short rest on a nearby bench and stretches her legs and arms to untangle the aching muscle. It must have been from part of Leon and her lovemaking. Too much caressing pleasure, perhaps.
Rose smiled again at the thought and averted her expression elsewhere to hide it from Frances. She was like a love struck puppy, all dazed and out of her head. She blushed as the image of Leon standing naked in the moonlight lingers in her head and cupped her cheeks. They were hot with mortification. How could she be thinking of that of all things in the world?
But soon her thought was interrupted and her smile vanished as she saw a man approach towards her.
At first, she thought he was just a mere stranger then she realizes that he was the Earl of Longsword that came that one day to tell her of Lord Lansing’s despicable doings. What reason does he have to be here?
“Beautiful day isn’t it, Lady Rose?” he asked, giving her a salute.
“Quite, yes,” she answered, flashing him a smile.
“You look striking today,” he commented, scanning down her figure that it made her blush.
“Well thank you, m’lord.”
He smiled and then grew serious as his gaze ran to her face.
“I have to talk to you, Lady Rose,” he said sternly. “Privately, that is.”
“Oh?” What does he want now?
She looked at Frances who had on a disapproving expression, then back at the earl.
“A pleasure, m’lord,” she curtsied and gestured for Frances to remain seated while she strolls off with Lord Longsword.
“You do know that Leon loves you right?” his lordship started as soon as they were out of earshot. “He came yesterday to explain everything of his doing to you, I presumed.”
“Yes,” she nodded.
And a little more than that.
“He did.”
It makes her feel rather awkward to have such an improper conversation with the earl.
Why did he ask? she wondered.
“Did he…tell you everything?”
“Yes,” she said again. “He did, though he did not go into much details.”
“It troubles him to think back to the past,” Lord Longsword said with a brief nod. “He doesn’t speak of it that openly. Even as a close friend, he still hides away certain things. I never truly know of what he thinks or what he’s suffering.”
So Leon and this Lord Longsword are not just friends but are
close
friends.
“I figured so,” Rose answered in agreement. “He attempted to tell me three times but never manage to.”
His lordship laughed at her remark and clucks his tongue. “That’s Heartily, all right. Fails at every verbal attempt. Was he stuttering? He tends to do that when he’s trying to say something that he can’t reveal.”
Rose rubbed her forehead to think. “I can’t really recall,” she said. “But he hesitates a lot and never gets the message across.”
“I’ll just take it as a yes, then.”
“Perhaps, yes,” Rose agreed. She rather likes this Earl of Leon’s. He probably was being honorable to come and inform her that day of Lord Lansing’s acts at that…that Phillipa’s whorehouse. It shows the similarity Leon and him shared in their friendship.
“But you two did get things set out straight, did you?”
She beamed at yesterday’s memories and exclaimed, “Oh yes. Most certainly.”
“That’s good then.”
“Is something wrong?” she asked him when she saw a bit of darkness in his eyes.
“Well, Lady Rose,” he said, his light mood dimmed. “I’m afraid something bad has happened to Leon.”
That brought a sudden tight knot to her chest.
“Something bad happened to…Leon?”
“I don’t know what, but I returned this morning from a trip to get back one of our friend and found a note.”
He reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out a paper, handing it to her.
Rose took it and opens it up to skim over it briefly.
It reads: