Catching Kent (25 page)

“
Is there anything else you
need, ma’am?” her lady’s maid asked.

“
No, I don’t think so,”
Rose replied. “Thank you.”

After the older woman left, Rose
inspected her dark blue gown in the mirror. It was absolutely
gorgeous. She thought her wedding dress would be the fanciest gown
she’d ever wear, but this dress put that one to shame. And to think
she had an armoire full of more gowns!

A knock on the door connecting her
bedchamber to Kent’s drew her attention away from the mirror.
Smiling, she hurried over to the door—at least as fast as she could
go in her layer of petticoats—and flung it open. As she expected,
Kent was on the other side, dressed in a suit that made him look
more handsome than she ever remembered seeing him.

He returned her smile and entered the
room. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

Her heart warmed at his concern for
her. “I’m nervous, but yes. I want to do everything I can to help
your business succeed.”

“
You’ll do fine, Rose. All
you have to do is be yourself.” Drawing her into his arms, he gave
her a lingering kiss that made her tingle from her head to the tip
of her toes. “I think you’ll enjoy this kind of thing. You love
being around people and you have a way that makes them comfortable
with you. That’s the most important thing to remember when dealing
with people. If you take the time to care about them, they’ll like
you. And you’re the type of person who cares about everyone you
meet. See? That makes you ideal for this.”

She hoped so. He seemed so confident
in her. She started to take a deep breath but stopped when she
remembered her corset. “Kent,” she held his hands and looked up at
him, “what are these people like? The ones who are coming here
tonight?”

“
Well, Mr. and Mrs. Fields
are elderly and are very nice people. Their concern, however, is
their granddaughter’s future. She’s their sole remaining
heir.”

“
She is?” Rose
interrupted.

“
Their son and his wife
died in train accident two years ago.”

“
That’s awful.”

“
Their granddaughter was
seventeen when she lost her parents, and after that, she became
withdrawn and quiet. Her grandparents are worried that she has
closed herself off to everyone to the point where she won’t take
any suitors. They’d like for her to have children she can pass on
the family fortune to. I thought if anyone could help her come out
of her shell, it’s you.”

“
I don’t know what I can
do.”

“
Do whatever it is you did
to get me to come out of my shell.”

Rose considered everything she did but
couldn’t think of any one thing in particular that finally made him
agree that he was meant to marry her. “All I did was care about
you.”

“
There you go. Care about
her.”

He made it sound so easy, as if it was
some magical spell she could cast on someone and make whatever she
wanted come true. “I’ll have you know that marrying you was one of
the most difficult things I’ve ever done.”

“
Oh?” he asked, his eyebrow
raised.

“
Yes. You were most
uncooperative. I had to find all kinds of ways to get close to you.
It was difficult.”

“
You might have considered
it difficult, but from where I stood, you had no trouble being
there when I woke up from a nap or grabbing my crutch so you could
hold me.”

“
I did have trouble. And
lots of it. I delayed a lot of chores to do all that.”

“
I see. Then when you say
it was difficult, you mean it was hard to get away from doing the
work around the house so you could keep up your endless pursuit of
me. In that case,” he leaned forward and kissed her on the nose, “I
stand corrected. I do recall your family pestering you about not
leaving me alone.”

“
But I prevailed and it
paid off. I got you in the end.”

Chuckling, he slipped his arm around
her waist and led her to the door that would take them to the
hallway. “Yes, you did. And that only goes to prove that if you
have your mind set on something, you’ll get it no matter what.
It’ll be even better now that we’re going to be vying for the same
things.”

“
Oh?”

“
Yes. I’ve learned to never
oppose you.” He kissed her then led her down the stairs.

***

As it turned out, Mr. and Mrs. Fields
were easy to like. They delighted in travel and spoke about Europe.
Rose listened in interest. Having never been outside of Omaha, she
could only imagine what beautiful places existed around the world.
She’d read about some of them described in detail, and once in a
while, she’d close her eyes and pretend she was there. But to
actually be there and see it in person had to be much
better.

“
Did you go to Italy while
you were with your uncle in Ireland?” Mr. Fields asked at one point
during the meal.

“
I did.” With a slight
chuckle, Kent added, “My uncle wanted to give me perspective on
life. In addition to all of Europe, he took me to India and China.
He thought it was important that I realize how different but
similar people are.”

Rose furrowed her eyebrows. “That
seems like a contradiction.”

“
When he first said it, I
thought so, too, but it’s really not. The way people dress and
their traditions might be different, but they experience the same
thoughts and feelings no matter where they live.”

“
I see what you mean,” Rose
replied then picked up a glass of wine and took a sip. “And it
makes sense. People are people no matter where you go.”

“
You’ll get to experience
it yourself firsthand when we travel,” he promised.

Delighted he planned to take her to
new places, her smile widened.

After dinner, Rose offered to take Mr.
and Mrs. Fields’ granddaughter, Madeline, to the library. She
sensed that Madeline preferred to spend her time alone doing
something that allowed her to escape from the world. And there was
no better way to escape than to get lost in a book. Since Kent took
Mr. and Mrs. Fields to the parlor where he could play some songs on
his piano, Rose brought Madeline to the room with enough books to
satisfy anyone for a lifetime.

Laughing, she turned to Madeline. “I
know it sounds funny, but this house is so large that sometimes I
fear I’ll get lost.”

As she hoped, Madeline’s lips curled
up.

She waited to see if Madeline would
answer, but she kept quiet. Beyond a greeting, she hadn’t said
anything the whole evening.

“
I haven’t gotten lost
yet,” Rose continued, “but you know, I did read a story once where
a young woman was exploring her new house—one much bigger than
this—and she ended up going through a secret corridor. But the
problem was, she couldn’t find her way back. She spent the rest of
her life going through the secret passageways but never found her
way back.”

Madeline’s eyes grew wide. “She
didn’t?”

“
Nope. But she did end up
in different enchanted worlds where all sorts of fantastical
creatures lived. There were fairies, unicorns, and leprechauns.
There were also horrible, nasty things, too. Goblins and ogres. She
had a series of adventures in those lands. It was fun to read. For
months, I imagined what it’d be like to be with her, doing the
things she did. My sister thought I was silly, but she doesn’t like
to read books so why would she understand what it’s like to be so
immersed in a book to the point where you forget everything
else?”

“
I’ve read books like
that.”

“
Have you?”

“
Well,
I
didn’t read them. My mother did.
She used to read to me before bed every night.”

Noting the underlying sorrow in her
voice, Rose said, “I’m sorry you lost her, and your father, at such
a young age.”

She nodded but turned her attention to
the books. “Do you have those stories here? The one where the woman
went to the other worlds and had those adventures?”

“
I do. They’re right over
here.” Rose motioned to the books in the lower shelf. “They’re not
in as good shape as some of the others. When I got married, I had a
trunk full of books that I couldn’t bear to part with. They look so
old and worn compared to the ones Kent has.”

“
I prefer them worn. That
means they’ve been read, and the more they’ve been read, the more
they’ve been loved.”

“
Well, there are ten of
those adventure books, and you can take them with you to read. If
you’re like me, you’ll get through one book in a day.”

“
I can’t take all these
books at one time. It wouldn’t be right.”

“
I don’t mind.”

“
But I do,” Madeline
replied. “Besides, it’ll take me longer than a day to read one of
these books.”

“
Alright. One book at a
time it is.” And maybe Rose could use that to her advantage. “You
said you’re nineteen?”

“
I didn’t say that. I think
my grandfather did.” She smiled. “But he’s right. I turned nineteen
a couple months ago.”

“
I don’t suppose you make
it a habit of going to the mercantile at all?”

“
Actually, I
don’t.”

“
They have some dime novels
there. The latest ones in fact.”

“
Oh?”

Rose thought of how to word things so
she wouldn’t seem obvious about what she was thinking of doing. It
wasn’t likely that her plan would work anyway. Madeline was rich.
She came from generations of wealth. What were the chances she’d
consider someone like Jacob anyway? Sure, he owned the mercantile
so he had some money. But was that good enough? Just because Kent
married her, it didn’t mean all rich people ended up marrying
someone without significant money. Then again, one never knew if
one didn’t try.

Her smile growing wider, she said, “Oh
yes. And new dime novels come in once a month. Do you read
any?”

“
I can’t say that I
do.”

“
You should try one. They
have all sorts of stories to suit anything you’re interested in
reading. My sister-in-law introduced me to them when I was twelve,
and I’ve enjoyed them ever since. Let me take you to the mercantile
some time so you can pick one out. If you don’t like it, you don’t
have to read any more.”

Madeline let out a soft chuckle. “I’m
not opposed to trying something new once in a while.”

“
I was hoping you’d say
that.” Maybe nothing would come from her introducing Madeline to
Jacob, but it didn’t hurt to try. “Can I bring a carriage by your
home next Tuesday?”

“
Yes, that would be
lovely.”

Pleased, she picked out the first book
in the series and handed it to Madeline. “You can borrow this in
the meantime.” After Madeline thanked her, she asked, “Would you
like to join your grandparents in the parlor?”

She nodded so Rose led her out of the
library.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Rose finished putting her cameo on and
stepped back to study her reflection in the mirror in the entryway.
Maybe it was a little bit vain, but she couldn’t stop admiring the
beautiful clothes she now owned. In this case, it was a gorgeous
hunter green afternoon outfit with a skirt that swirled around her
feet.

Excited, she rang for the footman and
picked up her finger purse from the small table. The front door
opened and she smiled when she saw Kent. Hurrying over to him, she
wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. “I didn’t know you
were going to be home so early,” she said then kissed him
again.

Chuckling, he affectionately tightened
his hold on her. “To what do I owe such a grand
welcome?”

“
I always kiss you when you
come home.” Mindful that the footman would be coming at any moment,
she released her hold on him. “I miss you terribly when you’re not
here.”

“
Thank you,
Rose.”

Raising her eyebrow, she asked, “What
are you thanking me for?”

“
For caring about whether
or not I come or go.” Before she could reply, he added, “As it
turns out, I’m heading right back out. I forgot to take a contract
with me this morning, and if I want to seal the account with a new
client, I need to get it to him today. Are you going to the
Fields’?”

“
Yes. I promised Madeline
I’d be by at two.”

“
In that case, why don’t
you join me? I’ll have the coachman drop me off at my office, and
you and Madeline can go to the mercantile.”

“
It’d be nice to spend some
time with you.”

“
I’ll be right back then
we’ll leave.”

She nodded and turned her attention
back to the mirror. As she was straightening the cameo, the footman
arrived and asked her where she wanted to go. “Oh, I…I was going to
have you take me to Miss Fields’, but then my husband came home
and…well…” She cleared her throat, her face growing warm. She
figured there was a graceful way to talk to the servants, but she
hadn’t found it yet.