Page 34 of Waking Roslyn

Finally, his stance relaxed marginally. “Very well. Just be sure that’s all it ever is.”

I bowed my head again. “Of course, my lord.”

I stayed that way with my head bowed as the trio went past me toward the veranda.

“Your cousin is visiting as well?” the nobleman asked Lady Rockwell.

“She lives here. She and I grew up together, and she’s become my dearest friend, practically a sister,” Lady Rockwell said as they went inside.

Curious. The way Miss Rose had talked about him, it had sounded like they knew each other. So then, why did the man not seem to know her?

9

Roslyn

Admittedly, there had been a moment halfway through my first training with John when I thought I was crazy for even attempting to learn defensive skills. But that trick he’d come up with, creating the circle and making me defend it, had succeeded in pulling out a modicum of fierceness. I was so used to trying to fade into the background that standing up tall and loud in defense of myself felt foreign and nearly impossible. Yet, when he’d prowled around me and then forced himself into my space, it had worked. I’d imagined how I would react if it were Lord Farbury approaching with ill intent. I’d imagined him as Neil or Everett, and something inside of me had woken up. Granted, it wasn’t a very large something. I was under no delusion that I would suddenly be a warrior queen on the morrow, but perhaps my training wouldn’t be totally useless, and that was a comfort.

The next day, I was once again closeted in my room, embroidering the sleeves of a gown, when someone tapped at my door.

“Who is it?” I asked.

“It’s Lisette,” she called.

I quickly crossed to the door and unlocked it so that she could slip inside.

“Are you getting tired of hiding away?” she asked as we went to sit by the window.

“I’ve managed to find a few things to occupy my time.”

“I know you weren’t here yesterday. Edmund sent a maid to find you for dinner, but they couldn’t find you.”

I smiled at that. Last evening, I’d taken my drawing supplies and snuck down to the kitchen. I was lucky to find John there, and he’d helped me get a plate of food and then found a lamp so that I could eat in the old wing in peace. Then I’d spent several hours drawing in the lamplight. Part of me had wished John would join me, but after he’d spent so much time teaching me, it felt wrong to impose further. So I’d sat by myself in the abandoned wing and found comfort there, then I’d returned my plate to the kitchen and taken the servants’ stairs up to the second floor and my room.

“And hopefully I will not be found by anyone but you until he is gone. Which reminds me.” I braced myself for bad news before I asked, “Did you ask how long he’s staying?”

“He leaves the day after tomorrow, at first light.”

I let out a huge sigh. “Oh, good.”

“Yes. He said he’s delayed his return long enough, and three days with us is really all he can spare.”

I blinked hard, surprised that my overwhelming relief would cause tears to sting my eyes.

Her gaze was concerned. “Was he one of the boys who would torment you?” She had been aware of a little of what I’d gone through while it was happening, but she hadn’t known the real extent of it until I’d moved in with her and her father.

I shook my head. “No. I don’t think he ever liked me, but he wasn’t…hateful, the way some of the others were.”

“I’m sorry his presence causes you so much distress. He’s actually”—she gave a little shrug—“quite charming.”

I chuckled a little at that. I was terrified of a charming man simply because he was from my home country.

“It actually surprises me that he and Edmund get along so well. Lord Farbury has an easy manner that is quite the opposite of Edmund’s seriousness.”

“And how are you handling having a guest in your new…” I hesitated to say home, so instead chose, “surroundings?”

“It’s gone off rather seamlessly.”

“You sound surprised by that.”