All the Things You Never Knew Page 10

  Lansing hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

  “Don’t worry, old pal. She’s already mad so get done with your business here and explain things tomorrow,” Gareth suggested. “There’s no use bothering when she’s in a fury temper.”

  “But–” The marquess was going to say something but then stop. “I guess you’re right.”

  “Don’t worry,” Hargate said to Lansing. “If anything goes bad, I’ll talk to her. She’ll understand.”

  “Thanks,” Lansing cheered a little as Hargate spoke.

  “Now get back in there and finish having your fun before you’re strip off the chance,” Longsword put in, afraid that Leon might arrive and things won’t be good.

  “Aye,” the marquess saluted and stumbles back inside.

  “I think Lansing has the dumbest son in the world,” Hargate said, shaking his head.

  “I would’ve run after the lady,” Longsword said.

  “Oh, well. Let’s see if our little friend Leon would come.”

  Rose could hardly believe this was happening to her. Again! The moment she rushed into the whorehouse of Phillipa’s she’d encountered the most repulsive scene ever. It was almost like the sight she had seen a decade ago. His lordship was half-naked with his arms around two floozy half dressed women flirting and laughing.

  Before Rose knew it, her temper had ticked off and she was in an aggressive act yelling, and beating the heck out of every furniture in the house. It wasn’t until the tears begin to strike through the barrier of her weakness that she came to her senses and bolted out of the place.

  How much heartbreak is she going to have to endure before she finds true love?

  First Leon, then Marcus.

  Could any men ever be trusted?

  She had thought to be the best wife for Marcus, hasn’t she? He chose a whore over her...just like that God damn Leon had!

  What do those whores have that she doesn’t? Bosoms the size of a pumpkin? An hour glass figure that shows all temptingly seductive curves? A voice that lies and flatters without much to its meaning? A body to sell for nothing more than business of unimportance?

  Rose wiped at her eyes and slows down her pace of running as she thinks to herself.

  Why should she cry? There’s no reason. She should have known better from her experience with Leon. Men are never faithful. Not a single one of them. Their words were all lies to fool the heart.

  Devil takes it, she’s letting history repeat itself again! She had tried so hard not to let it happen. And here she is, crying over the same situation from years ago.

  Curse that Leon for taking it to effect in the first place, now it has ruined her whole–

  “Rose!”

  She stopped and tries to run off into the woods as she saw that it was Leon calling and riding towards her on the carriage.

  He jumped off and ran right after her, reaching her within a breath.

  “Rose!” He shook her shoulders and tried to hold her still as she struggles.

  “Let me go!” she cried, pushing against him.

  She despises him and all men.

  “What is wrong with you?” he asked, gazing down at her.

  Rose quickly turns away as the tears begin to form in her eyes again, and shook her head.

  “It’s none of your–”

  Before she could finish, he pulled her into his arms and hold her, blinding everything else.

  Leon couldn’t think of anything he can do to comfort Rose, except embrace her like this to ease her pain.

  The moment he’d looked into her eyes, he could see how badly she was hurt.

  Longsword must have taken her right into the brothel to catch that Lansing.

  He would thrash the hell out of that man for this if he wasn’t so damn considerate of Rose’s feelings.

  He knows he had hurt her once, but there was a good reason and he tends to make it up. Lansing had different intentions.

  It bothers Leon to see Rose in this way. He still couldn’t forgive himself for having her suffer like this in the past. He wanted to apologize and tell her that he still loves and cares for her, but it seems she would never trust him again.

  “Rose,” he murmured, smoothing her hair. “What’s the matter? Why are you–”

  She raised a finger to his lips, shutting him off and pulls away from his embrace. “It doesn’t matter now,” she said, quietly with a little sniff.

  She was crying.

  No…why is she crying?

  And what doesn’t matter?

  “Rose.” Leon was about to raise a hand to her shoulder but thought better at the moment to restrain.

  “Are all you men this way?” she asked, turning slowly to look at him.

  Damn if her eyes doesn’t make him want to pull her back.

  “What do you mean?” Leon asked, confused at her question.

  “Lie to a woman that you love her and then run off to a fucking whorehouse to dally with those tarts of a bitch!”

  Leon was caught by surprise at the sudden change of tone in Rose’s voice and her use of terms. And also at the situation she’d mentioned. He’d never seen her so furious–well, not since the last time he had done her wrong anyway.

  Her glare was so set and sharp that if it was a militant weapon it would’ve killed him right this instant.

  “Why do you ask?” Leon said, not knowing what else there is to say.

  “Tell me,” she ordered infuriatingly. “Why do you men choose those whores over a proper lady?”

  Leon would have laugh at that ridiculous question if Rose didn’t look so malevolent at the moment, but knew better.

  “I can’t really say,” he said with a light shrug. “Men have different intentions.” That was merely the truth. Men do have different intentions. He knows he does.

  “Do they?” She raised an eyebrow at him and sighed. “And what are their intentions may I ask?”

  Why is she doing this to him?

  “I can’t really say,” Leon answered.

  “What were your intentions when you did it?”

  She looked and sounded so threatening that Leon hesitated a bit.

  His intentions? He can’t tell her.

  “I can’t really–”

  “Don’t say you ‘can’t really say’ or else I’m going to burst!” she interjected madly.

  “I can’t–why do you want to know anyway?” he asked halfwittedly.

  “You–forget it!” she cried, turning away. “I know how you men are now. You can never admit your wrongs. You and his lordship are just the same!”

  “Wait a minute. You can’t compare me to him. We’re two different–”

  “Oh, you two are just alike! I hate you both! Get out of my life!”

  “Rose–”

  Leon reached out to grab her but she had already fled her way down the road. He wanted to go after her but know it’s not going to get any better.

  Why is she having such a mood swing? First she was all miserable and tearing, but then pleasant in his arms for a moment. Now she’s ranting on about him and that Lord Lansing, comparing them to one another.

  What exactly was all this?

  He’d only been gone for a few days and troubles are already beating at his heels.

  He has got to seek out Hargate and Longsword, for this must have been a game of theirs.

  He has no doubts about it.

  Curious, Leon rushed to Phillipa’s to find Hargate and Longsword standing outside at the bottom of the steps.

  “Finally you’re here,” Longsword said with a wave of his hand, acting as if nothing had happened.

  “You’ve made a new record, Heartily,” said Hargate, looking at his pocket watch. “Bridlington, East Riding is hours away and you made it here quite faster than I have expected. When did you depart anyway?”

  “That is not important,” Leon answered, not in the mood for jokes. “What’s important now is that Longsword just took Rose away to here and had her crying back whe
n I was coming. I need an explanation.”

  “Oh, that.” Hargate sighed, and ran his fingers through his hair. “Well, I can explain.”

  “Speak then,” Leon demanded.

  After seeing how upset Rose was, he’s not going to let that marquess off. Not to mention that he himself was involved in the situation that made Rose cried.

  “Relax, Leon,” Longsword said. “You look so enraged.” “I am!” Leon snapped. “God knows I am!”

  “About what?” Longsword asked rather dumbly.

  Leon waved a dismissive hand. “Just tell me why the fuck that Lansing was here,” he said. “Besides the obvious, I know you two had something involve.”

  “We took him here for a little fun,” Hargate answered.

  Leon turned and narrowed his eyes at Hargate. “A little fun?”

  “Well, it was a part of the plan I had,” Hargate said.

  Leon arched an eyebrow. “A plan?”

  “While you were gone, I hatched out a plan to help reunite you and your beloved little Rose,” Hargate replied.

  “And?”

  “It went successfully,” Longsword put in with a grin of a dupe.

  “Did it?” Leon highly doubted that after encountering Rose. “And what was that plan, may I ask?” Although he already had a sense of it.

  “I called Lansing out to Phillipa’s House of Pleasure and told Longsword to get Lady Rose to catch him in the act of intimacy.”

  Leon could hardly believe what Hargate had said. “Oh hell,” he cursed. “Of all the plans in the world!”

  “You should be happy,” Longsword told him. “Lady Rose got quite furious and almost destroyed the whole place. You should be able to win her love now.”

  “Bloody hell I would!” Leon had never thought to be this piqued. How could this possibly happen again? No wonder Rose was so angry and compared him to that Lansing.

  “You are not happy, aren’t you?” Hargate asked.

  Stupid question.

  “Of course not!” Leon bellowed. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

  “Not in the least,” Hargate admitted.

  “Of course you wouldn’t.” Leon gave a sigh and paced the ground.

  They wouldn’t know.

  “Are you…okay?” Hargate asked. “Want to tell us what’s on your mind?”

  Obviously not.

  Leon shook his head and stop to release an indignant breath.

  “We made it worst, didn’t we?” Longsword murmured with a light shook of his head. “I told you it wasn’t a good idea, Hargate.”

  “I thought it would help–”

  “It’s all right,” Leon interjected. Though their little act made him most furious of all things, he’d got to let them off. They didn’t know about his past with Rose and how they had fallen apart.

  “You guys were trying to help and I am most definitely grateful,” he told them, flashing a light grin.

  “Tell us, Heartily,” Hargate demanded, walking up to Leon. “I know something has been weighing on your mind. Your disapproval of this tells me so.”

  “It’s really none of your concern, Hargate,” Leon answered coldly. “Might as well leave it.”

  “No,” Hargate objected. “You are my friend and I intended to help you. Makes me feel bad to fail. Please tell me.”

  “No,” Longsword put in. “Tell us. We’re here for you, Leon.”

  Bastards of a friend they were, Leon thought to himself as he turns to look at them. Friends are truly idiots who would always stand by you after a foolish act. How is he ever going to keep his privacy to himself with these two idiots lurking in every time? Perhaps it’s time he tells them of his past, for he’d been waiting a long time to get rid of it.

  “Let’s return to the inn and sort it out,” said Hargate. “This isn’t the place.”

  “Fine,” Leon replied, moving back towards the table with a bottle of whiskey to pour himself a glass as they got back to the inn.

  He took a nice long shot and finally settles it down.

  “I did the exact same thing as that Lansing ass had a decade ago to Rose,” Leon told them, not hesitating in any way.

  “What?” Hargate and Longsword were stunned to hear. Leon couldn’t believe he did it either.

  “I didn’t actually have sex with any women, mind you,” Leon added bluntly. “It was merely a plan of my own to make her let go.”

  “Good God!” Hargate exclaimed. “No wonder your Lady Rose was so infuriated.”

  “Why did you do such a thing?” Longsword asked.

  “Primarily to keep her safe from the enemies of my family,” Leon added. “Secondly–”

  “Why did you choose to fake a scene like that to break her off?” Hargate inquired this time. “You should have done something else like tell her directly.”

  “Or never break up with her at all,” Longsword replied.

  “I suppose I was having the same shallow thoughts as you guys were with Lansing,” Leon answered, pouring himself another glass of whiskey. He rather dislikes revealing personal information about himself. “It was to make Rose give up on me and go on to find another man who would love and care for her,” Leon continued after his drink. “But now that I looked back, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have done it, but I did. Now, there’s nothing really that I–”

  “All right, Heartily,” Hargate cut in. “I understand now of your reasons. Perhaps you should save the rest and explain it to Rose. She would want to know that. It would most definitely reverse her heart back to you.”

  “Are you crazy? I can’t tell her that!” Leon said, swooning down on a chair nearby. “She would never–”

  “If it’s the truth, then you should tell her,” Longsword interjected. “Though Hargate’s plan had somewhat succeeded to make Rose angry at that Lansing, she is still under his control because of their engagement. You must work to break it off. I see the truth of your story to be the perfect solution.”

  “But she could always jilt–”

  “Longsword’s right, Heartily,” Hargate came in. “It’s at your advantage now to patch up the hole in between you and Rose. I guess I have helped you by getting her ticked off by Lansing’s act at Phillipa’s. You must continue on with the next act to the game in winning back little Rose.”

  Leon sighed, and covered his face with his hands, shaking his head lightly. Is he always going to listen to his friends? Though he will have to admit that they’re never wrong with suggestions. It’s always, no matter how incredulous it sounds, successful at the end.

  “I’ll think about it,” Leon said, after a brief moment. He hasn’t quite made up his mind yet and he still has the business about that marquess’s father to handle.

  “You can’t think now,” Hargate said. “You have to do it. Don’t be like the weaklings with all talk and no show. It’s quite dull, I tell you.”

  “Not to mention you’re going to possibly kill her future husband,” Longsword added. “You might as well tell her the truths that are running in your mind and get her to understand. That way, she would know that you had been as loyal as a dog to its owner and had never done anything to betray her.”

  “Could I?” Leon sounded like a fool to ask. He didn’t know if it’s the whiskey kicking in or what. He can hold his liquor well, except for that night with Hargate and them, but that can’t be it. Maybe he just couldn’t make himself believe Longsword’s words.

  “Most definitely,” Hargate added in agreement. “The game isn’t over. You can still play to win.”

  Leon thought about it, and brought himself to another glass of whiskey. He needed it right now. Somewhat his mind is not acting right because now it tells him…Do it!

  Do it!

  Yes. He’s going to do it and make right everything. He’s going to explain to Rose about everything he’d done, his intentions that she had asked, anything she would wish to know, maybe even his family’s secret. He could trust her with it, could he?

  Then
after that is done, the war begins.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Dawson House

  Rose lay on her bed and stared up at the ceiling through the darkness of the room. She wanted to cry again from the event earlier with Lord

  Lansing’s depravity but she couldn’t. After encountering with Leon again, she realizes that she doesn’t care one teeny whit about Lord Lansing.

  It’s Leon. Always Leon.

  She hated how it all ends up back to him. No matter how much she tries to forget. No matter how much she tries to hate him, she can’t. Sure it makes her angry to think of the past, but one little moment with him shatters everything and she no longer remember the intentions she’d had in mind.

  Oh, how she wanted to fling herself back into his arms. She would have if only…if only Lansing didn’t bring back the image of the past so clearly back into her head. She would have cried and let Leon comfort her. That is what he always does best. Comfort her.

  However did that comfort turned to distress? Rose had no idea.

  How did it? she wondered. How did Leon and they break up? Sure he was having his way with a tart at the brothel, but why? She had never really thought about it till now. What did she do wrong? Their love has been so…enchanted until one stupid night…

  One stupid night…that destroyed everything.

  Why did Leon do that to her? Rose still wanted to know.

  As much as she hates to admit it, their encounter had been wonderful, though it’s only for a few minutes. Rose feel blessed. She just can’t show it again, for she fears of the past. If it was to lurk back, she would forever be ruined.

  “Oh, Lord of Heaven,” she prayed, clasping her hands together with her eyes closed. “Please shine on me with your light and wash away my misery and sorrow with the purity of your tears–”

  “Good God, honey,” came a sudden familiar voice from her window, startling her up. “Lord of Heaven doesn’t cry. Ever!”

  “Leon?”

  Great! Whenever she thinks about him, he’s there. And when he’s there, all the fury from the past arises.

  “Give me a hand over here, would you?”

  Stupid idiot.

  Rose knew she shouldn’t do this, but got up anyway and walk off towards the open window.