“I know. I mean, I thought you would not hurt her. What are you doing here?”
“I came to see Rose,” he said simply, as if that was obvious. “When I found you had left without a word, I followed you. I’ve had the devil of a time tracking you down.”
“Why were you lurking about in the gardens?” Royce asked suspiciously. “Why didn’t you come to the front door if you wanted to see Rose?”
“I’m sorry, sir.” The younger man again looked sheepish. “I know I should have, but I wasn’t sure how Rose felt about seeing me.” He looked toward Mary entreatingly. “I was afraid she was angry at me, the way she left. And, well, the house is so grand. I figured if I went round to the back and waited long enough, Rose would come out, and I could talk to her in private.”
Royce heaved a sigh. “I assume that this is one of Rose’s suitors?”
“Yes. Not one, I think, who would try to drug us all and carry Rose off.”
Again Sam Treadwell’s jaw fell open. “Someone did that?” His face firmed, and his hands balled up. “Who? Who’s trying to hurt Rose?” He swung toward Royce.
“We don’t know,” Mary answered.
Treadwell straightened, looking at Royce. “Are you this earl fellow?”
“No, thank God,” Royce replied feelingly. “However, I intend to introduce you to the Earl of Stewkesbury right now.”
The three of them trooped back to the house, Royce walking behind Mary and Treadwell to make sure that the young man did not take it into his head to bolt.
Mary glanced back at Royce. “I don’t think Sam will run away.”
“Indeed not!” Sam looked affronted. “As if I would leave with Rose in danger.”
“I do not really think so either,” Royce answered. “However, for the time being, I’m not putting my entire trust in young Mr. Treadwell.”
They must have been spotted trudging toward the house, for by the time they reached the back door, Oliver was standing in the hallway waiting for them. Fitz lounged behind him in the doorway of Oliver’s office.
“I see you’ve caught someone. Good,” the earl greeted them.
“But it’s not Sam,” Mary assured him. “I mean, this is Sam, but Sam isn’t the one who tried to shoot my sisters yesterday.”
“Indeed?” The earl looked the young man up and down in the cool way that had both infuriated and intimidated others.
Treadwell blushed and straightened even more, his jaw jutting out, as he faced Stewkesbury. “I am Samuel Treadwell, sir, and I’m here to see—”
“Sam! Oh, Sam!” Rose had come down the stairs, followed by her sisters, and now stood at the other end of the hall, staring at Treadwell. Her face was suddenly glowing, her blue eyes sparkling, as a wide grin spread across her face. “You’ve come!”
She hurried down the hall, almost running, and stopped just short of Sam. Still smiling madly, she dug her fingers into her skirts and gazed at him.#p#分页标题#e#
“Rose!” Sam grinned back at her rapturously. He took a half step toward her and stopped, his hands coming up, then falling to his sides. “I thought I had lost you forever! When you left and I didn’t know where you were, I nearly went crazy.”
“We had to leave quickly,” Rose responded. Her smile faltered. “And you—I was not aware you cared.”
“I know! I know! I was a fool! I should have asked for your hand. I kept silent, hoping I could change my parents’ minds. I thought if only they got to know you better, they would drop their objections to your family. I—”
“Excuse me?” The earl’s voice was dangerously silky. “Your family objected to my cousin’s antecedents?”
Sam and Rose jumped and glanced around, embarrassed, as if suddenly aware that there were other people there. Sam blushed and began to stammer a response.
But it was Mary who jumped in to say, “I believe they objected to the fact that our parents owned a tavern and weren’t wealthy. Much the same reasons your family looked down on us, as I remember.”
Stewkesbury sent her a long look, then bent his head in acknowledgment, the faintest of smiles tugging at the corners of his mouth. “A direct hit, Cousin.”
“It is gracious of you to be so understanding,” Sam told Mary gravely. “But it was wrong of my parents to judge Rose. And wrong of me to wait. I should have told them I was going to marry Rose, with or without their approval.”
Rose’s eyes widened and she clapped her hand to her mouth.