How strange that he should be pressing so hard on such a controversial issue. She couldn’t imagine what he was getting at. She shook her head and focused her eyes on a large gray mushroom pushing its way through the decomposing leaves. “I have no idea what most people believe. But you certainly seem to feel very strongly about it.”
“Let us talk of something else.” He smiled again, seeming to shake free from his seriousness. “I don’t want to waste our precious time together. It’s enough for me to know that you care for me.” He strolled over and held his hands out to her. “I told you I had something to tell you, remember?” As he sat, he took her hand in his again, his expression smug. “I have arranged for your family to move from their little house in the forest to a much better one, inside Hagenheim. The old Bernward house. They’ll love it, Rose. It has three stories and seven rooms and a large fireplace, much better than that smoky one-room cottage.”
Rose’s heart thumped erratically again. She knew the house he meant, the home of a wealthy bachelor who’d died without an heir. Suspicion stiffened her spine and she snatched her hands away. “And if you give my family this house, what am I supposed to give you in return?” Her cheeks burned.
Lord Rupert threw his arms outward. “Nothing. Why, Rose, do you doubt me so readily? Do you think me a villain who only wants to take advantage of you?” He raised his brows triumphantly. “To prove to you how much I respect you, that I don’t expect what you’ve insinuated, I’ve given them the house already. I sent servants there early this morning to help them move their things.”
He grabbed her hand and held it more firmly, preventing her from pulling away.
She pressed her lips together so hard it hurt. That didn’t prove anything. She tried to read his face, waiting for an explanation.
“Rose, please don’t doubt me anymore. I only wanted to please you. I wanted to do something for your family, simply because they are your family. Is that so wrong?”
She wanted to believe his words. “So, without questioning, my parents simply moved from the cottage my father built in the glen to a fine house in town that he had no part in building or paying for?”
“They did.”
Rose found it hard to breathe as she considered what her parents must think. She was sure they’d heard the rumors about her and Lord Rupert, about the inordinate attention he’d been paying her. This unlikely “gift” must have all but confirmed that she was Lord Rupert’s mistress. Tears stung her eyes. “Are you trying to shred my reputation, because you must be able to imagine what people will say—”
“I care not what people will say.”
“You should care.” Rose stood suddenly and yanked her hand from his grasp before he had time to react. “You should care about my reputation, at least.” Her arms and legs felt weak from the emotion that raged through her.
Lord Rupert stood too. “Rose, please. I meant no harm. I only did it to help. Please forgive me for being thoughtless. I didn’t think about how it would look to all the mean, petty people who want to think ill of us.”
He seemed more angry than contrite. Confusion scattered her thoughts as she watched him.
“It was simply an act of kindness. Why should we care what people think? Isn’t it more important that your family is safer and more comfortable in their new home?”
Rose found it hard to argue with that.
“Rose, please don’t fight me. I love you and I’m working on a way we can be together.” He held out his hands to her, a pleading look in his eyes.
“I don’t know.” Was it possible her family was already moved in? That they were living in a fine house, much finer than anything they could have imagined affording on her father’s meager living? In her wildest dreams, she had imagined such a thing for her family, but she never believed it possible. Shouldn’t she be thankful? Or should she be angry? Surely if Lord Rupert intended to take advantage of her, he would have already made those intentions known.
No, she would believe the best about him. After all, he said he loved her. Still, it was all terribly shocking, as well as confusing. She’d have to try to sort it out later. “It is very generous of you. Thank you. I should probably be going now.”
Something seemed to have arrested Lord Rupert’s attention. “What is this?” He stared at her bracelet, twisting her wrist to the left and the right. His smile broadened. Slowly, he leaned down and kissed her forehead. His hands slid up her arms and came to rest on her shoulders as he pulled her closer and whispered, “I don’t intend to let you spend your life tending to sick people, having to deal with blood and broken body parts all the time. You’re too good for that, Rose.”
She let herself slip her arms around his waist, resting her hands on his back. She sighed, and the exquisite feeling of being held flowed through her.
After a few moments, Rose pulled back to look up at him. “I’m sorry to go, but I need to return to the castle.”
“Why must you?”