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Chapter Twenty-Four
Rose woke up instantly from a light sleep at the sound of her door opening.
From the sound of the footsteps, she knew exactly who had creeped into her room at this time of the night.
“What is the matter?” she asked Elsa in the dark before her lady’s maid had even gotten the opportunity to reach her bedside.
The sudden stop of Elsa’s footsteps told her that she had caught her lady’s maid totally by surprise.
“Lord Walsrock has come to see you, My Lady,” Elsa said simply.
Rose was out of bed and pulling on a gown with lightning speed, not even bothering to ask Elsa any questions.
The letter from Kenneth earlier had informed her that he was going to face parliament again today with his bill. She hadn’t expected him to also sneak in to her garden to see her late at night.
She already knew where he would be and so the only question left to ask was whether everyone else was asleep.
“Lord and Lady Somerholm have retired for the night. Lord Hartington, however, hasn’t returned home,” Elsa said.
She was going to take the risk and sneak out even though Adam could walk in on them at any time. One week without seeing Kenneth and she felt she was going to explode. They had to come up with a solution soon, as she didn’t know how much more of being apart from him she could take.
Having dressed, she began to make her way toward the garden, with Elsa in tow.
On spotting Kenneth, she walked straight into his embrace and stayed there.
“I missed you,” she said as she breathed in his body scent.
“I missed you, too, my love,” Kenneth responded.
They remained silent for a bit, Rose just content to be in his arms. As was their custom, their bodies started swaying involuntarily from side to side in a slow waltz as nature’s music from the garden serenaded them.
“How was parliament?” Rose eventually asked, after what seemed like an eternity.
“Wonderful. And the unexpected happened,” Kenneth responded. “Your father seemed to support my bill, even going as far as asking the Lords to adjourn so that they could all have time to study the bill.”
“I beg your pardon?” her head came up instantly alert.
“I couldn’t believe it myself. Although he did say my father put him up to it, which was even more unbelievable,” Kenneth responded.
“Splendid,” she remarked, as her head slowly came back to rest on his chest.
“And how was your day?” Kenneth asked.
“Like any other day, seeing as I spent it away from you,” Rose responded.
“This will be a worry of the past soon enough, my love. Patience and we will be free soon.”
“I sincerely do hope so,” she responded in exasperation.
“Losing hope?” he questioned with a nervous chuckle.
“On the contrary, Kenneth. I’m just increasingly arriving at the conclusion that you and I should just run away and leave this all behind,” she confessed. “My wedding date to Lord Rockgonie is fast approaching and it doesn’t seem like we have made any headway with cancelling the betrothal yet.”
“We will come up with something. Just be patient,” Kenneth said reassuringly.
The truth was, that short of anyone giving her a plan, she couldn’t feel reassured as it would be her trapped in a union she didn’t want and not him.
Unbeknownst to him, she had already begun to formulate a plan, though. If they continued without a plan until it was two weeks to the wedding, she was going to run away by herself and leave a letter for Kenneth to join her.
