“The stories are… much worse,” she admitted.
“Of my scars?” he wondered. Was that a flicker of a smile? “How about that? I should thank the villagers then, for making you expect worse.”
“No, no, I… oh, I’m sorry, I…” she fumbled with her own tongue, when he actually smiled. That was when she noticed his eyes.
They were a mesmerizing blend of stormy gray and piercing blue, with a depth that seemed to unravel the secrets of her soul with each passing moment.
“Your eyes…” she said, startled by her own reaction to them.
“What about them?” he asked.
“They are… beautiful…” she said, immediately realizing what she had just said. It was a sudden, unexpected reaction, and she couldn’t help but feel a pang of embarrassment at being so transparent in her captivation.
To her surprise, the duke’s gaze softened, a hint of amusement dancing in his eyes as he listened to her.
“I’m sorry,” she said again, caught in the swirling currents of provoked emotions.
“Never apologize for a compliment, Rose,” he told her, then cleared his throat as he continued. “What were you doing in the woods?”
Silently grateful for the change of topic, she adjusted herself in the chaise lounge and answered. “I was fetching some herbs that my aunt needed for her healing potions.”
“That’s a good reason, but you shouldn’t be out in the woods alone. Wild boars are around often and running into one can be very dangerous,” he warned.
“I can handle myself,” she replied, slightly defensively.
That was the moment when he glanced at her bandaged head, the implication of his gaze more than clear.
“I was just caught by surprise this time, that is all,” she clarified. “I was near the brook, and I didn’t hear it over the sound of the water.”
He didn’t say anything to that. He merely continued to look at her, as if he were still deciding whether to offer more advice or not.
“I don’t have a choice,” she caught herself saying. Strangely enough, she wanted to explain herself, without him even asking for any explanations. “I need to gather the ingredients, because my aunt cannot make her potions without them. And without these potions, we…” She wondered if she was being too open, but she decided since she already started explaining herself, she might as well finish until the very end. “We are barely making ends meet. I need to help out any way I can.”
The duke was silent for a moment, and then he delivered a shock that was greater than her blow to the head.
“If you need the money, why don’t you come work for me here, at the manor, as a maid?”
Chapter 4
“Work for you?” she echoed his proposition.
He had to admit that he didn’t even hesitate to ask her. It seemed like the most logical solution to her predicament.
“Yes,” he said without even the slightest hint of a doubt in his voice. “It would be safer than wandering through the woods on your own, and it also pays well.”
She looked at him incredulously, as if she still couldn’t believe that he was asking her that. Come to think of it, the reality of the situation was slowly dawning on him as well, and he came to realize what he had just done. Ever since he came back from the war, he had closed off his home to everyone who wasn’t a necessity. That meant cutting down his staff to only the bare minimum. Now, he was doing exactly the opposite: offering a position to someone he knew nothing about, therefore once again, opening his door.
Strangely enough, he didn’t want to revoke his offer. But having thought about it, the offer also frightened him. It was not like him to jump into situations in such a manner or make decisions on the spur of the moment. This was something completely new to him.
“But… you know nothing about me,” she reminded him.
“I know your name,” he said. “And I know you work with your aunt as a healer. No one who is a healer can be a bad person.”
His conclusion made her smile. “Is that what you believe?”
“Yes,” he said, nodding in additional confirmation.
She tilted her head a little, as if to take a closer look at him. “What if you’re wrong and… I’m a thief?”
