Distinctly Different

Chapter 24 ~ Threats

“Fine, I’ll tell you, if you tell me,” she retorted calling his bluff. Rowan scowled at nothing in particular. He couldn’t tell her about Arabella, she wouldn’t get why he was not doing anything about it.”

“No, I can’t tell you,” he protested. Rose frowned at him.

“Whatever it is I’ll support you,” Rose whispered. Rowan hesitated slightly and Rose pressed on. “You know out of our family I’m the most like you. Even if I don’t agree with you I’ll still keep your secret.”

“Which one?” he laughed bitterly. “Ever since we came to the castle my life has gotten more dangerous. I’m sparing you by not telling you what has happened to me over the time we’ve been here.”

“You’re worrying me,” Rose told him. Rowan sighed as he stared at her.

“Trust me, that was never my intention,” he admitted. “There’s nothing you could do to help. What’s done is done. What has happened to me is irreversible.”

“It may be,” Rose replied slowly. “It still may help to have someone to confide in.” Rowan rolled his eyes. He had already confided in someone and everything was fine until she had told him her secrets. “I’m not leaving until you tell me something. You can tell me bits and pieces until you’ve told me everything.”

“I don’t need to confide in you. I already confided in someone until everything changed between us,” he said before he could stop himself. He groaned at his stupidity and looked to see if Rose had caught the significance of his last sentence. He could see she was working hard to piece together the clues and discover who he was talking about.

“Are you talking about Arabella?” she asked. Rowan restrained himself from swearing. Now because of his mistake Rose knew more about his problems than he had intended her to. He had wanted her to remain in the dark about his problems. “I could see that you two were close. What happened?”

“No, I’m not telling you anything more,” he announced firmly. Rose’s eyes narrowed as what he said registered. She could be stubborn at times when she wanted to. He could see that this was one of those times. She wouldn’t be getting anything more from him but what if she went to talk to Arabella? Rose was persistent; chances were she would end up getting information out of Arabella.

“Oh come on,” Rose exclaimed in annoyance. “I’m your sister. I have your best interests in mind.” Rowan stubbornly shook his head.

“Fine, I’ll just go talk to Arabella,” Rose decided as she headed to the door presumably to go talk to Arabella. Rose rolled his eyes and got to his feet managing to bypass Rose and get to the door first. He leaned on it and tilted his head in amusement as Rose glared at him.

“Fine, I’ll confide in you. Arabella doesn’t need to see the stubborn, persistent side of you that comes out when you’re really curious about something,” he sighed. Rose waited in silence and he tried to figure out what he would tell her and how much.

“Well?” she said when he still hadn’t said anything. “Are you going to tell me anything?”

“I have feelings for Arabella,” he said carefully watching to see her reaction. Rose simply stared back at him coolly.

“Well of course,” she responded. “I knew that, I just was going to keep it to myself in case you didn’t want anyone knowing. Want a word of advice? Don’t be so obvious about it. You don’t know how many times I saw you looking at her like a lovesick puppy.” Rowan laughed covering up the fact that he was actually surprised she knew so much.

“So does everyone else know?” he asked.

“Well I’ll put this way, not everyone is as perceptive as me,” she answered. “It would have been so much better for Eleanor if she would have picked up the signs, she wouldn’t have gotten so attached to you and persuaded herself that there was hope for you two to be together.”