The Heiress No One Wanted のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 31 - チャプター 40

Rosalie's POVWhen I woke up I wasn't in my own room. Then it came back — I'd gone up to Lucian's last night and just never left. First time we'd actually slept through the night together.I stretched out slowly in the bed, and right then he walked out of the closet buttoning his shirt. He glanced at me. "Do you normally sleep holding onto something? Last night you were like a koala."My face went warm. When I was little, Diane was always working, barely home — so I'd gotten used to sleeping with something to hold. A stuffed animal, a pillow. Last night it was him."I'm — sorry.""You say 'it's nothing' and 'sorry' more than anyone I've ever met." Lucian adjusted his cufflinks, tone easy, offhand. "You're really not what I expected."I didn't know what to say to that. I just looked down. "As long as you're not upset.""I don't need apologies. And I don't need you walking on eggshells around me all the time. You're my wife."I looked up. Lucian was right in front of me. He pressed a ki

Rosalie's POV"So you two aren't actually twins. Which one of you is the real Whitmore?"I stirred my iced coffee with the straw and said nothing. From the moment Nora caught my birthdate, all the way through walking to the café, ordering, and sitting down, I hadn't given her a straight answer on any of it.She pushed again. "I thought it was weird at the gala — this whole person I'd never heard of just appearing out of nowhere. And when I asked Mrs. Whitmore if you and Vanessa were twins, she just smiled. Didn't say yes, didn't say no."Nora looked at me. "You've got that face right now. The uncomfortable one.""It's not what you're thinking—""It's fine, you don't have to tell me." She narrowed her eyes. "I'll figure it out anyway."She went full detective mode. "Okay so… ruling out distant relative… you showed up out of nowhere and got folded into the family…"She stared at me. "You're the real one. Has to be. Otherwise why would the Whitmores bring you back at all—""My mom made i

Rosalie's POV"The floor's cold, ma'am."Mrs. Ford came over and handed me a pair of fuzzy slippers. I looked down — I'd been so rushed I'd come downstairs barefoot."Oh — thank you."She smiled. "Last night at dinner when you weren't here, Mr. Ravenscroft asked where you'd gone. When we told him you'd gone to your parents', he said to let him know when you got back. We forgot to pass it along — I'm sorry about that.""Was he upset?" I asked, already uneasy."Not at all." Mrs. Ford's smile was unusually warm today. She steered me toward the dining room and had one of the housekeepers bring up my breakfast."This morning at breakfast," she continued, "he asked me to move your things to his room later today.""His room?""Yes. He said it's not right for a husband and wife to sleep separately. He wants you to use his bedroom as the main one going forward."I took a sip of water. "He actually said that?""He also said if you're not comfortable there, he's fine moving everything to your ro

Rosalie's POVPearl smiled but subtly put some distance between herself and Vanessa, like the sudden closeness made her uncomfortable. "I think there may be a misunderstanding. Rosalie understood the piece quite well — we had a real conversation about it."Surprise flickered across Vanessa's face. "That can't be right. She doesn't know the first thing about painting."Pearl's smile cooled slightly. "My husband repeated the exchange he had with both of you word for word. I trust my own judgment."Her tone was polite, but it had a wall in it. Vanessa didn't take the hint. "She's never even been abroad. Her perspective is obviously limited — don't let her fool you with pretty words."Pearl looked genuinely puzzled, like she couldn't quite figure out why Vanessa was doing this. "Vanessa, first — I'm glad you appreciated the work."Then her voice shifted, measured and direct. "But Rosalie is clearly the one who understood it. She saw what I put into the frame. And when it comes to art, it

Rosalie's POVLucian's lips were at my ear, his chest against my back, and I could feel every breath he took, every degree of heat coming off him.What he wanted was obvious.I thought — if I don't keep him happy, if I upset him, if things between us go sideways and it affects the business deal, my parents will be so disappointed in me.I turned over and pressed into him, tilting my head up to kiss him first.His breath caught immediately. He shifted and pulled me under him. The room was dark, just enough moonlight to make out the lines of his face. He seemed to pause and look at me for a moment — then he kissed me.Lucian kissed the way a wave moves, one after another, and somewhere in it I stopped thinking and just went with it. When we finally broke apart, his thumb brushed my cheek."Something's on your mind." His voice was low.I hesitated. I thought about what Diane had said — the woman who raised me, who knew me better than anyone, had still told me to be patient, to understand