Chapter Four #5
“As you wish,” she said, averting her gaze and quickly standing up. “In that case, we do not need you to escort us home. I would not wish to trouble you.”
Wynter pushed past him, realizing she was verging on tears. She’d just had the rudest awakening of her life and she was having a difficult time controlling those emotions. Spring saw her coming and was about to say something pleasant when Wynter reached out and pulled her sister to her feet.
“Come,” she said tightly, yanking her sister away from the table. “We must go home before they realize we are gone.”
Spring’s mouth was open in surprise as Wynter pulled her across the floor, towards the entry door, but Gage was blocking her way, looking at her with concern.
“My lady?” he said, brow furrowed. “Did I say something to upset you?”
Inadvertently, he brushed her arm and Wynter pulled away as if he’d burned her. She lost her grip on Spring as she did so and her sister moved back towards the table where Bull was on his feet, watching the situation curiously.
But Wynter only had eyes for Gage.
“Nay,” she said, giving him a wide berth and trying to get to the door.
“Nay, you’ve done nothing at all. I suppose I’ve just realized that I’ve turned into that silly girl who pestered you constantly and idolized you, and it is shameful to annoy you so.
I am glad you are not dead, Gage. I pray that life is good to you and that you have everything you ever want.
I am grateful to have seen you one last time to tell you that. Bonne chance, wherever life takes you.”
She grabbed the door and yanked it open, bolting through the opening and out into the night. As Gage stood there, genuinely puzzled and the slightest bit concerned, Spring came up to stand beside him, watching her sister run off into the darkness.
“What did you say to her?” Spring asked.
She wasn’t accusing, simply curious, but Gage was genuinely at a loss. “I could not tell you,” he said. “One moment we were speaking of why she was in Durham and then she asked me if I was going home.”
“What did you tell her?”
He shook his head. “Nothing,” he said. “I jested with her, telling her that she should not ask such questions, and then she ran.”
Spring scratched her head. She was still tipsy from the fruit-soaked wine, but she wasn’t completely ignorant to what her sister must have felt upon seeing Gage again.
It was much the same thing Spring herself was feeling having seen Bull again, but for Wynter…
as much as Spring antagonized her sister and as much as they engaged in sisterly battles, she knew Wynter extremely well.
She was coming to suspect why she fled.
“And that was all you said to her?” she asked. “Did you tell her you were glad to see her, Gage?”
He looked at her, puzzled. “Of course I was glad to see her.”
“But did you tell her that?”
He had no idea what point she was trying to make. “Not in those words, nay,” he said. “Why? What’s wrong?”
Spring shook her head at him. “You are a dense man, Gage de Reyne,” she said.
“Surely you know that my sister has been in love with you since nearly the moment she met you those years ago. You called her your little sister, but that is not what she wanted to be. She has tried to forget about you for the past six years, but to no avail. Papa wants her to marry but she cannot and I know it is because she cannot forget you. Seeing you tonight has ripped open the old wound.”
Gage was stunned. That’s not what he had expected to hear from Spring, who had always been a thorn in her sister’s side. Surprisingly, she did seem to have sisterly feelings for her eldest sibling and she’d articulated them quite well, but Gage felt as if he’d been punched in the gut.
He simply couldn’t believe it.
“Nay, my lady,” he said as if she were grossly mistaken. “That is not true. We were great friends, Lady Wynter and I, but there was nothing romantic.”
“For you, mayhap. But not for her.”
“She is quite a bit younger than I am.”
“She is twenty years and two,” Spring said, wagging a finger in his face. “She is a woman fully grown and after seeing you here tonight, I doubt she will ever wed, so if I become a spinster, it is your fault. And I do not want to be a spinster!”
Gage didn’t have a swift comeback. In fact, he had no idea what to say.
The conversation he’d had with Laurence earlier in the day came back to him, speaking of an annoying young girl he’d not given a second thought to since he’d left England.
But seeing her again, seeing how that annoying young girl had grown up into a magnificent young woman, had changed his opinion about Wynter de Thorington.
She was exquisite and far out of his league.
She was the heiress to a great earldom and he didn’t even have a title.
He wasn’t even a knight in a noble household, but a mercenary.
A rich one, but a mercenary, nonetheless.
And completely unsuited for an earl’s daughter.
Any romance was out of the question.
… wasn’t it?
“I am sorry,” he finally said. “Lady Spring, I appreciate your insight, but you are wrong. It is not even worth discussing, so I will offer to escort you home.”
Spring pursed her lips irritably and put her hands on her hips. “Why isn’t it worth discussing?” she demanded. “Don’t you like my sister? Is she not pretty enough? Not worthy enough?”
Gage could feel himself hardening. Spring was pushing him out of his comfort zone, speaking of Wynter and feelings, something that had him confused and uneasy.
He had to shut her down.
“Your sister is a goddess among women, but she is not for me,” he said simply. “I will not discuss this with you further. May I escort you home?”
Spring frowned. “God’s bones,” she muttered. “You are dense. And you may not escort me home. I’ll go alone.”
With that, she thrust up her chin at him and marched out of the inn, heading out into the darkness beyond. Laurence, who had been standing behind her, passed a long glance at Gage before following her out.
“I’ll keep an eye on them,” he mumbled as he went.
That left Gage standing alone in the doorway, off guard and fading fast. He finally turned and headed to his rented room for the night, trying to push the conversations out of his mind.
As exhausted as he was, he should have easily fallen asleep, but thoughts of Wynter de Thorington had him up most of the night.
She has tried to forget about you for the past six years, but to no avail.
He didn’t want any complications in his life right now. He didn’t want any distractions. He had a job to do, a career to forge, and a woman didn’t fit into those plans. Especially a woman he used to call “little sister”.
When he finally did fall asleep, it was with dreams of amber-eyed beauties.