Chapter One #2
His voice distracted me for a second, so deep and calm, at odds with the tension that had seized his muscles only a few minutes before. I glanced at the light and saw the shadow of an enormous spider lurking on the inside of the shade.
I stepped away with a shiver before I realized what I was doing. Silly, since I was the one who had taped the bugs in place, but I hadn’t expected them to look so real. Amelia was good.
Clearing my throat, I said, “Amelia’s. It’s always Amelia’s idea.” I wanted to ask if he was okay, but I held my tongue.
“Clever,” he said.
“That’s Amelia,” I agreed.
“Is this the only room you did?”
“It is.” Judging it safe to move, I began to gather up my materials, tucking my phone back in the pocket of my robe and making sure I had all the extra bugs and the tape. A prank was no good if I left the evidence sitting around.
“Mrs. W won’t be happy.”
I smiled. It was sweet the way the family doted on Mrs. W.
I’d always imagined a family as wealthy and powerful as the Winterses would be stuffy, far above those they’d consider the help.
Instead, they treated Mrs. W like family and had welcomed me as an equal, insisting I join them for meals and giving me a room in the main house that was bigger than my apartment when I’d been in nursing school.
“I already texted her,” I reassured Gage. “She’ll make a big fuss tomorrow when she turns on the lights. Unless Aiden does it first.”
“Aiden doesn’t know?”
I shook my head, picking up the last scrap of construction paper. Suddenly without anything to do, I crossed my arms over my chest. Gage stood in shadow, his features hard to make out, but I was uncomfortably aware I was in my robe, my hair down, looking like an unprofessional mess.
In the six months I’d been living in Winters House, I’d never encountered another soul awake in the middle of the night.
Clearing my throat, I said, “No, Aiden likes to be surprised.”
Gage let out a grunt I couldn’t decipher. He took a step forward, leaving the shadows of the corner. Light bathed his features, and my breath caught. I’d heard Gage and Aiden were like twins. Everyone else must be blind. To my eyes, they looked nothing alike.
Sure, they both had the same build - tall, broad shoulders, lean hips.
The same dark hair. Even their features were superficially similar, with sharp cheekbones, aristocratic noses and full lower lips.
Where Aiden’s hair had the same auburn tones as his little sister, Charlie, Gage’s was a true brown, not a hint of red to be seen.
I’d always thought soldiers wore their hair short, but Gage’s was a little long. Shaggy. As if he hadn’t had it cut in months. Which of course, he hadn’t. I imagined his hairstyle hadn’t been a priority when he’d been trying to escape his captors.
He’d probably cut it now that he was home. Maybe with shorter hair, he’d look more like Aiden. I took in the tension in his shoulders, his hands curled into fists.
No. The obvious aside, Aiden looked nothing like Gage.
Aiden was cool. Refined. Controlled.
Standing in the pool of light, his faded grey t-shirt stretched around his biceps, hugging his well-defined chest, Gage was raw, his power barely leashed. Despite his stillness, he vibrated with energy.
I sensed it was taking everything he had to remain where he was. His vivid blue eyes were the least of the differences between Gage and his cousin.
Those eyes were leveled on me, pinning me in place as effectively as his arms had a few minutes before.
Clearing my throat, I said, “Are you going to spoil it for her?”
“The prank?” Gage asked. At my nod, he said, “No.”
“Thank you.” I started for the door to the library, careful to give Gage a wide berth. I didn’t think he was going to grab me again, but it seemed smarter to stay out of arm’s reach.
“Tell me next time,” he said.
“What?” I stopped at the door, confused.
He was silent for a long moment before answering in a halting voice. “I don’t do well with surprises these days. The next time Amelia decides to mess with us, fill me in.”
Instantly, I understood. Amelia’s plan to duct tape an airhorn to Aiden’s desk chair would be a nightmare to a man newly home from a combat zone, even if he didn’t have post-traumatic stress, and I was betting Gage did.
“Do you have a cell?” I asked.
Gage raised his eyebrows in question. I explained, “I text Mrs. W to warn her. I’ll try to talk Amelia out of a few of her plans that might be a problem, but I can text you, too. That way you know what’s coming.”
“So, Amelia hasn’t slowed down. Good to know some things don’t change,” he said, his voice heavy with something I couldn’t quite identify. Regret? Whatever it was, Gage Winters sounded sad.
I had the absurd urge to comfort him.
Absurd because not only did I not know what was wrong, he was a Winters.
Yes, he’d been through a terrible experience.
But he was alive. He was home with his family, living in this enormous mansion, with a job waiting for him at Winters Incorporated, and more money than he could count stashed away in the bank.
Gage Winters didn’t need my comfort. He didn’t need anything from me.
He might remind me of a wounded animal, but wounded animals were dangerous. And I’d been bitten enough.
The only person in this house who needs you is Amelia, I reminded myself. Stay away from Gage Winters.
“Are you in Vance’s old room?” Gage asked.
“I am. Across from Amelia. I guess her room used to be Holden and Tate’s?”
Gage nodded. “If you’re done with your bugs, I’ll walk you back.”
“It’s just down the hall,” I protested.
“All the same. I’ll walk you back.”
I didn’t bother to argue. Gage followed me out the door, turning off the lamp before we left the room. The short stretch of hall outside the library was dark, the doors to the wine room and Aiden’s office lost in the shadows.
We turned the corner to the main hall where silvery moonlight streamed through the tall, arched windows, casting the walls in dreamlike shades. Outside, in the center courtyard of Winters House, a fountain burbled, the water flashing black and silver.
I loved this fairy tale of a house. I completely understood why Mrs. W was so devoted to it. How could Gage have left this place and not come back for so many years? In the six months I’d been with Amelia, Winters House had become a haven.
Why had Gage left it just when he’d needed it most?
I couldn’t imagine the losses this family had suffered. Not really. I’d lost my mother to cancer when I was a teenager, but Gage had not only lost both his parents as a child, he’d lost the aunt and uncle who’d raised him when he’d barely been a man.
More than once since he’d gone missing I’d wondered what had happened to make the eighteen-year-old Gage flee his family home.
Now that he was back, was he going to stay? None of it was my business, but I couldn’t help my curiosity.
Gage kept his distance as we walked down the hall, following just slightly behind me.
Our feet shuffled along the polished hardwood floors, almost silent in the sleeping house.
This wasn’t the first time I’d wandered Winters House in the middle of the night, but it was the first time I’d done so with company.
We reached the door to my bedroom, across the hall from Amelia’s. I reached for the handle, and Gage’s fingers closed over mine. I started in surprise, letting out a little squeak. I was grateful for the dark as I felt my cheeks turn red.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” Gage said in his low rumble. “I wasn’t expecting to see anyone in the library and I reacted on instinct. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You didn’t,” I lied. “It’s okay.”
Gage dropped his hand and stared at me, his blue eyes gleaming in the moonlight, seeing everything. He knew I was lying, knew I’d been scared. Lips pressed together and eyes wide, I silently begged him to let it go.
Gage took a step back and dropped his hand.
“Sleep well, Sophie,” he said, his low voice sending shivers down my spine.
“You, too,” I whispered, and escaped into my room.