Honor and Desire (Gold Sky #3) - Rebel Carter Page 0,23
It fell between them on the table like a dirty thing.
She jerked back as if slapped. “And what’s wrong with being a secretary?” Her hands were now flat against the table pressing hard on the wood, her dessert long forgotten with the time of fire she now felt for August which was far from amorous.
“Nothing,” he ran his hands through his hair and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. “There’s nothing wrong with being a secretary but secretaries,” he said once more, emphasizing the word with a tone Seylah cared nothing for, “do not pick up guns and follow me to god knows where while a damn gun fight nearly breaks out.”
Seylah grit her teeth. “But—”
“Secretaries stay safe at home in their beds, secretaries do not leave the damned office to arrest a drunk when the rest of us are out,” he continued, referencing the time or three Seylah had done just that.
“Something had to be done,” she explained.
“I know that, but it needn’t be done by you,” he told her.
“Why not?”
“You’re too important for that horseshit, Seylah May.”
Her fingers curled into fists. “Stop calling me that.”
August gave one defiant shake of his head. “It’s your name isn’t it?”
“I don’t like it when you say it like that. You say it like I’m still a child and you have some sort of say in what I do, which,” she held up a finger when he opened his mouth to speak, “you clearly do not. I do as I please and as a secretary of Gold Sky, I will continue to do my civic duty as needed, which includes providing back up and responding to disputes when deputies are not able to.”
A growl was pulled from August, but Seylah was far too worked up to pay it any mind. “Do you understand me, August Henry Leclair?”
“You’re being unreasonable. I’m concerned for you.”
“I am nothing of the sort.”
“You are,” he said, his blue eyes flaming to something far more intense than the normal ire Seylah was familiar with when they quarreled, “you’re being reckless. About this morning, about that man.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “About that man?” She asked and then she gasped. “Elliot? Are you truly bringing him up? Is that what all of this is about?”
He scoffed. “This is not about him, but he is a symptom of your recklessness.”
“You’re just jealous,” she blurted out, unable to stop the words before they came out. She clapped a hand over her mouth, shocked at the words that she’d uttered before scarcely having a moment to think them over.
They were silent for a moment before August spoke. “Might be you’re right.”
“What?” Her eyes widened. She had never thought he would say such a thing. “I don’t understand.”
“What’s to understand, Seylah?” August asked, his words coming faster now, the words tumbling over each other as if they had a life of their own. “He’s new in town and you’re mooning over him. That is something you only—” he stopped, abruptly, as if he had been punched and shook his head.
“I have to go,” he said standing from the table so quickly his chair nearly toppled over. He looked as shocked as she felt by her accusation, as rattled as she was by his sudden declaration. What was happening? What was this constantly shifting ground between them she couldn’t quite gain her footing on?
“Where are you going?” She asked, confused by his sudden change of tack.
“I’ll pay for this. You get on home.”
“But August, what were you saying? Why—”
“I’ll, uh, be ‘round later to check in with your pas. Goodbye, Seylah.” And then, the big man Seylah had thought of as her mountain, as the man with deep roots in the place she loved the most, the man that made her think of avenging angels, and what it might be like if only things were different, turned on his heel and strode out of the restaurant.
Once again, Seylah was left with the agonizing possibility of what might have been if only they’d had a moment more.
Chapter 4
“I hear you are to attend the picnic with a charming newcomer.”
Seylah looked up at her sister Delilah’s voice. The other woman was grinning at her like the cat that got the cream, and Seylah huffed in annoyance.
“How do you know about that?”
“Everyone has taken to talking of it,” Delilah informed her upon entering the room. They were in the home library their fathers had built for their mother.