Honor and Desire (Gold Sky #3) - Rebel Carter Page 0,57
question because she was not ready to leave August’s arms, but being with him like this and talking of that night made her feel anxious, as if the past would suddenly appear in front of them and drag them back as they had been.
“Yes,” she lied. She was not ready, but nor was she willing to take chances with what they had only begun to explore.
August scoffed. “Liar.”
“I am not!”
“You are biting your lip. You’re lying.”
“You can’t even see me in the dark. How do you know what I’m doing with my teeth.”
“Because I know you,” August replied as he stopped moving them, leaning down to peer at her in the moonlight and laughing when he saw her bottom lip between her teeth. “And there you have it. Just because it’s dark, does not mean I cannot see you, Seylah May.”
She let her bottom lip go with an audible sound and leaned away from him. “I was not biting my lip,” she insisted, but August was already moving them again in the steps of the waltz.
“You were,” he said as he spun her around. “Why you are lying to me, I don’t know, but now that we are clear you were lying--”
“Bending the truth.”
“We can keep at this fancy dancing, and--”
“Anyone that comes up the lane will think we’ve gone mad.”
“Ensure that your demands are being met. If I’ve learned anything from your fathers it’s that a happy home is built on a happy woman, and that is a rule I plan on implementing in my own home.”
She pursed her lips at that. It was true that her fathers doted on her mother, that her happiness was their utmost priority, because yes, when her mother was unhappy they all felt it. It appeared as if August had done his fair share of observing like she had and was finely in tune with the rhythms of the Wickes-Barnes household.
“Your home?”
“Hopefully your home.” He brought them closer together then and Seylah would have tripped if not for his sure hand guiding her. “Our home,” he added as they continued to move together, “Humor me and fancy dance with me a few more moments. At least until you stop biting your lip, hmm?”
“What if someone sees?”
“Let them see.”
“They’ll think us mad dancing out here with no music in the dark.”
“They wouldn’t if they felt what I feel for you now. And if they think us crazy, then they’ll leave us alone then, won’t they?”
He did have a point, but Seylah wasn’t of the mind to tell him such. Instead, she rolled her eyes at him and settled once more into his arms. It was lovely to be with him this way, without a care of hiding from anyone that might see them, of knowing that he wanted this as much as she. They danced on, the sound of their feet on the graveled road serving as their music.
“Very well,” she said trying for unaffected but failing miserably, and this time, the smile on her face rendered it impossible for Seylah to bite her lip.
Chapter 11
“We might have to do it.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Never said I didn’t, but that doesn’t change the fact that we are being ordered to Butte City.”
“Goddamn Summit.” Will grumbled, leaning back in his chair, he turned and met the eyes of his husband. “If we leave, we’re leavin’ the town exposed.”
Forrest shook his head. “We’ve got three deputies here, plus Seylah.”
“Seylah isn’t getting involved in this. I thought we were clear on it.”
Seylah looked up from the paperwork she had been filing and sighed. “I’m sitting right here,” she reminded her fathers with a frown.
Will’s eyes slid over to her. “We know, sweetheart.”
“Then perhaps it would be best if you both stopped speaking as if I wasn’t present?”
“Sorry, sweetheart,” Forrest sighed and ran a hand through his hair that was now more silver than blond.
“I’m not.” Will crossed his arms over his chest and leveled a hard look at his daughter. “You know it’s been dangerous lately on account of the newcomers.”
Seylah deflated at her father’s words. He was right. She knew it. There was no way to argue around it, no matter how it stung her to hear.
It wasn’t safe for her to patrol.
Her hands clenched at the thought and she dropped her gaze to the papers in front of her. There was no weight of a badge behind her, not like her fathers, not like August and the other deputies. Even if she was a crack shot,