'Tis the Season for Lady Sarah - Maggie Dallen Page 0,29

departure.

Everly was the worst kind of threat because these feelings were so much more real. But they could never be. It was so clear now, and Mr. Stallworth’s words had merely confirmed it.

This was why she’d felt like crying when Everly was kind to her. Why her heart felt close to breaking when he was close. Because despite her feelings, he did not trust her. Despite his kind words, it was clear that he’d only ever see her as a foolish girl who needed to be protected.

Just like her brother. Just like her mother.

She opened her eyes to stare at the space where Mr. Stallworth had just stood.

Maybe they were right. And maybe Everly had been justified in running him off eighteen months ago. But those actions—and everything he’d done and said and failed to say in the time since…

It made it all so clear.

Straightening to her full height, she shoved aside the pain and hurt. For at least she knew who she was, even if those around her did not.

She would have gotten over Mr. Stallworth. She would have moved on quickly if he’d remained in her life. Of that she had little doubt. She might have had her moments of foolishness, but there was no way she would not have seen through his lies and his facade if given enough time.

But Everly hadn’t trusted her enough to tell her his suspicions. He hadn’t told her that he’d sent Mr. Stallworth off without a hope of ever marrying.

He’d let her carry these feelings and nurture them rather than trust her with the truth so that she might make her own decision.

She sniffed back a sob as the reality of it hit her. He had and always would see her as a child. That would not change.

And maybe he’d been right back then...but now?

She tilted her chin up high. Now she would be certain not to make the same mistake twice.

Now she knew better than to give her love to a man who did not return it.

11

Theo stood there, just outside the church as she disappeared around the far side of the estate.

For a moment there, he’d thought…. Oh, what did it matter? With each step he and Sarah took to move closer, it seemed something was bound to push them apart again.

He scrubbed his face with his hands, reminding himself he didn’t wish to draw any closer to her. Sarah held his heart in her delicate hands, but she’d not asked for the duty. And he’d sworn never to give himself away like that again.

Certainly not to a lady who’d already given her heart to another. His lips curled in a snarl he couldn’t restrain. She’d given her heart to Stallworth, the unworthy lout.

Although, perhaps Stallworth wasn’t the problem in this particular conversation. They’d been discussing their own relationship, his and Sarah’s, when she’d run off. More likely, it was him. Had he been overbearing again?

He rubbed the back of his neck. He’d been attempting to apologize, to explain and to assure her that he saw the Sarah everyone else frequently missed.

She was so much more than the woman who could make polite conversation, who could fill a room with a bright laugh and a quick joke.

Under that was a heart of gold and a strength that took his breath away.

He stared at the spot where she’d just disappeared, a realization making his spine stiff and straight. Sarah was a woman of quality. She was good, and whether she loved him or not, she’d be kind if he shared his feelings with her.

He shook his head. She was in love with another man. What was the point?

But perhaps he should tell her, not for her sake but for his own. She’d be gentle in her rejection and mayhap he could set aside his fears of giving his heart away again.

His heart pounded painfully at the thought of it. His mind raced with all the ways this could go wrong—the inevitable awkward exchange, the rejection that would kill, once and for all, any hopes he might have been harboring ever since he’d held her in his arms.

Ever since she’d kissed him so sweetly…

He groaned at the memory that tormented him. And it was a torment. Every new intimacy, every dance and every private conversation—they all fanned the flames of his emotions and led him to believe that maybe someday she would feel the same.

He sighed. Even now those memories were taunting him. They gave him hope where there was none.

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