“Are you trying to make me blush?” I inquired critically. “Because it’s working.”
Hara looked back at the dance floor to locate her brother. “The brunette is Victoria Moreau. She is harmless.”
“I’m not worried,” I snorted.
Hara glanced at me for a brief second. “Just jealous,” Hara accused. Before I could defend myself, Isabella stepped into view with a gentleman at her side.
“There you are, Ava,” Isabella cheered, clasping her petite hands together. “I was looking for you earlier, dear. I want you to meet my nephew, Wyatt Dupont. He is my youngest sister’s son.”
Wyatt smiled widely, showing two dimples and perfectly straight teeth. He kissed my hand politely and held it for a moment. “It is very nice to finally meet you, Lady Barlow. I feel like I practically know you, through all Hara’s stories.” He released my hand and winked at Hara.
“I hope she only told the ones of me being well-behaved and ladylike,” I replied with a smile.
Hara scoffed, and Isabella laughed softly. My gaze fell on both of them, and I raised a brow. “What?”
“I love you, my dear, but you were far from well-behaved and too young and free-spirited to worry about proper manners.” Isabella chuckled. “Just like me.”
“I prefer strong-willed females,” Wyatt added. “They make for better conversation.” But his eyes implied something different; that they were better in bed.
“You couldn’t even handle a strong-willed female,” Hara argued. “You don’t like when people tell you that you’re wrong.”
Wyatt looked at me, nodding toward Hara. “Only when it’s her. She won’t stop talking until you agree.”
Hara crossed her arms. “That is a lie.”
Wyatt held out a hand to me. “Would you like to dance, so that my little cousin and I don’t start an argument?”
“Of course.” I took his hand as he led me off to an empty spot on the floor, reminding myself to be nice.
∞∞∞
I was in a very intense game of chess with Garrett. Both of us leaned over the table, studying the evenly-matched pieces on the board. We’d been playing for a good two hours, each of us carefully calculating our next move. Not only was it intense because he was a good player, but his fixed attention on me while it was my turn, heated every inch of my body. Thankfully, we were in a public study; one used by anyone in the palace.
He moved his bishop, his strong fingers purposely sliding slowly off the top of the game piece.
I needed a fan.
Maybe a bowl of cold water to dunk my head in.
“Your turn,” he rasped. I dared not look up at him for fear my cheeks would burn off my face.
I studied my next move and the possible consequences.
“How long are you going to take this time?”
My eyes shot up to me his. “Are you rushing me?”
“I am.”
“That isn’t part of the game, sir,” I remarked, trying my best not to smile.
“May I suggest an alternative then?”
“I don’t need your help.”
He leaned in closer to the table and his voice dropped an octave. “I’m aware of that. But I can think of other ways to use our skills.”
More heat prickled up my face, and he gave me a wolfish smile.
I needed that ice-cold water right now.
Trying to break the hot, sexual tension, I moved my pawn a space. I didn’t even know if it would be taken; I couldn’t focus on anything else but him sitting right in front of me. He reached for my hand before I moved it away from the board and intertwined his fingers with mine.
“How about we call a stalemate?” He rubbed his thumb on the inside of my palm.
“I—I never give up on a game,” I stammered, watching his fingers.
“Then I give up,” he stated, leaning over to plant small, warm kisses on my hand. Flutters started in my stomach, and I tried to keep from trembling.
“Garrett Cranfield doesn’t surrender.”
He kept his concentration on my fingers. “I found something to submit to. I can’t spend my life fighting the things around me, can I?”
I shook my head absentmindedly, and Garrett stood. Coming to my side of the table, he lifted me up from the chair, his heat enveloping me. I glanced at his lips. Strong. Perfectly shaped. He cupped my chin and trailed kisses down the nape of my neck.
“You are so beautiful, Avie,” he breathed. Placing my hand firmly on his chest, I halted his movements.
“Chitwood,” I said.
Garrett looked at the ceiling and groaned. “What about her?”
I raised a brow. “That woman is walking around this palace, ordering wedding flowers and invitations for your wedding. And I’m in a parlor, alone with you, while you try to…distract me.”
Garrett’s lips quirked. “Really? I have the power to distract the influential Peitho?”
I smacked his chest. “Stop teasing me. I’m no goddess of anything.”
“To me, you are.”
“Then you must have taken too many hits to the head in training,” I quipped.
Garrett chuckled. “Don’t underestimate a beautiful woman.”
“You’re distracting again.”
Garrett laid his hand over mine placed on his chest. “Okay, Avie, I’m listening. Get out what you need to about Chitwood.” I went to open my mouth, but he continued, “And hurry up because I have other plans for us at the moment.”
“I’m honestly not sure what to do…”
“Well, Peitho, what are your plans for me?”
“Garr—”
“I mean that in all honesty. Do you care anything for me?”
“Of course I do, but—”
“There are no buts. It’s just me and you.”
I let out an exasperated sigh. “It’s not just me and you. It’s George and—”
“Don’t bring my brother into this,” he retorted.
“And Sophia.”
“I don’t have a past with her.”
“I understand that, but—”
Garrett released me and raked his hands through his dark hair as he paced the room.
“Avie, I don’t know how much more clear I can be with everyone. I’m not going to marry that vulture of a woman.”
I took a deep breath because I knew the outcome if he refused. And it wasn’t something I had fully accepted myself. He would be the sacrificial lamb.
“Then Hara gets married off to Femme Fatale knows who,” I added.
Garrett stopped in his tracks and looked at me. “Who told you that?”
“Hara.”
He mumbled something I couldn’t make out and rubbed his forehead. His shoulders were tense as he fisted his other hand along his side. I understood the frustration; the uncontrollable emotion of hopelessness when you were forced into something with no option.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to my sister,” he finally said, his back to me. I took a step near him, wanting to comfort him but not crowd him.
“I know. You are a noble and selfless man,” I replied softly. “She is lucky to have you.”
He turned to face me, defeat lingering on his face. But just as quickly as I saw it, it faded.
“I want to be selfish. We both deserve it.” He took a step toward me until we were face to face. “When do we fight back, Ava? When do we take our lives and demand to make them our own? Nothing will happen to Hara, I’ll make sure of it. Even if I have to hide her in a damn cave for a while. And for me”—he brushed his hand against my cheek—“I want to see what cosmic plans Femme Fatale has in store for us.”
His sentiments made me speechless. My heart tugged in my chest, telling me to jump and take this chance; that I might not be offered another one. I lived my life in hesitation, always wondering what else fate would throw at me. But Garrett, he may be the light at the end of the horizon that I’d been chasing.